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Tag Archive: Cynic

Empirine Show You How To Play “The Great Excursion”

Filed Under: Video

Dec.05, 2011

To be honest, I’m just looking for an excuse to post about Empirine, because they’re really good. If you missed them when I first posted about them, they’re a duo based in Sweden that play technical/progressive death metal in the vein of Cynic and Obscura.

I have a soft spot for playthrough videos, and being a guitarist myself it’s always very helpful and interesting to see how songs are played. So without further ad, I present to you the video:

If that seems like your kind of music, you can like them on Facebook and check their stuff out on Bandcamp; their recent offering The Great Excursion was released earlier last month.

- NT

Tags: Cynic, Empirine, Obscura, The Great Excursion

Hypno5e Debut Acid Mist Tomorrow Title Track At Lambgoat

Filed Under: New music, Upcoming releases

Dec.02, 2011

Prepare to be artfully assaulted. Lambgoat are streaming the title track from Hypno5e’s sophomore album Acid Mist Tomorrow, and it is just nuts. The 10-minute experimental/progressive metal track ranges from Gojira-like intensity and aggression to beautifully haunting atmosphere. That idea by itself should be enough to get you to listen, but I’m going to sweeten the pot by saying that I’m sure this album will end up on some Best Of 2012 lists. Go give the track a listen!

Hypno5e will be on tour in Europe this month with Cynic and Chimp Spanner. Good god! Get the dates here.

- JR

Tags: Chimp Spanner, Cynic, Gojira, Hypno5e

Hypno5e Reveal Album Art and Tracklisting for Acid Mist Tomorrow

Filed Under: General News, Upcoming releases

Nov.29, 2011

With 2011 coming to a close, the release schedule for 2012 is beginning to take form. Wouldn’t you know it, there are already some albums that are showing up on the horizon that I’m eagerly awaiting. My most anticipated record of 2012 right now is French experimental metal band Hypno5e‘s sophomore album Acid Mist Tomorrow, a concept album that is currently slated for a release in February. I’ve told you folks about this album a couple of weeks back, but now we’ve got the album art and tracklist!

The artwork for Acid Mist Tomorrow (above) was done by drummer Thibault Lamy, and it’s pretty interesting. I’ve always enjoyed the textured and distressed grungy look, so I am all about the cover’s aesthetics. Here’s the tracklist:

1. Acid Mist Tomorrow
2. Six Fingers In One Hand She holds the dawn Part I
3. Six Fingers In One Hand She holds the dawn Part II
4. Story Of The Eye
5. Gehenne Part I
6. Gehenne Part II
7. Gehenne Part III
8. Brume Unique Obscurité Part I
9. Brume Unique Obscurité Part II

Hypno5e will begin touring this week when they hit the road across Europe with fellow progressive-minded metallers in Cynic and Chimp Spanner. Exciting! I am totally envious of this tour. You can check out the tour dates right over here! We’ll be sure to update you when more information is available!

- JR

Tags: Chimp Spanner, Cynic, Hypno5e

New Chimp Spanner EP Coming February 2012

Filed Under: Tours and Rumors of Tours, Upcoming releases

Nov.25, 2011

Basick Records announced yesterday, whilst the majority of you were stuffing your faces with turkey, that the one and only Chimp Spanner – AKA Paul Ortiz – will be releasing the follow-up to 2010′s At The Dream’s Edge with a new six-track EP titled All Roads Lead Here on February 6th next year.

Even better, you won’t even have to wait that long to hear part of it, as the track ‘Dark Age Of Technology‘ will be available on Basick’s exclusive Amazon from December 12th.

The full tracklisting is as follows:

1. Dark Age Of Technology
2. Engrams
3. Mӧbius Pt I
4. Mӧbius Pt II
5. Mӧbius Pt III
6. Cloud City

Also released will be a vinyl version, which will contain a number of remixes of ‘Supererogation‘ from At The Dream’s Edge:

7. Supererogation (Chuter Remix) – VINYL version only
8. Supererogation (TimfyJames Remix) – VINYL version only
9. Supererogation (The Algorithm Remix) – VINYL version only
10. Supererogation (Tanuki Remix) – VINYL version only

Paul said of the EP:

“I’m really happy with how the EP turned out! It was kind of hard at first to find a sound that progressed and evolved nicely from At The Dream’s Edge’, but I think making some of the songs a bit darker helped to set them apart from all the glossy futurism of the previous album. The three part song, ‘Mӧbius’, is still spacey and sci fi inspired (as you can tell from the awesome artwork by Daniel Wagner), but it’s also got some more personal themes going on too. I hope you guys enjoy this record – I can’t wait to get out there and play it!”

What’s more, a release party including a live performance from Chimp Spanner and other Basick artists will be happening in London on the day of the release. Given the wealth of talent in their roster, I can only forsee this being fucking amazing. I’ll see you there.

Paul is due to take the Chimp Spanner live band on the road once more this December in support of the mighty Cynic, along with French avante-garde outfit Hypno5e. Don’t tell nobody I said it, but I’d wager they’re going to steal the show on more than one occasion; I’ve seen them twice now, and they’ve blown me away both times. I can’t wait to maybe see some new material. Dates are after the jump!

- CG

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Tags: All Roads Lead Here, Basick Records, Chimp Spanner, Cynic, Dark Age Of Technology, Hypno5e

Iron Thrones Complete Set Supporting Cynic & 3

Filed Under: Live, Tours and Rumors of Tours, Video

Nov.21, 2011

Those of you who were with of last year will recall us talking about Minneapolis progressive metal band Iron Thrones on a fairly regular basis. They won Metal Insider and Scion’s 2010 No Label Needed contest, thrusting them into the dingy, single-swinging-bulb-in-a-seedy-backroom-esque limelight of the internet’s metal community, and then released the critically acclaimed EP The Wretched Sun, which was the result of the prize process.

Since last summer things have been pretty quiet. A couple of things have changed; Vocalist Adam Clemans has grown out his hair and beard. Bassist Curtis has cut his and moved to guitar (what is this, Vogue?). They did a couple of tours – one with Last Chance To Reason and another with Hero Destroyed – but fear not; they’re still around, still working, and still kicking all kinds of ass.

Most recently they opened for Cynic and 3 in St. Paul, Minneapolis on their nationwide tour. I’ve heard excellent things about this tour, which for the most part has also included Scale The Summit, who our good friend Quigs of The Number Of The Blog said killed it in Toronto.

Anyway, some splendid person recorded the entirety of Iron Thrones’ set (as well as Cynic’s and 3′s) for our viewing pleasure, and it features a couple of songs each from The Wretched Sun and their first record Visons Of Light.

After the jump, live versions of Cynic’s “Carbon-Based Anatomy” and 3′s “My Divided Falling“, and both sets are available on mplsmetal’s YouTube channel. Both bands are still on tour with three more dates on the west coast of the states, before Cynic head to the other side of the pond to hook up with Britain’s Chimp Spanner and France’s Hypno5e, both of which are fucking awesome bands, so not to be missed.

- CG

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Tags: 3, Chimp Spanner, Cynic, Hypno5e, Iron Thrones, The Wretched Sun, Visions of Light

Hey! Listen To Empirine!

Filed Under: Audio, Listen To This!, New music

Nov.15, 2011

Empirine are a Swedish duo who play a pretty interesting flavor of technical death metal. They sound like Omnivium-style Obscura with the vocals, tone and general style, Focus-era Cynic with some of the riffage and vocoders, and Damnation-era Opeth with the clean interludes. Is your mouth watering already? Just go check out their EP The Great Excursion below!

I think they have a very bright future ahead of them with their strong mix of great influences, so please support Alexander Edlund (vocals, keyboard, production) and Robin Brinck (everything else)! I will definitely be keeping an eye out for these guys.

- NT

Tags: Cynic, Empirine, Obscura, Omnivium, Opeth, The Great Excursion

Hypno5e Announce New Album, Offer Free Download Of Debut

Filed Under: Audio, Downloads, General News, Upcoming releases

Nov.15, 2011

It was recently announced that French experimental metal band Hypno5e would be supporting Cynic‘s upcoming European tour alongside Chimp Spanner. Everyone I know that lives within a reasonable distance from each stop is pretty stoked on this tour, but for some reason, not many people are familiar with Hypno5e. Shame on you folks! You can rectify this immediately, as the band has offered up their debut album Des Deux L’une Est L’autre for free download on Bandcamp. Check it out below!

Not only that, but they’ve finally announced that their upcoming album will be titled Acid Mist Tomorrow and will see release sometime in February. Stoked! Make sure you make it out on the Cynic tour to support them as well. Also, be sure to give them a like on Facebook and tell em that Heavy Blog sent you.

- JR

Tags: Chimp Spanner, Cynic, Hypno5e

Once More With Streaming: Cynic’s Carbon-Based Anatomy

Filed Under: New music, Upcoming releases

Nov.14, 2011

As mentioned by Alkahest earlier, Cynic‘s new EP Carbon-Based Anatomy is the big release of the week. Opinion is sort of split over it; our bro Grover over at The Number Of The Blog wasn’t impressed, saying it didn’t feel like Cynic. Alkahest thinks it takes a bit of getting used to, and I liked it, but am not as hardcore into them as those chaps, so perhaps my fervour is less.

Either way, you can decide for yourself by listening to the full stream over at Pitchfork, or below!

Carbon-Based Anatomy came out on Friday 11th in Europe, and is out tomorrow in America, both on Season of Mist!

- CG

Tags: Carbon-Based Anatomy, Cynic, Season Of Mist

Cynic Perform Acoustically, Boxes Up Bones

Filed Under: General News, Live, New music, Upcoming releases, Video

Nov.09, 2011

EDIT: Looks like MetalInjection pulled the video

The marriage of Cynic and acoustic instruments is an idea I had never thought about much, despite hearing it on their Re-traced EP. Now that it’s out there, it seems like a pretty awesome idea that really needs to happen more often. Apparently they thought so too, as the band performed a short acoustic set at Idle Hands in NYC, which was captured by the diligent videographers at Metal Injection. You can watch them perform “Veil of Maya” and “Evolutionary Sleeper” above.

Also, it’s apparently hard to stay on the ball when bands release new songs that we on this side of press machine have already heard. Case in point: Cynic debuted their haunting new song “Box Up My Bones” on the always awesome NPR. It’s grown to be one of my favorite Cynic songs, as you’ll no doubt hear why. Their new EP Carbon-Based Anatomy is excellent work, and you can purchase it next week on November 15th when it sees its North American release on Season of Mist.

- JR

Tags: Box Up My Bones, Carbon-Based Anatomy, Cynic, Evolutionary Sleeper, Season Of Mist, Veil of Maya

Cynic, Chimp Spanner, and HYPNO5E Touring Europe This December!

Filed Under: General News, Upcoming releases

Oct.14, 2011

This has got to be one of the neatest tours coming up, and it’s a damn shame I won’t get to see it. Cynic are hitting Europe at the end of the year with the British instrumental darlings Chimp Spanner and the French ambient metal band HYPNO5E. Here are the run of dates:

03.12.11 The Village, Dublin, Ireland.
04.12.11 Limelight, Belfast, UK.
05.12.11 The Underworld, London, UK.
06.12.11 Trix, Antwerp, Belgium.
07.12.11 Baroeg, Rotterdam, The Netherlands.
08.12.11 Divan Du Monde Paris, France.
09.12.11 Kiff, Aarau, Switzerland.
10.12.11 Rock’n'Roll Arena, Romagnano Sesia (NOVARA), Italy.
11.12.11 Gala Hala, Ljubljana, Slovenia.
12.12.11 Arena, Vienna, Austria .
13.12.11 Club 202, Budapest, Hungary.
14.12.11 Randall, Bratislava, Slovakia.
15.12.11 KD Kyje , Prague, Czech Republic.
16.12.11 Cassiopeia, Berlin, Germany.
17.12.11 Kleine Freiheit, Osnabrück, Germany.
18.12.11 Templet, Lyngby, Denmark.
19.12.11 Hafenklang, Hamburg, Germany.
20.12.11 P60, Amstelveen, The Netherlands.

NEAT. As if I needed another reason I wish I was born European!

Speaking of Chimp Spanner, the new EP is on the horizon for an early 2012 release via Basick Records. It’s currently being mastered! We certainly can’t wait for that, as well as HYPNO5E’s sophomore album, which has been in the works for some time. Some of you might not know of these guys, but their debut album is definitely worth looking into—but then again, so are all three of these bands!

Cynic’s new EP Carbon-Based Anatomy is due out November 11th on Season of Mist. Check out our review of it here.

- JR

Tags: Chimp Spanner, Cynic, Hypno5e