After a long-awaited return to NYC, progressive metal legends Cynic are welcomed back to celebrate 30 years of their album Focus at Manhattan’s Le Poisson Rouge. Joining them were fellow progressive metal and tech death titans Atheist. The tour also gave opportunities for openers from every city on the tour, and they surely did not disappoint.
It’s been a rough road for Cynic frontman Paul Masvidal over the last year or so. With the sad and untimely deaths of bass player Sean Malone and former drummer Sean Reinert, it would have been reasonable to assume that any new music produced under the Cynic name would cast a bleak shadow indeed.
Cynic frontman/guitarist Paul Masvidal has shared a new post to social media reflecting on the difficult year which saw the passing of his comrades and musical partners Sean Reinert and Sean Malone. Cynic will release a new album in 2021 and also pay tribute to Reinert and Malone with a virtual event. Cynic’s last new music was the 2018 single “Humanoid.”
Terrible news in the world of music as bassist Sean Malone, best known to metal fans for his time in Cynic, and other contributions to progressive music and Jazz, has died. He was just 50 years old. No cause of death has been revealed at this time. The news was shared by Cynic leader Paul Masvidal on Facebook in a message: “I learned today that Sean Malone has died. I am numb and grief-stricken. He had a brilliant mind, a gracious heart, and was one of the greatest musicians I’ve ever encountered. I know that this is a shocking loss for so many fans whose lives he touched with his artistry, as it is for me,” Paul added. “Please keep him in your thoughts and listen to his playing to celebrate his life.” In addition to playing on the critical Cynic albums Focus and their comeback Traced in Air, Sean was in several Cynic side projects, his own prog band Gordian Knot and wrote a series of incredible books on bass guitar for publisher Hal Leonard. Several artists also took to social media to share memories of Sean and grieve the loss. Malone’s death follows the passing of bandmate Sean Reinert, who died in 2020 at 48 years old. We send our sympathies out to his family, friends, and fans. Continue reading
Cynic’s Paul Masvidal has long been at work on a new Cynic album as well as a new trilogy of just announced solo albums. Dubbed the Mythical Human Vessel trilogy of records, they are the first independent solo releases on his new label, Masvidalien Records, the first of the collection, Mythical, will release May 31st. Hear the first new single now, ‘The Spaces’. Continue reading
After settling the lawsuit with Sean Reinert last year, Paul Masvidal kicked off 2018 by releasing a new Cynic single. Continue reading
After settling the lawsuit with Sean Reinert last month, Paul Masvidal promised fans that new material from Cynic would be coming soon, and he wasn’t lying. Today he’s shared the first new music from the progressive pioneers since 2014’s Kindly Bent To Free Us, and it does not disappoint.Continue reading
Cynic have been at an impasse with their career since the band split into separate factions in 2015 with both co-founders Paul Masvidal and drummer Sean Reinert claiming rights in the split. The band have now announced a settlement where Reinert has left the band officially, and Masvidal will continue Continue reading
In 2017 the landscape of metal is still reveling and rich in the almost unlevelled influence of Cynic. From their début album Focus (Roadrunner), which paved a road for progressive death metal with its complexity and its jazz influences, they returned from hiatus in 2008 to a scene virtually of their own creation and have continued to prove themselves as true kings of the progressive metal and tech metal genres that came in their wake. With Sean Reinert and Paul Masvidal the continuous pairing behind Cynic, their legacy to this day sees them as one of the most revered bands of the genre.Continue reading
The amazing Cynic have compiled their early demos into an extensive collection titled Uroboric Forms, and it will be coming out on February 10th. Continue reading