To explain to the beginners when Jazz/Fusion influences entered in Death Metal, giving that technical and different aesthetics to the style is not an easy task. Unfortunately, some information is hidden in the sands of the past, and maybe in some moment of the future someone can find it. Many bands can be named as the founding fathers of this source of creative power in Death Metal. Personally, I think that CYNIC, a legendary North American band from Florida, is the pioneer in this question. This compilation, called "Uroboric Forms - The Complete Demo Recordings" is a testimony of what I mean.

The material on this compilation comes from the Demo Tapes "Demo 1990" (tracks 4-6), "Demo 1991" (tracks 1-3), "Reflections of a Dying World" (from 1989, and tracks 7-10 are from this Demo), "Demo 1989" (tracks 11-13), and tracks 14 and 15 come from the vocal audition with Brian DeNeffe (from VIOGRESSION) from 1992, never released before. So you can have the clear idea how the Avant-garde influences entered in their musical work in a gradual way. But even in the beginning, CYNIC wasn't a band that would fit in a model, it's clear that they weren't kidding. The technical insight is clear, and in the middle of their brutal insight, the revolutionary idea was clear. But of course, you'll notice some differences from Demo to Demo, not only due the evolution of their musical ideas, but as well due some changes on band's line-up.

The sound quality is surprisingly good. Even being taken from old Demo Tapes, the quality of the sound that awaits our ears is not as bad as you might think. Of course, it's not like the modern sound quality from digital era, but they are pretty good, allowing us to understand what the band was about in those days.

1991's version of "Uroboric Forms" and "The Eagle Nature" can be compared with their versions from 1992 versions, and you'll understand how CYNIC evolved a lot in only one year. But to hear the brutal insight of "Pleading for Preservation" (that is filled with extremely technical moments from bass guitar and drums) is a good experience as well. Besides technically and really amazing, "Lifeless Irony", "Thinking Being" and "Cruel Gentility", along with "Denaturalizing Leaders", "Extremes", "A Life Astray", "Agitating Affliction", "Once Misguided", "Weak Reasoning" and "Dwellers of the Threshold" are songs that show a more aggressive and brutal format from a band that was still constructing their musical personality (but even here, you'll hear moments where the future core of CYNIC's musical work). It's not fair on my part to take this or that song as their finest moment, because "Uroboric Forms - The Complete Demo Recordings" isn't a regular release, but a fine documentation of the band's past.

For now, I believe that the band's fans will love it, as well as Death Metal maniacs, but I believe that Metalheads don't care about genres in Metal.