Cynic - Re-Traced EP

If there’s one thing Cynic fans have it is patience. After all, the gap between first record, the groundbreaking progressive tech. death metal opus Focus and the aerated, spacious work of Traced In Air was some 15 years. The latter came out in 2008 and the band are now a full blooded band again, touring full time and gaining at least some of the more than warranted adulation that fans have been begging for, for over a decade.
Nearly two years on Re-Traced sees Cynic distancing themselves more and more from their death metal beginnings with this EP. It features one new track along with four re-interpretations of songs from Traced In Air.

'Space' is charming yet paced in its oblique atmospherics which take the smoothest layers of 'The Space For This' and give it a wholly unique new texture, including the use of many synths. Then the relaxed opening bars of 'Evolutionary' become increasingly euphoric, meandering until its crescendo. Some of its earlier passages are exemplary of the many of the shoegaze influences that have permeated Re-Traced.

'King' causes some of the momentum to wane, but only partially. These re-imaginings don’t quite scale the same heights as their originals but offer up a lighter shade of versatility in Cynic’s palette. That shade is further perpetuated by 'Integral'. It has stripped its original ('Integral Birth') down to an acoustic core where Paul Masvidal shines vocally.

But the highlight comes easily in the shape of fully new song 'Wheels Within Wheels'. The track wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Traced In Air, trading elegant guitar work with cascading electronics while Sean Reinert’s drumming adds an air of fierceness to the proceedings, only for the guitars to provide an graceful fade into silence.

As an experimental piece of music Re-Traced is gorgeously arranged and nothing but welcomed. But how about a new album, sooner rather later?

7/10