Worse than B-grade - 15%
peyman_norouzi, October 27th, 2004

Funny that I am the first one to write a review for this band!
Why am I writing this?!
No, I am not a fan of this band, I just don’t want another metalhead to throw his money into the garbage can buying this album!!!

Although I am writing this today, but I got the album the month it was released. How?!
There was a review/advertisement on Metal Hammer magazine saying that, “Call it Death, call it Thrash, it is fucking brilliant!” So, I got the CD (still I have it).

The first thing which antagonized me was the messy way the album had been recorded/mastered. It was obvious that the songs were recorded in different studios with different atmospheres. It sounded like a compilation.
Then, the music. Call it Death, call it Thrash, it sucks! They are just throwing the stuff you’ve already heard from, not xillions, but several B-grade Thrash bands.
Nothing original is here, nothing. Even not a single sign of an original element.
I’m wondering what was the idea for this band to band!
They could at least perform some cover songs to show that they are good in that!

I even want to go further, I cannot realize why somebody accepted to produce this. Better not to talk about the label!

Musicianship here is as dumb as possible. All sucks, from the riffs, to the arrangements, to the guitar solos.
There is no melody here to stick to your brain for at least 5 minutes after you listened to it.

Lyrics are as ordinary as possible. Stuff that would come out of the brain of a high school metalhead, if he was asked to write lyrics for a B-grade Thrash song, in a rush!

Don’t even think about giving it a listen!

Peyman

One of Metal's Greats - 98%
invaded, November 8th, 2006

Cynic have achieved legendary status since their disbandment in the early 90's, and with good reason. As far as originality and musicianship were concerned, these guys were up there with other legendary Florida DM acts.

As previously stated, the musicianship here is phenomenal, Masvidal and Gobel complement each other perfectly while infusing jazzy riffs with death metal ferocity. Another cool element of the music lies in the fact that most of the time the two guitarists play completely different parts. The bass playing is also phenomenal, with Sean malone at his best on the instrument. Sean Reinheart is also a world class drummer who switches it up as often as possible.

This music is one of the most unique releases in metal history. Having a similar jazzy nature as Atheist, but with more emphasis on fusion, these guys delivered an earthy, melodic and yet groovy and colorful record which satisfies my musical palet in many ways. The riffing is fantastic, the electronic vocals take some time to get used to but their placement and use is in the end perfect. Cynic truly were on to something different and they hit the nailon the head. Whenever the band slows down, it does not detract from the listening experience, rather you soak in the different chords and vocal arrangements.

Standout tracks include the opner "Veil of Maya", "The Eagle Nature" with its intense riffing and extreme time juxtapositions, "uroboric Forms" once again kicks ass, being one of the heavier offerings on here. The instrumental "Textures" is totally dreamy and space-jazz-proggy(I guess), the closer "How could I?" is also very cool.

The songwriting is very cool and very different, definitely one of the greatest metal offerings of all time.
_______________________

The peak of originality in the Death Metal scene - 100%
Luka_Carvalho, December 6th, 2005
Cynic, a legendary band that fused their love for Death Metal with a recent influence of Jazz/Fusion and progressive rock. The result is here, Focus is an album that was beyond it's own time, the instruments are all played perfectlly and, thanks to a crystal clear production they can be all heard clearly.

Paul Masvidal and Jason Gobel give a 2 guitar lead assault to your ears, most of the moments each one is doing a diffrent riff, and the occasional use of guitar synths are in the right place, extending the texture of the riffs or of the song itself. Paul and Jason work with other bands (most notably Death and Monstrosity, respectivelly), helped to give them experience in the Death metal field while hearing Chick Corea and Allan Holdsworth pavimented their way to the freedom and dynamics of Jazz/Fusion. Paul's robot voice just sets the mood through deep meaning and philosophical lyrics, giving the songs a more cosmic feel.

Sean Reinert plays here in a very jazzy style, in a few moments you can hear him repeating the brutality of his performance in Human (most notably in Uroboric Forms), but most of the time his playing is filled with jazz technics and complex rhytms, which makes him one of the best drummers in the world.

Sean Malone is a bass god and shows here all his talent and creativity, sometimes using the unusual Chapman Stick, just hear his bass solo in "Textures" to see what i'm talking about, and since his bass is high in the mix there will be no problems to experience his contribution here.

This album is a classic that should be experienced in max volume, it represents the golden era of Death Metal.

just plain shit - 0%
before_i_forget, January 7th, 2007

I had nothing to do one day, so i decided to listen to some music. i found this. And after the last seconds of "my brain needs morphine" i just fellt like going out in the kitchen, pick up the closest sharp item and cut my ears off.

This is just a demo but i pray to God, Satan, Muhammed or whoever might listen "dont ever let them release a full length", Cause this is just plain shit.
After hearing this i felt abruptum's songs actually had som stucture.(No offence to abruptum). It basicly sound like a guy getting drunk, Stealing a drum machine, Playing a guitar upside down, And hope for the best.

If you like grindcore dont you ever listen to Auschwitz's "sex blood and satan" cause its not nearly as good as for example Nasum, Save your ears.
And since i can't find no lyrics i dont even know what the hell the songs are about, Its just some abstract noise whit no track of profesionality whatsoever.

But if i should say somethig good about it, I can only say that the guys responsible for it sure had a good time recording it, And me and my friends had a good laughter while listen to it.

Please stay away from it it's not worth those 3 munutes.

I’d like to address a few points though on this update, a few commenters said that I couldn’t possibly mention House of Atreus Act I and The Spectre Within on a Rust in Peace review because, apparently, according to these self-appointed authorities of metal, those albums are not in the same radar or wavelength as said thrash record, i.e. they are “inferior” metal subgenres. Not only is such an opinion invalid, it is also laughably absurd and stupid. Who are they to judge that the techniques used on said albums are less difficult to pull off than the tricks employed by Marty and Dave on Rust? Needless to say but even the technicality of neoclassical soloing were merely ripped off by thrash bands in the late eighties in the hopes of giving respectability to their earlier works; power and prog are separated from thrash and technical thrash by a very thin layer, the differences between the styles are really very minuscule. In fact the “mellower” forms of thrash associated with Metallica and Megadeth have more in common with hard rock, speed, power and prog metal; thrash itself sprung from a fusion of NWOBHM and hardcore punk (which itself is a very unmetal music genre). These commenters are a giant tank of human excrement for insinuating that power metal or prog cannot possibly aspire to become an equal or even surpass their beloved tech thrash classics; How childish and vain indeed, we are living in the 21st Century and we have these pitiful man-children; House of Atreus Act I would definitely fuck these geeks’ filthy ear-holes while they’re being pounded by their boyfriends from behind (tit for tat dude, I’m no homophobe but your closet homosexuality is quite revealing on that unicorn joke of yours, ha). Also, what is the big deal about this “hierarchy of styles” within metal? Shouldn’t albums be judged and critiqued based on the overall sound, fluidity, and cohesion of ideas of the completed effort? But the most perplexing conundrum here is the almost religious fervor that these people attach to a style or subgenre. “Technical” or “thrash” connote mystical, supernatural or divine qualities to these folks that other styles cannot possibly be any good or are beneath the said formats. As such, they believe, because they listen avidly to these styles, they have imbibed the qualities of an elite Special Forces operative or belong to a nobility of Spartan warriors, fighting heathen barbarians in some eldritch battlefield. More often than not though, reality bites them in the ass, they’re actually just inside a bathroom, whacking off like Kevin Spacey’s pathetic character in American Beauty. For fuck’s sake, thrash (or technical thrash) like all other metal subgenres, is just a tool or a kitchen implement like a rolling pin used to shape pizza dough. It is not something to be placed on an altar or shrine to be venerated or chant incantations to. Yes, people, everybody, bow down to the golden rolling pin, let’s offer sacrifices to the immaculate rolling pin!