''Traced in Air'' is the second studio album by the

progressive metal Progressive metal (sometimes shortened to prog metal) is a broad :Fusion music genres, fusion music genre melding heavy metal music, heavy metal and progressive rock, combining the loud "aggression" and amplified electric guitar, guitar-driven s ...

band Cynic. It is the first album since their 1993 debut ''

Focus Focus, or its plural form foci may refer to: Arts * Focus or Focus Festival, former name of the Adelaide Fringe arts festival in South Australia Film *''Focus'', a 1962 TV film starring James Whitmore * ''Focus'' (2001 film), a 2001 film based ...

''.

History

Cynic disbanded during the fall of 1994 while working on a new album. On January 17, 2008, Cynic resumed musical activity and Paul Masvidal said he wanted to complete the project after the Reunion Tour. It was originally believed that Cynic would be working with

Jason Suecof Jason Suecof (born April 3, 1980) is an American record producer, audio engineer and guitarist best known for his work with heavy metal bands such as Trivium, Battlecross, Death Angel, All That Remains, Bury Your Dead, The Black Dahlia Murder, ...

of Capharnaum fame. However, Warren Riker ( Down's producer) was working with the band. Tymon Kruidenier was then announced as a hired replacement for guitarist David Senescu. Kruidenier also handled the death growls for the album. On July 19, 2008, Cynic announced through YouTube that the album's name is ''Traced in Air''. The release date for Traced in Air was pushed back to November 17, 2008 in Europe, and November 25, 2008 in North America. All album artwork was designed by

Robert Venosa Robert Venosa (January 21, 1936 – August 9, 2011) was an American artist who resided in Boulder, Colorado, USA. He studied with what are termed the New Masters. His artworks reside in collections around the world. Life and works Venosa first stud ...

. A remixed version of the album, ''Traced in Air Remixed,'' was released on September 27, 2019. The remix was produced by Adam "Nolly" Getgood, and featured new bass tracks from

Sean Malone Sean Malone (April 12, 1970 – December 7, 2020) was an American musician who played primarily fretless bass guitar and Chapman Stick. He was most famous for his work with progressive metal band Cynic, in which he developed a strong partners ...

. The growled vocals of Kruidenier were also mostly removed from the remixed version.

Style

In 2008, drummer Sean Reinert gave an update on the second studio album and its musical style in an interview with

Metal Hammer ''Metal Hammer'' is a heavy metal music magazine and website founded in 1983, published in the United Kingdom by Future, with other language editions available in numerous other countries. ''Metal Hammer'' features news, reviews and long-form ...

saying:

Paul Masvidal Paul Albert Masvidal (born January 20, 1971) is an American musician, best known as the guitarist, singer and a founding member of the progressive metal band Cynic (band), Cynic. He has remained a continual member in Cynic for nearly three dec ...

announced in 2008 in an interview with

Kerrang! ''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one- ...

magazine that the band were including two unreleased songs from when the band were working on the album in 1994, into the album. In July 2008, Blabbermouth revealed Masvidal had this to say on the album: In 2008,

Loudwire ''Loudwire'' is an American online media magazine that covers news of hard rock and heavy metal artists. It is owned by media and entertainment business Townsquare Media. Since its launch in August of 2011, ''Loudwire'' has secured exclusive ...

magazine ranked ''Traced In Air as #2'' in the 10 Best Metal Albums of 2008. The first track and the last track of this album juxtapose each other by being exact opposites, both different philosophies of time. ''Nunc fluens'', Latin for "flowing now," is the belief in time and the flow of it through an eternity, never beginning nor stopping. ''Nunc stans'', Latin for "abiding now", is the belief that time itself doesn't exist, and that any distinctions between now, before and the future have either fallen away or don't exist. In 2018,

Decibel Magazine ''Decibel'' is a monthly heavy metal magazine published by the Philadelphia-based Red Flag Media since October 2004. Its sections include Upfront, Features, Reviews, Guest Columns and the Decibel Hall of Fame. The magazine's tag-line is currentl ...

ranked ''Traced In Air'' as #4 in the Top Ten Metal Reunion Albums. In 2019, Dominik Böhmer of the blog EverythingIsNoise.net wrote:

"Where would we be without Cynic? Where would Cynic be without ''Traced In Air''? I don’t want to imagine that world. 2008’s LP by the crown princes of progressive metal set the high watermark for progressive metal in the new millennium, one that has arguably still not been surpassed."

Wil Lewellyn of Treblezine.com listed ''Traced In Air'' amongst the ''10 Essential Sci-Fi Metal Albums'':

"The album is sonically heavier than ''Focus'', but no less overt in its prominent jazz influence, with tracks like “Evolutionary Sleeper” showing they could defy time and be the band from the past and a band from the future at the same time." – Wil Lewellyn

Track listing

Personnel

–

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

guitar synth A guitar synthesizer is any one of a number of musical instrument systems that allow a guitarist to access synthesizer capabilities. Overview Today's guitar synths are direct descendants of 1970s devices from manufacturers (often in partner ...

Sean Reinert Sean Reinert (May 27, 1971 – January 24, 2020) was an American musician. He was the drummer for the rock band Æon Spoke and the drummer and founding member of the progressive metal band Cynic (band), Cynic until leaving the band in Septemb ...

–

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

percussion A percussion instrument is a musical instrument that is sounded by being struck or scraped by a beater including attached or enclosed beaters or rattles struck, scraped or rubbed by hand or struck against another similar instrument. Exc ...

– bass,

Chapman Stick The Chapman Stick is an electric musical instrument devised by Emmett Chapman in the early 1970s. A member of the guitar family, the Chapman Stick usually has ten or twelve individually tuned strings and is used to play bass lines, melody lines, ...

* Tymon Kruidenier – guitar,

death growl A death growl, or simply growl, is an extended vocal technique usually employed in extreme styles of music, particularly in death metal and other extreme subgenres of heavy metal music. Death growl vocals are sometimes criticized for their ...

s * Amy Correia – background vocals

References

{{Authority control Cynic (band) albums 2008 albums Season of Mist albums