Metal/jazz drummer Sean Reinert, died last January. He played on my favorite album of all time, Cynic’s Focus, as well as other runners-up albums, like Death’s Human and Aghora’s self-tilted.
I first heard his playing at a local show in Northborough, I think at the Trinity Church. As is the standard procedure at punk and metal shows, music played through the sound system as the next band was setting up. There were a few hundred people packed in the venue, but there was a curious music that blasted through the crowd chatter. It was death metal for sure, but what’s with the electronic drums at that one part? Then there was a quiet, unmistakably jazzy interlude with a strong melody. Fretless bass? Robot singing vocals? What was going on here? A friend of mine knew the sound guy and went to ask who it was. The first track off of Focus was playing, “Veil of Maya.”
At the time, I was deep into looking for progressive metal to latch onto. The Internet was barely around, so everything was word of mouth, magazines, mix tapes, and music you happen to hear in record stores and at shows. I had a stint with Ozric Tentacles back when Newbury Comics sold music, comic books, bric-a-brac, and marijuana posters, and not just bric-a-brac and marijuana posters like they do now. Ozric wasn’t nearly metal enough for my teenage sensibilities. Cynic came along and fit into that slot nicely.
Cynic had broken up, but reformed in 2006 and started releasing music again. I was finally able to see them live in Pittsburgh, at Mr. Smalls, about a decade ago, with Reinert on drums. I have nothing magical or profound to say about Reinert or his music. It just was, and still is, good times for my ears.
My favorite Cynic song, “Uroboric Forms.” Reinert is in prime form here:
A close second is the instrumental, “Textures,” which I recommend for those of you reading who dislike death metal vocals:
From 1991, drum cam footage of Reinert during his Death days, playing “Suicide Machine.” Lots of jazz feels incorporated into the beats here: