CYDEMIND - The Descent

CYDEMIND

Album: The Descent

Genre: Instrumental Progmetal

Release Date: November 4th, 2022

Country: Canada

Label: Self-Released

Band Links: WEBSITE / BANDCAMP / INSTAGRAM / FACEBOOK / TWITTER

2022 seems to become an incredibly strong year for instrumental prog releases, that show up in a wonderful diversity at the moment. Canadian quintet CYDEMIND line themselves up into this illustrious row with their new album “The Descent”, which is their 2nd full-length, and will be out on November 4th. Having been around for 11 years now, the band consists of Olivier Allard (violin), Alexandre Dagenais (drums), Nico Damoulianos (bass), Camille Delage (piano & keyboards), and Kevin Paquet (guitars). Regarding the conceptual idea, “The Descent” deals with obsessions and the abysses into which they can plunge the human mind.

Fitting to that they open with “Obsessions”, which works like an overture by introducing the main motifs, drawing the listener in with a groovy, yet varied rhythmic. The guitar sound comes along rather gloomy with a good heaviness, building an interesting contrast to the bright violin and piano melodies. The following “Hoax” is one of my favorites because of its great dynamic: While they start more classical in style, you can hear them turning into the funky direction along the way, and the groovy bass line bringing in a bit of an 80s movie soundtrack vibe. The interplay between all musicians sounds so effortlessly, even though the music is highly complex actually. With “Breach” things get heavier, offering beautiful, soaring violin and keyboard parts on top of the mighty background instrumentation.

Over the next songs, they further play with these wonderful, varied ingredients: While “Call of the Void” is even darker than the previous songs, changing mood and tempo several times, “Hemlock” calms down a bit just to skillfully grow up tension again, and a long, melancholic guitar solo taking us to the great finale of this nearly 14 minutes piece, where the initial motif comes back. “Slumber” gives us a little rest, invites the listener to drift away for a moment, before they close the album in an epic way with “The Last Stone”.

CYDEMIND are clearly one of this year’s pleasant surprises for me, as I wasn’t aware of that kind of “violin meets progmetal” so far. Their music always has a certain energy, whether during the slower or faster parts, comes along with a beautiful lightness, but is powerful and heavy nevertheless. It is groovy, mesmerizing melodious, yet complex, and smoothly performed thanks to the great skills of all musicians involved. The huge joy in their playing, which can be felt from the beginning, makes their wandering through the different styles sound so effortlessly. Last but not least, the detailed production supports their work to shine in the best light, and makes “The Descent” a marvelous listen – Highly recommended to check them out \m/

Written by Katha