Le label Season of Mist publiera le 23 mars "The Portal Tapes", un recueil des démos enregistrées à l'époque par le groupe Portal, qui n'est autre que le projet des ex-membres de Cynic après le split du mythique combo !

Musicalement, le groupe s'oriente vers un Rock progressif atmosphérique, éloigné du Metal, dans un registre proche du projet Aeon Spoke.

Cette réédition sera disponible en quantité limitée : 5000 CD digipack et de 1000 LP Vinyles.


Masvidal : "I never thought this day would come. (...) A couple demos we'd record after 'Focus', under the name 'Portal', would develop a life of their own, and somehow become part of CYNIC's larger discography. As an artist, it's an amazingly unpredictable journey, to see these quiet labors of love, find their way, in their own time."


Tracklist probable (sous réserve):
Endless Endeavors
Karma's Plight
Circle
Costumed In Grace
Cosmos
Crawl Above
Mirror Child
Road To You
Belong
Not The Same



Un peu d'histoire (extrait du site http://www.cynicalsphere.com/portal.html) :

In the fall of 1994, after the transformation of Cynic, Paul Masvidal, Jason Gobel and Sean Reinert started a new project named Portal. The band name was Sean's idea and was inspired by a Robert Venosa painting which the band loved, entitled "Portal". The new band's music, however, was far from the technical metal that Cynic fan's had come to know. It was more in the style of Dead Can Dance and My Bloody Valentine meets a jazz fusion group, but still a complex and layered sound without the heavy guitars and fast tempos. Portal was a five piece, consisting of the above three ex-members of Cynic and completed by bassist Chris Kringel, who had toured with Cynic pre-post Focus, and lastly, by singer/keyboardist Aruna Abrams who came from Berkeley College of Music to join the band.

Portal demoed a total of ten songs, which were never officially released. There wasn't any form of packaging or artwork for the demo other than the Venosa painting entitled "Return To Source" (used unofficially), as a black and white CD imprint for promo copies. The ten songs were recorded in two five song sessions, first in late 1994 and early 1995 which ultimately became one big demo under the name Portal.




Line-up:
Aruna Abrams - Chant et claviers
Paul Masvidal - Guitare et chant
Jason Gobel - Guitare
Chris Kringel - Basse
Sean Reinert - Batterie et percussions