July 1, 2023
Toronto, Canada @ Lee’s Palace
Review/Photos: Billy Klare
The 2023 Cynic and Atheist co-headlining tour stopped in Toronto, Canada on July 1st with each band promising special 30th anniversary sets of their classic progressive technical death metal albums. Cynic is playing their 1993 masterpiece “Focus” in its entirety while Atheist performs songs from their first three albums – “Piece of Time” (1990), “Unquestionable Presence” (1991) and “Elements” (1993). I’m a major fan of both bands and was excited to see them live on this tour.
Cynic and Atheist share many similarities beyond being a progressive death metal band from the U.S. state of Florida. Each is currently led by their only original remaining band member – Atheist vocalist Kelly Shaefer and Cynic guitarist / vocalist Paul Masvidal. Both were faced with the tragic deaths of key band members ( Atheist bassist Roger Patterson & Cynic drummer Sean Reinhert and bassist Sean Malone). They even shared band members at one point (Tony Choy) and continue to tour in 2023 with a new younger generation of band mates.
The Montreal, Canada band Fall of Stasis opened the show with their unique blend of progressive blackened death metal. The vocals were primarily delivered in a black metal style but they also utilized death metal and clean vocals at times. The songs were aggressive but also incorporated plenty of melody to connect with the audience on first listen. I picked up traces of international musical influences including Celtic, middle eastern and folk. I was intrigued and plan to check out Fall of Stasis in more detail post show.
ATHEIST
Atheist was up next and started the show by wishing the Toronto crowd a happy Canada day. Kelly Shaefer’s vocals still sound fantastic and the younger musicians in the band provided high octane energy all night. Alex Hadaad (guitar), Yoav-Ruiz Feingold (Bass) and Jerry Witunsky (Guitar) were incredibly active on stage with non-stop head banging making it difficult to get pictures, everything was a blur with hair flying everywhere. Song selection was heavily skewed to the “Unquestionable Presence” masterpiece. My favorite tracks on Atheist’s “Piece of Time” debut album “I Deny”, “Piece of Time” and “Unholy War” were the standouts for me and had the mosh pit rotating at full velocity causing me to spill most of my $12 beer. We also got four songs from the “Elements” record including “Air”, “Fire”, “Mineral”, and “Water” which leaned a bit more to the progressive side of the Atheist catalogue.
This Atheist gig will go down as one of the better shows of 2023 for me. The songs perfectly balance progressive / technical complexity with the heaviness and brutality of old school death metal. I was so impressed with the current Atheist line-up, the younger guys ripped through the songs with controlled aggression, power and intensity. Kelly ended the show with the promise of a new album very soon. One interesting observation for old school Atheist fans, Kelly only performs vocals live these days leaving the guitar playing for his very capable band mates.
CYNIC
Cynic was the final band of the evening playing the entire “Focus” album. I found it a little odd the songs were played out of order but not a big deal, I was so excited to finally have the opportunity to hear this legendary album in a live setting. All the tech metal nerds were up front (myself included) giving Cynic a warm welcome as Paul Masvidal finally appeared. The stage set-up was unique with the drum kit placed on the complete left side of the stage, a tribute banner on the right side displaying the faces of Sean Reinhert & Sean Malone and the Cynic logo hanging at the back. Talented bassist Brandon Giffin played the entire show standing where the drum kit is normally placed and never moved from that spot.
Cynic perfectly reproduced the incredibly complex “Focus” record live which is no easy task. Paul’s vocals had the same vocal effects utilized on the album while guitarist Max Phelps delivered the supporting vocals in a traditional death metal style, the contrasting approach worked very well. Matt Lynch was able to successfully perform Reinhert’s innovative detailed drum parts which is a critical component of the overall Cynic sound. The set list also included “Adam’s Murmur” & “Evolutionary Sleeper” from the “Traced in Air” record and “In a Multiverse where Atoms Sing” from the more recent “Ascension Codes” album. Paul also wished the crowd a happy Canada day at the end of the performance.
Paul was interesting to see on stage for the first time. He spent as much time playing guitar on his knees and / or sitting on the stage with legs crossed as he did in the traditional standing position. At one point, he removed his shoes & socks and continued to perform barefoot for the rest of the show and even hit a few yoga poses. At another point, he pulled out what appeared to be a large incense stick and had the audience light it so he could wave it in front of the two Sean’s tribute banner. Definitely not your traditional death metal band.
Overall, an incredible night of progressive death metal that didn’t disappoint. I feel Atheist is better suited to close the shows on this particular tour given their more aggressive and energetic style. The cynic set was brilliant with outstanding musicianship but the underlying nature of their song writing takes the energy level down a few notches. Despite this minor band ordering issue, I highly recommend this tour to all progressive metal fans – it’s a must.