 | Cynic Kindly Bent to Free Us
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| | Full Review | Ratings (811) |
Give your Rating |
| 3.0 good | KILL | February 3rd 14 |
snap crackle and flop
21 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.0 good | MeatSalad | February 3rd 14 |
kindly bent to THREE us
21 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | Kusuriuri | February 3rd 14 |
I want to bent this album in completely non-kind ways for making me waste the time I could've spent not listening to this.
12 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | Necrotica | January 23rd 14 |
It's almost worth the mounds of boring mediocre claims it receives.
9 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.0 poor | bigguytoo9 | February 3rd 14 |
Cynic are back with another worthy addition to their slim but very rewarding discography.
7 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | Scoot | February 2nd 14 |
this is the stuff fedoras and neckbeards are made of
7 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | PenisWrangler | February 5th 14 |
Kindly bent to suck this big fat dick if you know what I'm saying ladies
6 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | Shadow17 | January 29th 14 |
Digging the first 3 tracks [Lion, Kindly and Speak] quite a lot so far. Given, the direction from old Cynic to this is big. Lyrics? Gone off the deep end. Guitar play? From jazz-death to psych, pop-groove experimental metal. Airy stuff that seems to lack its bearing, but is more inventive and surreal than some of their earlier work. Not sure if its better or can reach the heights of Focus or Traced, but its a different beast. It's kind of an evolution of Carbon, but even more exploratory. Hard to rank it amongst them, but rank it we will. Slap a different band name on it and it might've been better received so far. But with their pedigree, kind of hard not to contrast and compare.
6 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | RandyJackson | January 29th 14 |
This is real music, dawg! America's got a lot of talent y'know, the public really knows what's best
5 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | AngelofDeath EMERITUS | February 11th 14 |
moar liek kindly bent over to take it in the ass
4 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | Julianna Reed EMERITUS | February 6th 14 |
Eat your hearts out Periphery and other "progressive metal" bands. You wish you could create music with songwriting half as good as this. Eat your hearts out Periphery and other "progressive metal" bands. You wish you could create music with songwriting half as good as this. Eat your hearts out Periphery and other "progressive metal" bands. You wish you could create music with songwriting half as good as this. r
4 Bumps | Bump |
| 5.0 classic | PRSrules | February 3rd 14 |
Incredible musicianship. A clear departure from their earlier work, but nonetheless still a
wonderful album. Gotta love the work they did with their instruments. Even though the style
has changed, it clearly still has the Cynic vibe. Love the organic production too. It feels
warm. Could have been even better to me if Tymon Kruidenier were still with them because he
would have nailed another bunch of amazing guitar solos on this. Music from outer
space.
4 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | YoYoMancuso STAFF | January 29th 14 |
So my soundoff about lasagna got deleted. Garfield and I are currently in the process of writing an angry
letter to Jom
4 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.0 poor | Underflow | February 7th 14 |
Gonna hold off for the epic Akerfeldt/Masvidal collab album to hear the gigantic Opeth synth fart transition into some wanky alt prog bass playing with snack snap crackle feel the pain in my brain pop lyrics, cue jethro tull doom metal flute section.
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | jacobybelgium | February 6th 14 |
I'd say the worst thing about this album is the lyrics. Other than that, the music just fine.
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | StormChaser | February 4th 14 |
I bet this is an acquired taste just like their first 2 were
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | demon of surveillance | February 3rd 14 |
Eat your hearts out Periphery and other "progressive metal" bands. You wish you could create
music with songwriting half as good as this. EDIT: Looks like my inital soundoff was too
opinionated. My apologies djentfags. Needs another listen.
3 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | I. M. Gay | December 30th 14 |
Cynic kindly bent to queef all over our faces
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.8 good | Thompson D. Gerhart STAFF | February 6th 14 |
It occurred to me just today that the bass on this sounds like Barry White's farts.
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.0 poor | Robert Garland STAFF | February 5th 14 |
Lifeless, formless heading in one single direction
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | Tw1ster | February 3rd 14 |
I really enjoyed this. I'm more of a fan of this sound than the tech-death sound. The vocals and lyrics are the weakest aspects of the album but still enjoyable
2 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.0 good | GamamJ | September 1st 20 |
A very nice album. This album seems to get hate from the Death Metal elitists I guess, but the Cynic is still very mich in here with their fusion chops and the occasional metal riff. Is it more prog/fusion than metal? Yes. Are Masvidal?s vocals not exactly the best ever? Yes. Is it bad? Not even slightly.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | Jared Floryan | October 2nd 14 |
(10/22/17): Oof! To think that I defended Kindly Bent to Free Us upon my first impressions of the album... When compared to legendary progressive death metal unit Cynic's first two studio recordings, this is a useless effort on the troupe's end. Paul Masvidal's singing takes much bigger priority than even the cleans on Traced in Air, and unfortunately his performance is on the mediocre side of things. More vocoder utilization plus smatterings of growls would've helped somewhat. The instrumentation for what it's worth is alright here, but 'alright' doesn't cut the mustard given how Kindly... ain't a swell representation of the wizardry Cynic could pull off in the past. If you'd like to get a taste of what the third full-length could've been, "True Hallucination Speak" and "The Lion's Roar" is a promising one-two punch. The other tracks range from w/e to pure wimpy quality-wise, therefore it's better not to waste any time digging in.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.2 good | Trey STAFF | March 24th 14 |
So, Cynic can still throw their fans some curveballs. This isn't nearly as instant, as metal or as catchy as their previous albums. This is the band drawing down to their prog roots and making expansive, sprawling (by Cynic standards) tracks that will require all kinds of work to finally process and retain. This one may take all year to grow.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 0.0 | Lambda | February 15th 14 |
Cynic bent their sound with kind intentions, and it freed us from any notions of their next album being great. Yeah, that was kind of forced. Whatever. The problem with this record is that it's like a nice breeze. It's not unpleasant to listen to, but nothing really happens for its duration. It just blows by... like a breeze (there's the connection). I can't say that this is a bad album, because it's not, but it's not a very captivating one either- and for a band as established as Cynic, that is pretty surprising. 2.8
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | Manland | February 12th 14 |
Obviously going to upset some of the "HUR DURR HOW DARE A BAND DO WHAT THEY DESIRE INSTEAD OF WHAT I WANT" camp of sputnik. This isn't the first time Cynic has released a more experimental album after a (retrospectively) more successful effort (see: Portal tapes). There are some real gems on here and some not-as-good songs, but nowhere NEAR as bad as some on this site are describing it.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.5 average | Comatorium. | February 10th 14 |
Cynic finally fizzles out and the genius well has run dry. Kindly Bent has arrived and brings with it a listening experience that is a tepid, meandering blur, a mess of ideas that tarnishes Cynic's perfect track record.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 2.0 poor | JS19 | February 6th 14 |
They could release a recording of Masvidal taking a dump and neckbeards on /mu/ would still get hard
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 3.5 great | My Name Is Mud | February 5th 14 |
I reckon Masdival released poor singles on purpose, although they sound better within the context of the album the other tracks here eclipse them easily. A solid and enjoyable release by Cynic, but by no means up to par with their other releases.
1 Bumps | Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | Deadwing2112 | August 5th 20 |
Kindly Bent to Free Us is the aptly titled third and presumably final studio release by progressive metal band Cynic. This record is a branch offshoot away from its metal roots clearly expressed in the well received Focus (1993) and follow up Traced in Air (2008). The band's off again/on again turbulent existence and dormancy suggestively masks the evolution of its more atmospheric and expansive sound; somewhat making this long anticipated a release rather shocking and confusing to its fan base. Clearly a progressive rock template with clean vocals replaces the more familiar and popular angst metal, harsh vocal presence. For some, this simply isn't the Cynic expected and obtusely unwilling to accept. However repeated listening and the passage of time yield a returnable sustenance of excellence and maintains a freshness with this reviewer six years after its release. Rest in peace Sean Reinert.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | J.C. van Beekum | June 25th 20 |
I'm simply going to ratify the general perception towards this recod: what a disillusionment.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | Bedex | May 20th 20 |
I would love to like it, but this album is killed by completely erratic song structures. The tracks have nice sections, but they almost all feel disjointed and there appears to be no direction they want to get you to. It lost me entirely because of this. There are other problems I find, like the bass tone and lines feel really odd in places, for instance in the opening track right after a great intro, but song structure is clearly the core flaw here. 1 does have some nice atmospheric sections but already showcases all of the album's problems. 2 is cool and has a jammy chorus despite the cringy bass, but it is pretty much the only track here that I'd say is worthwhile as a whole. The intro to 3 brings the psych back and the last third is cool too, but the rest lost me. 4 starts off more aggressively which is cool, but again the track structure made no sense to me. And honestly after this point I kinda lost track, reinforced by 5 just being kinda long and interludey. The passage at 3:40 on 7 is a clear example of what I mean: there is a lovely buildup that randomly resolves into a weird, pointless solo. 8 has a terrible intro and doesn't save the goodies in any way. 2.9
Bump |
| 2.5 average | BHAR | June 15th 16 |
True Hallucination Ideas and Endlessly Bountiful are great tracks and could have been used on Focus/Traced In Air. As for the rest of this album... meh...
Bump |
| 1.5 very poor | EasterInTheBatcave | December 15th 15 |
A pleasant record that leaves absolutely no impression on the listener. Cynic have produced an airy, unremarkable, wafer-thin disappointment.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | svinariezas | August 2nd 14 |
Pretty strange sounding album. It's also Cynic's most mellow and jazzy one with very unusual "chamber music" feel. But... Two tracks are just great. 'Kindly Bent To Free Us' and 'Holy Fallout'. The magical outro from 'Holy Fallout' is surpassed only by outro from 'How Could I' in my opinion.
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | BRAman22 | July 6th 14 |
Kindly Bent to Free Us is quite different from Cynic's two previous full length albums, as it is more of a prog rock album. While this may keep it from being as great as those two records, it still manages to be a great listen, in large part due to its melodic nature.
Bump |
| 0.0 | DarknessPrevails | May 6th 14 |
Could have been retitled "Kindly Bent To Bore Us." While not a bad record, Cynic's new release didn't live up to its predecessors, and not just because of its exclusion of harsh vocals or their shift to a more progressive rock sound. On its own, it's still pretty enjoyable here or there, but mostly feels like something you would listen to in order to fall asleep. Focus this is not.
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | lalchimiste | March 25th 14 |
Cynic goes all-in prog rock. Melody, technicality and the distinct cynic sound is all here, but the album as a whole is lacking the magic that made Focus and Traced in Air instant classics
Bump |
| 3.3 great | Voivod STAFF | March 22nd 14 |
Cynic kindly bent to free themselves from the "obligation" of recording a "breakthrough" album, which feels like a "breakthrough" for the band per se, since fans expected Cynic to record a "breakthrough" album.
Bump |
| 3.0 good | PerpetualChange | February 19th 14 |
Cynic changing their sound to be less metal was expected, but Cynic doing something as airy and frictionless as "Kindly Bent to Free Us" was not. Melodies are strong, if not somewhat lethargic, and for once lyrics are delivered plainly, with only a minimal amount of stylistic effects. Patience and familiarity from repeated listens slowly unveils the power of the record, even if it's a tad underwhelming.
Bump |
| 2.0 poor | Pon EMERITUS | February 15th 14 |
[insert joke about queef/butt sex/sucking dick/rice bubbles/no dm/capacity of human intelligence here]
Bump |
| 0.0 | FearTomorrow | February 15th 14 |
Kindly bent to queef all over our faces. r
Bump |
| 5.0 classic | Amebix | February 6th 14 |
Best album they ever did, will be hard to do a follow up on this one.
Bump |
| 2.5 average | InFiction | February 6th 14 |
Kindly prog to prog us is a disappointing affair. Kind of like when mum cheated on dad with Gavin from work and he turned out to be a real bummer. Probably cause he listened to this album. Poor Gavin.
Bump |
| 4.0 excellent | cb123 | January 31st 24 |
| 3.0 good | Shwany | January 13th 23 |
| 3.0 good | Bren80 | December 4th 22 |
| 3.5 great | Samuel | September 27th 22 |
| 3.0 good | Djokoll | September 14th 22 |
| 3.5 great | Diogie | June 27th 22 |
| 3.0 good | Poet | January 29th 22 |
| 5.0 classic | Katoji | January 3rd 22 |
| 4.0 excellent | LedZep94 | December 21st 21 |
| 3.0 good | Brains | December 6th 21 |
| 3.0 good | Dwap | December 5th 21 |
| 3.0 good | Azrael | December 1st 21 |
| 3.5 great | NoXoR | November 26th 21 |
| 2.5 average | xlev | November 25th 21 |
| 2.5 average | Spag | October 7th 21 |
| 3.5 great | bSmith | September 30th 21 |
| 4.0 excellent | Jerrad | August 30th 21 |
| 4.0 excellent | Pizza | August 3rd 21 |
| 2.0 poor | Harlz | February 26th 21 |
| 4.0 excellent | Basina | December 26th 20 |
| 2.5 average | Source | July 4th 20 |
| 3.5 great | remi | May 16th 20 |
| 3.0 good | Spec | May 1st 20 |
| 3.0 good | ulcer | April 20th 20 |
| 3.0 good | SuzyC | April 19th 20 |
| 3.0 good | Skye09 | December 22nd 19 |
| 4.5 superb | ghoglan | October 21st 19 |
| 2.0 poor | cvlts | October 8th 19 |
| 5.0 classic | adios | July 31st 19 |
| 2.0 poor | JOK | July 6th 19 |
| 2.0 poor | josh | June 10th 19 |
| 3.5 great | Josh | May 29th 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | qyxxxyq | April 9th 19 |
| 4.0 excellent | bobby72 | December 12th 18 |
| 3.5 great | ARDCWE | November 2nd 18 |
| 2.5 average | Casavir | September 27th 18 |
| 3.0 good | YuckFou | September 11th 18 |
| 2.5 average | Bobshat | February 15th 18 |
| 3.5 great | Tib | February 4th 18 |
| 3.0 good | Sapee | February 1st 18 |
| 4.0 excellent | Defcol | January 10th 18 |
| 2.5 average | Feels | December 10th 17 |
| 3.0 good | RAGG | December 2nd 17 |
| 4.0 excellent | TheCynic | November 29th 17 |
| 3.5 great | madagu | October 16th 17 |
| 5.0 classic | loulou | October 5th 17 |
| 2.5 average | MrSu | October 2nd 17 |
| 4.5 superb | Arkadin | September 2nd 17 |
| 2.5 average | Since | April 4th 17 |
| 1.5 very poor | Redlar | March 20th 17 |
| 2.0 poor | 2ool | February 13th 17 |
| 3.5 great | solrage | February 11th 17 |
| 2.5 average | Snide | February 6th 17 |
| 3.0 good | Nights | November 21st 16 |
| 3.0 good | Swarm | November 14th 16 |
| 2.0 poor | Hyndez | October 29th 16 |
| 3.0 good | GxTxK | October 23rd 16 |
| 2.5 average | Rice303 | October 17th 16 |
| 4.5 superb | Jexic | August 7th 16 |
| 2.5 average | papudo | July 6th 16 |
| 4.0 excellent | Rwolf1 | July 5th 16 |
| 1.5 very poor | pingu53 | April 8th 16 |
| 2.0 poor | Leymon | February 23rd 16 |
| 2.5 average | dvd0bvb | February 12th 16 |
| 3.0 good | Bag123 | February 12th 16 |
| 3.0 good | Henry | January 29th 16 |
| 3.0 good | Pegana | December 1st 15 |
| 2.5 average | Flave | November 10th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | Chester1 | November 10th 15 |
| 3.0 good | GMBass | October 27th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | fll | October 15th 15 |
| 5.0 classic | DrBrain | September 28th 15 |
| 3.0 good | Cryio | September 27th 15 |
| 1.5 very poor | Fozzie | September 26th 15 |
| 2.0 poor | Pavera | September 21st 15 |
| 2.5 average | wangz | August 17th 15 |
| 1.0 awful | Hawks | August 16th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | Diachy | July 13th 15 |
| 2.5 average | Jeejee | June 6th 15 |
| 2.5 average | JKoppe | May 20th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | MrWest | April 6th 15 |
| 3.5 great | Elixen | March 25th 15 |
| 2.0 poor | Runeii | March 21st 15 |
| 3.0 good | Herty | March 19th 15 |
| 3.0 good | Wedm | March 16th 15 |
| 2.0 poor | JSPRG | February 26th 15 |
| 2.5 average | mrend55 | February 23rd 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | progsun | February 12th 15 |
| 4.5 superb | juninja | February 12th 15 |
| 4.0 excellent | Peeps9 | January 22nd 15 |
| 2.5 average | slaps | December 16th 14 |
| 2.5 average | "Tab" | November 16th 14 |
| 2.5 average | nyshago | November 6th 14 |
| 2.5 average | Titan | October 22nd 14 |
| 3.5 great | Jamper | October 16th 14 |
| 3.0 good | Gnome7 | October 15th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Jwar375 | October 6th 14 |
| 2.5 average | GibTG | September 29th 14 |
| 3.0 good | CYCO27 | September 25th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Emmur3 | September 19th 14 |
| 3.0 good | ADV123 | September 4th 14 |
| 3.0 good | heck | August 5th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Surtur | July 27th 14 |
| 3.5 great | eXxist | July 25th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Loot | July 22nd 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | JSJC | July 17th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Blump | June 27th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Awake88 | June 20th 14 |
| 3.5 great | mursu | June 5th 14 |
| 2.5 average | Fujay | May 15th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Dummit | May 10th 14 |
| 1.5 very poor | Irving EMERITUS | May 9th 14 |
| 2.5 average | Cal665 | May 2nd 14 |
| 3.0 good | ngk44 | April 25th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | ashder | April 22nd 14 |
| 3.0 good | Matski | April 13th 14 |
| 3.0 good | beni | April 8th 14 |
| 3.0 good | Prole | April 5th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Husker | March 31st 14 |
| 4.5 superb | Flyboy | March 30th 14 |
| 3.5 great | arf | March 30th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Groink | March 27th 14 |
| 2.5 average | facupm | March 24th 14 |
| 2.0 poor | Tomes | March 24th 14 |
| 5.0 classic | Zel | March 18th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Lynx1 | March 14th 14 |
| 3.0 good | Escain | March 11th 14 |
| 2.0 poor | bakor | March 10th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Veldin | March 9th 14 |
| 3.0 good | greg84 EMERITUS | March 8th 14 |
| 4.5 superb | ratto | March 7th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Adam | March 4th 14 |
| 1.0 awful | Mootgut | February 26th 14 |
| 3.5 great | jmh886 | February 26th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Tale | February 25th 14 |
| 2.0 poor | xist | February 23rd 14 |
| 3.0 good | Gbhill | February 22nd 14 |
| 2.0 poor | hsb | February 20th 14 |
| 4.5 superb | jkr5001 | February 19th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | cjacob6 | February 19th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | VanJalen | February 19th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | sora236 | February 18th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Xenoflux | February 17th 14 |
| 4.5 superb | vordven | February 17th 14 |
| 3.0 good | Hati | February 17th 14 |
| 3.0 good | 6EQUJ5 | February 16th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | TheIbar | February 15th 14 |
| 2.0 poor | Pulyx | February 14th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | CutMan | February 14th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Mabbitt | February 13th 14 |
| 2.0 poor | Bea | February 13th 14 |
| 2.5 average | Digis | February 12th 14 |
| 3.5 great | foxxxy | February 12th 14 |
| 2.5 average | Wadlez | February 12th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | misho87 | February 12th 14 |
| 3.5 great | adace1 | February 11th 14 |
| 3.0 good | WEC | February 11th 14 |
| 3.0 good | Sunlar | February 11th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | alsid | February 10th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | LepreCon | February 10th 14 |
| 3.0 good | Tyrael | February 10th 14 |
| 2.0 poor | Wizard | February 9th 14 |
| 3.5 great | N2B3J | February 8th 14 |
| 2.5 average | Fjolnir | February 8th 14 |
| 2.5 average | DANcore | February 8th 14 |
| 1.5 very poor | wwf | February 7th 14 |
| 2.5 average | Zeg | February 7th 14 |
| 3.0 good | Lani | February 7th 14 |
| 2.5 average | Zantera | February 6th 14 |
| 3.3 great | SgtPepper EMERITUS | February 6th 14 |
| 2.5 average | MO | February 6th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Drawk | February 6th 14 |
| 3.5 great | Thor | February 4th 14 |
| 4.0 excellent | Glider | February 4th 14 |
| 2.8 good | Athom EMERITUS | February 4th 14 |
| 2.0 poor | adr | February 3rd 14 |
| 5.0 classic | NieR | February 3rd 14 |
| 3.0 good | NBA | February 3rd 14 |
| 3.0 good | RedSky | February 2nd 14 |
| 3.5 great | Myrkur | February 2nd 14 |
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