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Cynic - Focus (CD)

Focus
$13.98
4.9 out of 5.0 stars 9 Ratings (9 Reviews)

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Album Details: Focus

Release Date:01/01/1993
Label:Roadrunner Int'l
UPC:016861916923

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User Reviews: Focus

  • Overall:

    Metal Perfection

    By Yahoo! Shopping User  Oct 6, 2001

    Everything in here is perfect.From the artistic conceptions and orchestrations to Scott Burns's production, this should be considered the best metal album of the '90s.

  • Overall:

    Great progressive technical death metal!

    By Yahoo! Shopping User  Aug 19, 2001

    Awesome and unique effort from a band of incredible musicians. The songs range from more ethereal (Sentiment) to the intense and hard driving Uriboric Forms. The musicianship is top notch with incredible drumming and bass playing by Sean Reinert and ...Sean Malone highlighting the mix. The vocals are half synth, half death metal growl and are strongest when they alternate back and forth between these two moses. The guitar work is excellent and noticeably improved over their demos from 1990 and before. While every song on Focus is excellent, Uriboric Forms and How Could I? stick out as my personal favorites and the well played instrumental Textures also gets me going. The only other releases that compare to this are Atheist's Unquestionable Presence (even more technical with jazzy interludes but exclusively death vocals and more brutal) and early Mahavishnu Orchestra (substitute the synth vocals with Goodman's violin). Definitely a must have for fans of technical progressive death metal (a long lost artform!!!!!!!!!) and if you love Focus check out this bands earlier demos, especilly their incredible 1991 demo which includes earlier versions of Uriboric Forms (KILLER!!!!!) and The Eagle Nature as well as my favorite song from this band of all time Pleadinf For Preservation. Also check out Death's Human, Gordian Knot, Aghora and Spiral Architect's A Sceptic's Universe which features the musicianship of some of the memebers in this band. Also, Sean Malone will be appearing as a guest musician on Spastik Ink's upcoming release Ink Compatible, and if its anything like their debut, it should definitely be worth the price!!! Read more Less

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Pro Reviews: Focus

  • All Music Guide

    Chuck Schuldiner's Death got pretty clinical with the odd time signature, and Atheist got pretty busy with their complex arrangements, but Florida's Cynic simply threw the progressive metal playbook out the window. Their only official recording, 1993's ground breaking Focus, meshed metal and jazz on an unprecedented scale, and explored the creative possibilities of this strange musical hybrid to a degree which has yet to be equaled. For Cynic, the traditional framework of death metal songwriting served as a mere foundation over which the band would take flight, yielding moments of mindblowing diversity and inspiration (and, occasionally, dumbfounded confusion) on multifaceted tracks like "Veil of the Maya," "I'm But a Wave To...," and "Textures." Never mind the contrast of time traveling proportions created by their dual vocalists, clashing stone agestyle death grunts with robotic computerprocessed melodies (the later, a clear influence on digimetallers Fear Factory). And yet, as sugge...sted by its title, their stunning sonic collages were uncommonly focused and concise, avoiding the time transgressions of most progressive metal to achieve even greater impact. Simply put, Focus remains a wholly original and widely respected release amongst the small progressive metal community, many of whom still regard it as the ultimate statement in the genre. - Ed Rivadavia, All Music Guide Read more Less

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(41 Reviews)

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Biography

Cynic

Another product of the prolific Florida death metal scene, Cynic distinguished themselves for their unique experiments in combining technically proficient death metal with progressive rock touches, bordering at times on jazz fusion. Cynic was formed in 1987 by vocalist/guitarist Paul Masvidal, guitarist Jason Gobel, bassist Mark Van Erp, and drummer Sean Reinert. With t... Read more
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