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What the hell is this supposed to be? I will confess to never having heard Cynic's lauded Focus album because, frankly, I detest jazz. If I could go back in time with enough nuclear weapons to make sure jazz never existed, I would. So a jazz/fusion Thrash band never interested me at all. I will not argue that Masvidal, Reinert, and Malone are not fantastic players, because they obviously are. If you doubt it, just check out the sublime joys of the underrated Gordian Knot. I admit I was excited to see what these guys could do back together again after so long.

Not much, as it turns out. After fifteen years Cynic produce another very brief 35 minute album, and there's not much that I like about it at all. There is precious little metal about this, and between the thin guitar sound and lack of real riffs, there is nothing metallic about this in the slightest. The playing is good, and I can tell these guys had fun making this and like the music they made, but there's not much too it. The worst part of this is clearly Masvidal's awful, awful singing. There are some growls here and there, sure, but they are very much in the background. Mostly the vocals are a light, floaty clean style that not only sounds wussy, but it's washed through so many effects it sounds like something you'd hear on a pop record.

I was expecting this to be, if anything, too wanky. Instead, this is just weak: weak songs, muted playing, and sorry-assed vocals. This isn't unlistenable, but it is not really worth your time.