Cynic — Ascension Codes
✦✦✧✧ Moody, jazzy, unique… undeniably Cynic. Also, very navelgazey, twice as long as it needs to be, and (you had to know this was coming) barely metal. Seriously, this is in some ways pathologically anti- metal. Like, any time Paul Masvidal starts getting close to groove or a riff, the band has to stop, change the tempo and cut the volume.