Reviews

CD review: VEIL OF MAYA, [id]

By Ben Apatoff

On 2008's The Common Man Collapse, Chicago's VEIL OF MAYA brandished a cerebral form of deathcore that had no regard for metal's speed or complexity wars. Two years later, they're back with shorter songs, a stronger emphasis on proficiency and MICHAEL KEENE of THE FACELESS at helm. Their third album, [id] is a riveting slice of American death metal that Sumerian is releasing with four different album color schemes. You'd be crazy to pick up all four, but if you need to buy four copies of one record this year, [id] would be a solid choice. (more…)

A/V

A/V Roundup: GOROD cover CYNIC, SUICIDAL TENDENCIES live, new music from PERIPHERY, WOE OF TYRANTS

One progressive band covering their idols? Sign me up! Gorod is obviously heavily influenced by Cynic, so they decided to pay tribute to the band by posting a cover of the track "Textures" off Cynic's Focus LP. Sounds pretty awesome! Stream it on their MySpace page.

Speaking of progressive bands, PERIPHERY's album release is just around the corner and new music is popping up all over the place. The band has posted the final studio version "Light" on their MySpace page and "Icarus Lives" is streaming in this player. You may need to scroll through the player to find it. If that isn't enough for you, check out video clips we shot of both songs performed live (with their old singer Chris) over here.

It's no secret how much I love Sucidal Tendencies. They created some skate-thrash classics in the 80s, and they're about to put out a live DVD. Metal Hammer is hosting an exclusive clip from the Suicidal Tendencies DVD of the band performing "War Inside My Head." Good to see Mike Mur still going strong, even though he looks like a total dad now.

Finally, Woe Of Tyrants are currently streaming a new track, "Tempting the Wretch" over at MetalSucks. The song sounds really awesome and I encourage you guys to seek out their new album, Threnody when it comes out April 14th.

A/V

Levi/Werstler post first taste of their upcoming epic instrumental album

While we were at NAMM, Eyal Levi, guitarist of DAATH gave me and Frank a sneak peak and his upcoming instrumental album with fellow DAATH guitarist Emil Werstler, with Sean Reinert of CYNIC on drums. To say we were impressed is an understatement. The 20 or so minutes we heard were fucking incredible. (It also helped that were hot boxing in his rental car). Well, now you can get your first taste of this masterpiece as they have posted a track on their merch page (scroll down, it's on the right side). I've listened three times and I'm still not bored. The sound is obviously very reminiscent of DAATH, but still has it's own flavor to it. I will certainly be picking this one up, when it's released on 4/20.

A/V

So, about that new BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME video…

1. This band is amazing.
2. "Obfuscation" is taking prog-metal in a new direction.
3. I'm liking this video's set up.
4. Whoa, what just happened to that girl?
5. Clowns will never stop being creepy.
6. I can't wait to see this band with CYNIC and the DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT.
7. So far, this video has avoided every metal video cliche I can think of.
8. Are aliens behind all this?
9. A violent showdown with comic book-style narration, very nice.
10. GIVE ME A BREAK! (more…)

Fuck Yes! Tour Dates

OMFG! BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, CYNIC, DEVIN TOWNSEND and SCALE THE SUMMIT to tour in early 2010. UPDATED with FULL ITINERARY

sploogefest

Wow! MetalSucks has alerted me to the fact that BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME announced on their MySpace page that in January of 2010 they will be out on the road with CYNIC, THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT and SCALE THE SUMMIT. Holy shit… if they need a title for the tour, I got one: Sploogefest. Because that's what will happen when I see it. ThePRP has posted some unconfirmed dates. No idea where they got the dates as I couldn't find them anywhere else, but we're going to post them here anyway. When we get the official press release, you better believe we will post about it… UPDATE 10/27/09 – We just got a press release from Devin Townsend's label with a press release announcing the full schedule for the tour… (more…)

Quick Bits

DAATH Shredders Working With CYNIC drummer on killer side project

Woah! In his latest column for MetalSucks, DAATH guitarist and our very good friend Eyal Levi announced that he and fellow DAATH shredder Emil Werstler will be teaming up with (the man, the myth, the legend) Sein Reinert of CYNIC to work on a side-project shred album expected to be released in Spring 2010. Eyal elaborates: (more…)

Back in the Day

DEATH – Paving the Way of Technical Metal


DEATH – Lack of Comprehension

Today we know the name "Death" as the legendary death metal band that debatably started it all, but in 1991 they had only just begun. Their 4th studio LP, Human was regarded as a turning point for this Florida based death metal act by incorporating more technical and progressive playing through out the record while maintaining that extreme death metal sound. This may have been due to an all star line-up: guitarist/songwriter Paul Masvidal of CYNIC was asked to officially join Death after filling in on tours.  As we all know Masvidal  rejected his invitation in order to commit to his work with his own band Cynic, despite Death being a much bigger band at the time. When it came time to track the Human LP they had also recruited Cynic drummer Sean Reinert, and bassist Steve DiGiorio (Autopsy, Sadus, Testament, Iced Earth, Vintersorg) to complete the line up that would also go on to tour in support of the record.  Sean and Paul later left Death to release Cynic's debut 1993 LP "Focus"

This music video for "Lack of Comprehension" is the first of only 2 videos ever made for the band, featuring the recording line up. Watching Sean and Paul rock out with long hair is worth the viewing unto itself, but don't take my word for it…

Latest News

Around the Intrawebs: CYNIC documentary, SYSTEM OF A DOWN and more

YouTube Preview Image

Check out the above video for a really cool look at CYNIC's reunion as well as their recent tour with MESHUGGAH. More episodes of the doc can be seen at this Youtube channel. If you have yet to check out our interview with frontman Paul Masvidal, check it out, jerk!.

Our good friends over at SMN News have relaunched their website and it looks pretty sweet! Check those dudes out and subscribe to their RSS feed. You will also notice some awesome videos in the sidebar ;)

Finally, a very familiar writer has submitted his review of SYSTEM OF A DOWN's Toxicity to MetalSucks. It is the #14 Best Album of the 21st Century (so far) and some commenters on there ARE PISSED. Check it out.

Check out this really cool retrospective of horror film posters.

Tour Dates

CYNIC and DÅÅTH added to DRAGONFORCE tour

Well, this certainly spices things up a bit! On the heels of their big tour announcement, DRAGONFORCE have announced who they will be taking on the road with them, those bands being two Metal Injection favorites: CYNIC and DÅÅTH. This has become a pretty killer lineup. Too bad it seems to be hitting smaller markets as the tour is nowhere near New York City at all. If you have an opportunity to catch this show, do it! All three bands are super fun to see live. Full tour dates after the jump. Also, if you missed our recent interview with CYNIC frontman, Paul Masvidal, check that out here (more…)

Interviews

CYNIC confirm more touring plans in new METAL Injection interview

Click here to watch our interview with Paul Masvidal of Cynic

We have just posted a brand new interview we shot with Paul Masvidal of the legendary prog-death band CYNIC. This was seriously one of the coolest interviews I have ever conducted. Masvidal is one of the calmest, nicest people I have yet to meet. During the interview we talk to Paul about the reunion, the new record Traced in Air, the future of Cynic, how he stays so calm, changes in the scene between when he left and now, jazz-fusion bands and much more. Click here to watch the full interview. If you are too lazy to do that, here are two juicy excerpts about the future of the band:

On recording more music with CYNIC:

I'm really just trying to stay present and stay in the process, and I can't predict the future but I feel really good about how things are going right now so we'll see. Its not like a for the sake of a reunion record. Its more about staying in the flow and seeing what unfold. The way I see it is we're kind of in a groove and we will keep going.

On more touring to support their latest release, Traced In Air

We intentionally did these two support tours [with MESHUGGAH in the U.S. and OPETH in Europe] but we only did like half the U.S. on this, not even. So we have a lot more touring to do. I think we're going to do a lot of the festival stuff, maybe in the States and in Europe, also trying to get into some headlining dates as well.

Fuck yes! Like I said in the interview, we need a Cynic headlining tour with like a 2 hour set so they can noodle all night long. 45 minutes was not enough for their awesomeness. Stop being a pussy and just watch the interview already!

Go See This Fucking Band

MESHUGGAH, CYNIC and THE FACELESS destroyed last night

cynic

Last night, the entire Metal Injection crew came out for what may end up being the biggest show of 2009: Meshuggah, Cynic and The Faceless. It was truly place to be. Spotted in the crowd were members of GOD FORBID, A LIFE ONCE LOST and SUICIDE SILENCE. Everybody was there to see this killer lineup. (more…)

Power Hour

The POWER HOUR #9 — JCVD APPROVED

Noa's POWER HOUR

Noa is back with an all new episode of The Powah Houwah! Tune in as Noa makes your ears bleed with tracks from CYNIC, SINERGY, GAMMA RAY, EPICA, METAL CHURCH and more. Full playlist after the jump. Press download or prepare for termination. (more…)

Play

Podcast: Download

Monday Wake Up Call

Members of CYNIC & TEXTURES team up for metal fusion orgasm

3203815207_e220abffe6_oSorry for being a little late with this week's Monday Wake Up Call. My day job actually gave me work to do (you didn't think MI was a full time gig did you?). Anyhoo, over the weekend, Blabbermouth posted about an amazing project called EXIVIOUS.

The band seems to be a side project, and features in its rank some heavy hitters in the tech-metal scene: Tymon of CYNIC on guitar, CYNIC bassist Robin Zielhorst, TEXTURES drummer Stef Broks and Michel Nienhuis (ex-SENGAIA) on guitar. The band is filled with a bunch of metal and jazz fusion nerds, so naturally they are going to try to mold the two concepts together and from what I heard so far, it's definitely something worth checking out. The band plans to release an album later this year DIY with only 1000 copies of their CD being printed, each featuring unique artwork. Pretty interesting concept for a DIY release. The band posted the first track of their upcoming self-titled release over the weekend on their official website which you can stream below. Prepare to have your face melted…

Play

Podcast: Download

Free Swag

We're giving away a pair of tickets to each stop of the MESHUGGAH / CYNIC / THE FACELESS tour!

meshuggah-cynic-faceless-giveaway1

Oh shit, Talk about a sweet giveaway! Thanks to The Faceless, Metal Injection is able to bring you another sick giveaway! We are giving away a pair of tickets to each stop of the upcoming tech-metal-splooge-fest that will be MESHUGGAH / CYNIC / THE FACELESS. How do you enter? All you have to do is leave a comment on this post telling us which show you want to attend (A creative reason why you want to attend can't hurt your chances either.) The tour dates are below. Simply copy and paste the line with the date/venue you want to attend. When it gets a little closer to the beginning of the tour, we will start private messaging the junkies who have been drawn randomly to win. It's that simple!

And, if you haven't already, pick up Planetary Duality by The Faceless, featuring killer songs such as Xenochrist

Feb. 01 – House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
Feb. 02 – House of Blues – San Diego, CA
Feb. 03 – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA
Feb. 04 – Slim’s – San Francisco, CA
Feb. 06 – El Corazón – Seattle, WA
Feb. 07 – Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
Feb. 08 – Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC
Feb. 09 – Knitting Factory – Spokane, WA
Feb. 11 – Gothic Theatre – Englewood, CO
Feb. 13 – Station 4 – St. Paul, MN
Feb. 14 – The Rave – Milwaukee, WI
Feb. 15 – House Of Blues – Chicago, IL
Feb. 17 – Phoenix Concert Theatre – Toronto, ON
Feb. 18 – Club Soda – Montreal, QC
Feb. 19 – The Filmore at Irving Plaza – New York, NY
Feb. 20 – Recher Theatre – Towson, MD

(more…)

Tour Dates

MESHUGGAH / CYNIC / THE FACELESS to tour in 2009 (Updated)

Essential for this tour

UPDATE: WE ARE GIVING AWAY A PAIR OF TICKETS FOR EACH STOP ON THIS TOUR! CLICK HERE FOR MORE INFO

Oh dear. I just splooged in my pants. It has been officially announced that MESHUGGAH and CYNIC will be hitting the road together in 2009 for a full U.S. tour. Stop pinching yourself, you are not dreaming.

And, we have a bit of exclusive news to report on this. We can confirm that the opening band for this tour is none other than shredtastic Los Angeles outfit, THE FACELESS! Oh dear. I just splooged my pants again.

So far only a handful of dates for this tour have been announced, but rest assured as soon as we have more information, we will bring it you! On a side note, I'd like to mention that whoever booked this tour deserves some sort of award for Best. Tour. Ever!

Update: There were more dates just announced. Two more shows are expected to be announced for the tour. Updated itinerary below…

Feb. 01 – House of Blues – Anaheim, CA
Feb. 02 – House of Blues – San Diego, CA
Feb. 03 – House of Blues – Hollywood, CA
Feb. 04 – Slim’s – San Francisco, CA
Feb. 06 – El Corazón – Seattle, WA
Feb. 07 – Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
Feb. 08 – Commodore Ballroom – Vancouver, BC
Feb. 09 – Knitting Factory – Spokane, WA
Feb. 11 – Gothic Theatre – Englewood, CO
Feb. 13 – Station 4 – St. Paul, MN
Feb. 15 – House Of Blues – Chicago, IL
Feb. 17 – Phoenix Concert Theatre – Toronto, ON
Feb. 18 – Club Soda – Montreal, QC
Feb. 19 – [to be announced] – New York, NY
Feb. 20 – Recher Theatre – Towson, MD

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