Paul Masvidal Talks About the Welcoming Back of Cynic

In 1994 the prog-metal outfit Cynic decided it was time to move on to other things. Things not metal. The band had felt beat up and misunderstood by the metal community for not being loud enough or angry enough and having a love affair with melodies. Since then the band's full length 'Focus' grew a cult following, the kind of following that is rabid and forms bands as a monument to the band that challenged them to push boundaries. These are the fans that scream out "reunite" and wallpaper it all over the internet until it happens.

In 2006 Cynic returned and was shocked by the support they received. "We left this world. We put padlocks on that door and made plans to never reopen it but there was so much love that came from these hardcore Cynic fans that it blew me away. I was like, where did all of you come from? Because this is not what we remember," Cynic Singer/guitarist Paul Masvidal told Noisecreep while walking the quaint downtown of Omaha NE while on tour.

The first run of Cynic in the late 80s and early 90s though inspiring on record was a rough time for the band. "It was a tremendously difficult uphill battle for us in terms of getting respect or any type of acknowledgement. It was brutal. I think that was part of why we broke up." Paul explained, "The industry was just eating us alive not to mention no sense of validation or appreciation. I mean there were little waves of it but we just felt like outsiders in a community that didn't understand what we were doing."

All of this made returning to the metal world unappealing, but the fans have made a welcoming home party for Cynic. The celebration for Cynic goes past fans just lining up to see them and buying their new album 'Traced in Air'. Fans are bringing Paul mix CDs to listen to. "I'm not hip to the newer metal and progressive things and I keep saying this in interviews and at shows so I have fans giving me CDs now," Paul says," So little by little I'm getting reacquainted."

This outstretching from fans wanting to share music with the band they love is not lost on Paul; in fact, it's actions like this that made him feel comfort in a music scene that once cast Cynic out for not being like the others. He delightfully says, "The warmth and the love overrode any of the fear. And that made it so much easier to reenter this world. There is room for a band like Cynic now."