Thumbs up & down

I've chosen my best & most disappointing album for 2014 & Eclectic here, is definitely the best release for me this year. Eric Johnson & Mike Stern, two guitar titans, combining some of their best ideas but not stepping on each other's feet. I wish more pro guitarists would come together to manifest such collaborations, not a platform to stroke one's ego in the presence of others but to respect the counterpart's musicianship & fuse ideas.

Kindly Bent to Free Us was a departure release by Cynic. The prog camp loves this but for initial fans like me, it's a total delusion from what they stood for when they first made known to the world who they were through Focus. I can understand how bands evolve along the way but Cynic signaled their willingness to discard more than 50% of who they initially were & this comes with a consequence- they lost believers. I'm sure their more accessible presentations would have gained them other fans along the way but I absolutely loathe this one- whiny clean vocals from start to finish & guitars with the primary assignment of holding the presentations together & minimum creative pivot- a waste of time & money.

Cynic: Kindly bent to free us

After grappling with this album for weeks, I have come to accept that it's a departure from its predecessors; this isn't the Cynic which everyone revered in metaldom. There are no death metal growls, only clean vocals & the guitars are not very engaging in terms of intricacy. In fact, it barely scratches its fine form offering only crunch-type distortion & no flash. It's all about delivery, Paul Masvidal & Co. have embraced necessity rather than release an album to prove a point. Whatever was to be proven was delivered two releases ago & the band had moved on. This isn't metal in my opinion, it's geek prog & should attract a fresh fan base. Personally, I think I've wasted my time trying to interpret where Paul Masvidal & gang are heading. To me, this is a down release, I have other albums to relate to. Upset, to put it mildly. Kindly release another album to assure us.