New Cyhra Album 2018-2019

The fact that they have to confirm that Jesper's still in the band, that was the reason of the post, is amazing.

 

Literally every comment on their FB is "where's Jesper?" so they had to address it at some point

 

Perhaps he's decided (it's the best for him) to be a non-touring member, and prefers to work on some other stuff in the meantime. Björn said in a 2017 interview that Jesper is involved in several different projects.

 

Sounds very power metally... I dig it but can't see Eochaid or A88 being impressed

 

No. I'm not. The chorus also remembers of a song from the previous album.

 

I know, I know, took me a while... But hey, it is Monday in the end!

Now that will be quite useful in a while, so let me get back it later.
Still, what I meant with PM vocals... I guess you can really tell, knowing all those guys? Sure there is a giant difference between Joakim Broden and ZP Theart, but that doesn't mean PM doesn't usually utilizes high pitched vocals. And yeah, that means Anders, Mikael and Bjorn probably will use (and actually do or did at some point) use same vocal technique or style - which is entirely true, as all of them were mostly focused on harsh vocals, usually screams. I don't even believe we're having that conversation at this point, since we're all on the same IF board. There is a pattern and it's hard to deny it. Death metal vocalists tend to use straight growl and I'm not suggesting at any point that George Fisher sounds similar to Nergal, but that's undeniably DM thing.

So yeah, Jake uses PM vocal style, whether I can compare his voice to any other singer or not (at this point I can't, but I can come back with that, it's stuck somewhere deep in my head).
And then, if you see him in a pop band, you mean The Police, Bee Gees, Genesis or is it Blue Oyster Cult?

I tend to believe, eventually what they are both trying to achieve is creating a good track, so it's too much general for me. And your argument about driving the melody applies to thousands of bands from all genres, which doesn't validate the comparison at all.
In fact what I like about Anders is that he, at least until Battles, wasn't always able to go with the melody (i.e. Siren Charms), giving it a sense of imperfection, gloominess and despair. With Jake everything sounds pitch perfect, that's why we get a happy funeral song about his brother.

And once again we go back to the basic, lazy lines. Sure, it's supposed to be sad, but it is not, because of both how it is delivered and how easy that was. My proposition for the bridge is "my brother is dead and now I am sad". I already quoted Katatonia same/super similar lyrical theme, which wasn't very complex but still a thousand times more touching. And no, I'm not expecting Jake to go complex at all. I'd like him to go anywhere near poetic. You don't have to look too far to see what I mean:

"Yell at me I want to be, your light that shines
But my ground is shaking and I might fall
I wish that I could say, I wish that I could be your evil in a closet"

It isn't exactly rocket science, but it is catchy, it is metaphoric, it is well written. Well delivered, also, you can hear the emotions, not just read about them, detached from the melody.

I think you overdid it with your effort to explain the entire lyrics, as I already mentioned it's inevitable to see what it is about, and I agree that I oversimplified it, sure. But it is supposed to show the impact of suicide. The video is meant to show you that because of this impact (and because you are loved and you can't give up hope, etc.) you shouldn't take such a drastic measure. And the music is delivered in it's happiest form. Honestly, I don't see anyone feeling sad after listening to that. And when you combine those three facts, it doesn't take much effort to classify it as another "don't do that" song. I can't hear any despair. I don't see any life crumbled. I can't feel his loss, as much as I didn't buy into Anders' ripped heart and will to survive. Because if you write that your life is crumbling and then compare it to house of cards (really? Could have gone with "that's the way the cookie crumbles"), the chances of convincing me it really is aren't that high. And I don't really want to be convinced, I'd rather feel that with a clever metaphor.

Another take on loss (I know it's not brother's suicide, but still, a nice though simple approach), from Insomnium's "The Day It All Came Down":
"Should I be content with the memory of the life I had?
Or is the Hell knowing what we could have become?
- Quite indifferent as the tides of time have now turned
And the past is buried in a drift of whirling snow
White sheet covering all things left behind

And from now on there's an absence of hope"

So, surely I agree that Cyhra's lyrics were supposed to be heartbreaking, but the final form is unbearable. I'm sure those guys are capable of something more than healing a broken heart.

And leaving "Battles From Within", this new live song sounds... nice? It has good pace, well used vocals without unnecessary ornaments and a cool sing along moment. I don't see myself listening to it, but looks like a cool live track.

 

Our opinions obviously differ quite extensively on this, but I do agree that the lyrics and music don't really go together. The music is quite uplifting and hopeful, as are the vocal melodies, but the lyrics are pretty sad and depressing, so... eh. I'm not sure it necessarily makes sense logically either. With that said I don't consider Evil in a Closet to have especially deep lyrics either, they're kinda generic too but if you go back to Clayman then you've got some excellent lyrics about depression, ruined relationships, etc. You could argue that the music on there doesn't necessarily match the tone of the lyrics either though, also being pretty energetic and upbeat. Doesn't really matter though as the album is awesome.

I'm not convinced these were the best two singles to release. The first song, name I can't even remember at the moment, was bland as fuck and I haven't listened to it since the day it was released. Second song not the worst thing ever but not showing us anything we haven't already heard from Cyhra. If I'm a casual hearing these songs I'm going to assume this second album is basically exactly the same as the first, except less complex and with slightly better production. Not sure that's going to entice many newer or casual listeners to go and pick up the album. Maybe I'm wrong. It hasn't made me more excited for the release, it's just made me hope that the songs on the album are a lot different and have much more creativity.

 

I actually much prefer it to the first song, although that's mainly down to the chorus (imo at least) being really strong, whereas the first song's chrous was very forgettable. Everything else about both songs is very average though.

 

There's a review up for "No Halos in Hell" on roppongirocks: https://roppongirocks.com/2019/11/01/album-review-cyhra-no-halos-in-hell/

Might be the first review for the album? I haven't seen any others. Anyway...

"It is a contemporary melodic metal sound with plenty of pop hooks. But within that signature style, there’s actually quite a bit of variation which is why this works very well."

"It’s partly more of the same modern melodic metal with pop hooks, plenty of keyboards and guitar riffs that we heard on the debut album. But, additionally, we get a somewhat more mature band that explores some new musical areas."

"They are not creating something truly new here, but they are doing great radio-friendly poppy melodic metal."

"There are some very strong songs on this album, including the power ballad “Lost in Time” and tracks such as “Out of My Life”, “I Am the One”, “Blood Brothers”, “Kings and Queens” and the title track “No Halos in Hell”."

The fact they consider "Out of My Life" one of the "very strong" songs is obviously a bit concerning. Otherwise not much meat to this interview, very generic but seems to confirm we're looking a pop-based chorus-orientated album which sounds similar to the first.

 

I read a different one.

 

http://tuonelamagazine.com/review-cyhra-no-halos-in-hell/

 

It seems that the problem is with Jake... He's a good singer and a competent songwriter, he has a good crew around him, but now he's trying to make Amaranthe v2 without female vocals and easy-on-the-eye singer. Not gonna make it no matter how much weird electronic sounds and catchy choruses he puts in these new songs. Even the music videos seem like a lesser version of A.

Amaranthe is really slimy and awful (basically a cheesy pop of the worst kind with distortion and a touch of extreme metal), but it just... works because of the whole setup. Cyhra should try a more serious, mature, guitar-oriented approach.

Dunno, I'll give it a spin, but at this point, I'm not expecting too much. Well, I guess we had our share of good albums this year already.