With this record seemingly hot on the heels of 2012’s splendid ‘Carbon Based Anatomy’ EP, it was with an element of surprise that this scribe learned that Cynic’s latest full-length ‘Kindly Bent to Free Us’ has actually been gestating away for the best part of 5 years. Having interviewed vocalist/guitarist Paul Masvidal, it seems ‘Carbon…’ was a pit-stop as it were, a brief interlude to take a break from the demanding rigours of putting together a whole album.
This is understandable – after all, expectations were undoubtedly sky-high after Cynic’s stellar 2008 comeback album ‘Traced in Air’ – and it cannot be denied that on occasions, an artist can become overwhelmed by self-imposed pressure during the creative process. The need to take a step back and come up for air (no pun intended) certainly makes sense. Nevertheless, does this lengthy process suggest perhaps that ‘Kindly Bent to Free Us’ was something of a ‘difficult’ album for the band? That’s not for me to say of course – but having spent some time with this record now, it’s certainly different from what has come before it. Not only this, it is not a record that gives up its secrets easily, I’ll say that.
‘Kindly Bent to Free Us’ wrong-foots the listener from the start. ‘True Hallucination Speak’ is an unexpected opener, entering stage-right quietly before the staccato, note-heavy verse passage begins. It’s immediately apparent that the ‘metal’ factor here has been scaled down – the guitar sound is very light, barely overdriven in fact, the drums close and organic, the bass mid-heavy (VERY 70s Yes in tone!). Yes, ‘experimental modern rock’ is how the band would prefer their music to be described these days and they have certainly fulfilled that brief sonically.
Masvidal’s vocals have finally completely shrugged off the vocoder and are free to soar in his by-now trademark fashion. It’s a mixed blessing if I’m completely honest – he can sing, of that there is no question – but frequently opts for the uplifting, melodically obvious approach. The chorus of this first track is a case in point, the layered close-harmonies almost Beatles-esque in feel. Technically impressive for sure but the jury is out for me as to whether it really works.
The same is true of the following track, ‘The Lion’s Roar’. Sounding for all the world like a mash-up between Jeff Buckley and Pearl Jam, this is a straight-up rock song with progressive overtones. Again, the chorus verges on the edge of saccharine but some blistering bass playing from Sean Malone and Masvidal’s ripping solo manage to keep things onside.
And then we hit the title track and this is when – for me – feelings start to coalesce towards the record. Put simply, it’s a blinder. The slow-burn build of the intro, the classic Cynic-styled spiralling riffing of the verses, a wonderfully hypnotic coda. It throws the opening due of songs into sharp relief – they’re OK I guess, but this is what Cynic really should sound like. It harks back to ‘Traced in Air’, sure, but the delivery is more measured, more organic which is clearly in keeping with the band’s approach on this third album.
The elation is rather short-lived unfortunately. Next up is ‘Infinite Shapes’ – it starts promisingly enough with some Queensryche-sounding clean guitar but soon devolves into a rather noisy rocker with a chorus that sounds worrying close to something overblown stadium pseudo proggers Muse would cook up to flog to Lexus drivers up and down the country. It’s jaunty and rather irritating, all the more frustrating given the sheer quality of the preceding piece.
But again, relative disappointment is followed by another barnstormer – ‘Moon Heart Sun Head’ again has all of the classic ingredients in place. Beguiling musicianship and some soulful vocal delivery, it shows a band that really can tap a rich vein of form when inspiration strikes. And so the pattern continues – ‘Gitanjali’ that follows is solid enough I guess but doesn’t really leave much of a lasting impression. Certainly not as much as penultimate track ‘Holy Fallout’ which deploys a wonderful touch of diatonic discordance into the mix. Infectious and catchy without being trite, the drawn-out ending (with some tastefully reflective ebow) is possibly the highlight of the entire record. It’s a great song, Malone’s bass again underlining that he is one of the most proficient players in the genre.
As you can tell, for me this is a really mixed bag of an album. From talking to Masvidal, two things regarding this record became clear – one, that he is extremely proud of the album and two, that its creation was a real labour of love. Labour perhaps being the telling word here.
It’s tough one to summarize. Put simply, half of this album is truly excellent whilst half of it misses the mark by some distance. The worrying notion for me is that it’s this latter half that perhaps represents more strongly where Cynic are intending to progress as their career develops. That’s their decision of course and now more than ever it’s clear that Masvidal and Co. will do as they please and follow their own path – and more power to them. It doesn’t change the fact however that, for this listener at least, ‘Kindly Bent to Free Us’, whilst undeniably having its moments, is predominantly an unfulfilling listen.
(6.5/10 Frank Allain)
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