UPDATE, 12:08 P.M.: The band’s new single, “Carbon-Based Anatomy,” is now avail for free download here!!! Thanks to The PRP for gettin’ the scoop!!!

Ever since we announced Cynic would headline Night 2 of The Metal Suckfest we’ve been seing a bunch of emails and comments wondering just who exactly would be playing bass and second guitar in the band’s live lineup since bassist Robin Zielhorst and guitarist Tymon Kruidenier (both of Dutch fusion metal outfit Exivious) parted ways with Cynic in December 2010. Truth is we didn’t even know ourselves, but we figured Paul Masvidal and Sean Reinert would find suitable replacements in time; and, of course, they have.

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• Exist: Forward-thinking, forward-pushing progressive experimental metal with plenty of guts and grit, ala Intronaut or an intensified Cynic. These Marylanders actually remind me a lot of Carnal Rapture, an amazing Italian experimental metal band who sent me their demo last year; they’re jazzy in just the right measures, brutally heavy in others, and sometimes both at once. They know when to turn the brutality on and when to turn it off, and nothing sounds forced or cliche. I’m reasonably sure some of this guitar and bass work is off the cuff, too. This band makes me horny! Listen to their In Mirrors EP at Bandcamp, and download it entirely for free at their official website.

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