CYNIC is one of metal's most innovative success stories, the band recording its distinguished, and distinguishing, Focus in 1993 and then disappearing entirely, engendering the types of hushed tones and fogs of lore reserved for the likes of CARCASS or AT THE GATES before their respective comebacks. Cynic's 2008 reunion record, Traced In Air, was met the unanimous praise it deserved, and since then the group has continued to innovate via re-mix EP Traced and then experimental sojourn Carbon-Based Anatomy, both efforts exploring the limitless realms that Paul Masvidal's meditation and yoga bring to his already boundary-shattering collective. Kindly Bent To Free Us continues the Cynic explorative trajectory, but this time the L.A.-by-way-of-Miami band has gone classic rock, evoking images of '70s prog in some of the most direct of ways. But before we go too far down the GENESIS or YES road, let's let some explanation pave that highway: if Focus was the

cutting edge kid who didn't even realise the infernos that were being set in the wake of his actions, and if Traced In Air was the returning, once-absent adult with everything to prove, Kindly Bent To Free Us is the confident elder statesmen who accepts living life with the knowledge that, at some point, you can only be you. Kindly Bent To Free Us, then, marks a free-flowing era in Cynic's development, one that feels at peace with itself and all-knowing (but not in an ego-driven way; this is a humble all-knowingness), able to make choices and left turns at will, understanding that whatever happens will happen, one moment and one breath at a time. And it leads to some of the band's most interesting and unique results in years, save for maybe 'Veil Of Maya', 'The Space For This' and ' and 'Space'. Freedom's just another word for nothing to lose, it seems (that JOPLIN misquote is intentional, if you're wondering).