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Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993) (Remaster 2004)

Posted By: Jansky
Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993) (Remaster 2004)

Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993) (Remaster 2004)
EAC Rip | FLAC, tracks + CUE, LOG | 514 MB | MP3 CBR 320 Kbps | 172 MB | Scans | 70 MB
Progressive Rock | Label: Roadrunner | Catalog Number: 168 618 258-2 | RAR 3% Rec. | RS.com, DF.com

Cynic started out as a death metal band in 1987 and over the next several years sent out five demos until they finally in 1993 released their first full length album, Focus. As they found more and more influences in genres such as jazz and fusion instead of only contemporary death metal bands, they started to include bands such as Watchtower, Frank Zappa, Chick Corea and Allan Holdsworth as inspiration. In the end, Focus is a mix of all those influences and then again a completely different animal. Unfortunately, after some touring in both Europe and the states, Cynic decided to disband, due to the usual musical differences. So Focus also turned out to be the band's last album.
When trying to describe the feeling on Focus we are clearly dealing with metal, but also adjectives such as atmospheric, dreaming, spacey, robotic, dreaming, transcending and hypnotizing come to mind. I'll label it progressive metal, though there are influences from many other genres. From the first track, The Veil of Maya, we are introduced to the special sound of Cynic. We have distorted guitars playing melodies and rhythm figures often on the high strings and bass works that go from laying solid and extremely tight groundwork to atmospheric jazz figures. The drums have solid double bass drumming going to jazz inspired very non-4/4 rythm stuff. Generally the rhythm feeling is just as fucked up as anything Watchtower or Dream Theater have ever made, yet with a solid feeling to it, especially coming from the bass. The two guitarists often use clean guitars and even guitar synths to obtain the spacey and jazzy sound. Though most bands today have put away the guitar synth, Cynic does amazingly well with this instrument, adding very much to their sound. The solos fit very nicely with the rest of the music. Played with virtuosity, they fit very well with the rest of the music, often with jazz touches but still with the metal sound.
One thing on Focus that stands out from everything else is the vocals. We have have two different vocal styles here, the death metal growls that are quite high-pitched, higher than typical death metal growls but not black metal screams either. I think that even people who normally don't like the death metal vocal style should give this album a chance. These vocals don't take up much space and they are also low in the mix. I like them but I know that not everybody else do, especially not people in the progressive metal genre. The vocals that really stand out here, are the robotic processed clean vocals. I don't know how they did it, but the result is a very robotic vocal sound but still in a musical way. I guess it's a matter of taste if you like it or not but for me they fit perfectly with the music. The lyrics are also not your typical death metal lyrics but held more in a philosophical style.

The bass work merits a special note. Shawn Malone is without question one of the best bassists I have ever heard. Using instruments such as fretless bass and Chapman Stick, his fluent playing is a big part of the sound of Cynic. Listen to the intro bass riff on Sentiment to see how tight and a simple riff can be played, still played with an amazing feeling. The only other bass player I can think of in this class would be Steve DiGiorgio. Hats off for Shawn Malone.
His solo project Gordian Knot is also worth listening to:
Gordian Knot - Gordian Knot (1999)
Gordian Knot - Emergent (2003)
When looking at the massive talent gathered here, it is no wonder that the different members have participated in many different projects. Especially worth noting here is Death, where Chuck Schuldiner asked guitarist Paul Masvidal and drummer Sean Reinert to play on Human.

Rating: 10/10

Tracklist:

1. Veil of Maya
2. Celestial Voyage
3. Eagle Nature
4. Sentiment
5. I'm But a Wave to…
6. Uroboric Forms
7. Textures
8. How Could I

Cynic 2004 Remixes
9. Veil of Maya (bonus)
10. I'm But a Wave To… (bonus)
11. How Could I (bonus)

Portal demo (post-Cynic)[Fall 1994]
12. Cosmos
13. Circle's Gone
14. Endless Endeavors (Cynic)

All songs written by Cynic

Line-up:

Jason Gobel - guitar, guitar synth
Sean Malone - fretless bass
Paul Masvidal - guitar, lead vocals
Sean Reinert - drums, percussion
Tony Teegarden - throaty vocals

EAC extraction logfile from 21. July 2005, 0:38 for CD
Cynic / Focus (The Expanded Edition)

Used drive : TOSHIBA ODD-DVD SD-R6252 Adapter: 1 ID: 0
Read mode : Secure with NO C2, accurate stream, disable cache
Read offset correction : 98
Overread into Lead-In and Lead-Out : No

Used output format : C:\Program Files\FLAC\flac.exe (User Defined Encoder)
192 kBit/s
Additional command line options : –delete-input-file -8 -V -T "artist=%a"

-T "title=%t" -T "album=%g" -T "date=%y" -T "tracknumber=%n" -T "genre=%m" -T "comment=EAC 0.95

b2 secure / FLAC 1.1.2 q8" %s

Other options :
Fill up missing offset samples with silence : Yes
Delete leading and trailing silent blocks : No
Native Win32 interface for Win NT & 2000

Track 1
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\01 -

Veil Of Maya.wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 99.7 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 76EB514E
Copy CRC 76EB514E
Copy OK

Track 2
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\02 -

Celestial Vogage.wav

Peak level 99.5 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Copy CRC C6B17B1E
Copy OK

Track 3
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\03 -

The Eagle Nature.wav

Peak level 99.1 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Copy CRC AD38E00C
Copy OK

Track 4
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\04 -

Sentiment.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 531F3091
Copy CRC 531F3091
Copy OK

Track 5
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\05 -

I'm But A Wave To.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
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Copy CRC 2E30C894
Copy OK

Track 6
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\06 -

Uroboric Forms.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Copy OK

Track 7
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\07 -

Textures.wav

Peak level 99.9 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Copy CRC 2A2EEDB9
Copy OK

Track 8
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\08 -

How Could I.wav

Peak level 98.8 %
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Copy CRC 5CDB4A73
Copy OK

Track 9
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\09 -

Veil Of Maya (2004 Remix).wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
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Copy OK

Track 10
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\10 -

I'm But A Wave To (2004 Remix).wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:01.90

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 0AED9901
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Track 11
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\11 -

How Could I (2004 Remix).wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:01.89

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 99.9 %
Test CRC 6BAE26C4
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Copy OK

Track 12
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\12 -

Cosmos (Portal Demo).wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 99.9 %
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Copy OK

Track 13
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\13 -

The Circle's Gone (Portal Demo).wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 99.9 %
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Test CRC 6AC3E6D2
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Copy OK

Track 14
Filename C:\lossless\ripped\pedrostyle\Cynic - Focus (The Expanded Edition) (1993)\14 -

Endless Endeavors (Portal Demo).wav

Pre-gap length 0:00:02.00

Peak level 100.0 %
Track quality 100.0 %
Test CRC 46EB6AAF
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No errors occured

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