Metal Injection

"WHAT?! So the secret identity of Portal was Cynic all along?"

Nah, it just so happens that the very American progressive rock band, Cynic, used to be called Portal way back in the mid-'90s. That was around the same period the Australian Portal came into existence, but I bet the two didn't even know that they had shared the same name.

So anyway, Cynic / Portal will officially be releasing 10 songs that they demoed together 17 years ago in 2 months time. The lineup from back then had consisted of current Cynic members Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert, guitarist Jason Gobel, bassist Chris Kringel and female vocalist Aruna Abrams.

Masvidal justifies the repackaging of his early demos:

“I never thought this day would come. A couple demos we’d record after Focus, under the name ‘Portal‘, would develop a life of their own, and somehow become part of Cynic‘s larger discography. As an artist, it’s an amazingly unpredictable journey, to see these quiet labors of love, find their way, in their own time.”

Aptly and creatively named The Portal Tapes, the recording will arrive in North American stores on March 27th (March 23rd in Europe) through Season Of Mist, and will be limited to 5000 digipak CD’s and 1000 vinyl LP’s only.

Make sure you grab 'em while stocks last.