Album Review: Cyborg Octopus – “Between the Light and Air” (Prog Metal)

Written by Jangel

Alright, first thing’s first: Cyborg Octopus is a fucking sweet band name. It strikes me as one of those names that started as a joke but turned out hilariously awesome and memorable. Doesn’t matter how it came about ‘cause it fucks. I have a shirt of theirs with a cyborg and an octopus clasping hands and mean mugging the camera. The name basically markets itself. I wish I had come up with it. FUCK. Anyway, this band with a pants-shittingly awesome name has a new record coming out August 26 called Between the Light and Air and we’re gonna learn y’all some about it!

For those unfamiliar, Cyborg Octopus is a prog metal outfit based in the San Francisco bay area. They play a brand of metal familiar to fans of BTBAM, Sikth, and early The Contortionist and have a serious goofy streak. Live shows showcase their skimpy superhero outfits as well as their exceptional musicianship. They pose and preen as they go from virtuosic guitar solos to nasty breakdowns to slap heavy funk songs. Learning to Breathe, their debut record, was released in 2016 to favorable critical and fan acclaim. However, their guitarist and main songwriter, David Wu, stepped away to focus on his metal vocal teaching method, Scream Academy. The band was then faced with moving forward and writing a new record without their biggest artistic voice. So how did they fare? 

Let’s talk about the biggest difference between the Learning to Breathe and Between the Light and Air: vocalist Ian Forsythe’s expansion of his use of clean vocals. Polished harsh vocals were a strong feature of the debut record and he hasn’t lost any of his intensity or range for that style of vocal tone on the new record. In addition, he busts out a powerful, Sam Carter-esque delivery on several tracks that really match the aggressive riffing employed by guitarist Bobby Carroll. For delicate passages, Forsythe has a squeaky clean sound that’s a bit raw in terms of refinement but diversifies his color palette and has an emotional quality to it. He utilized this super clean tone very sparsely on Learning to Breathe and I’m happy to hear it featured more prominently on Between the Light and Air and witness his development and diversification as a vocalist.

Between the Light and Air has plenty of the essential DNA from Learning to Breathe, which is only fitting since Wu is listed as a songwriter for the new record and a couple of songs such as “Seizure of Character” were originally written for their debut. The riffs are fast and furious, often with strong melodicism. The drums match the pace of the guitars with Josh Mathis producing controlled cacophony. The synths are alternately lush and jagged, helping to pace the album. The breakdowns are inspired by the finest metalcore and are even nastier this time around. Oh and there’s a saxophone! I could always use some more sax from this band but Patrick Corona doubles on sax and keys and I have to admit, he looks pretty sweet onstage shirtless with a keytar. 

“Old Stories” is perhaps my favorite track. It’s a distillation of what I would call Cyborg Octopus’s “default sound.” Kicking off the record with a driving, melodic riff, the track moves quickly from it’s stop-time intro to a teched out verse section before dissolving into the chorus that showcases the new vocal stylings mentioned earlier, as well as some nasty, djenty breakdowns. Our second pass through the verse and chorus really stretches the bounds of typical song structure. It’s like there’s an added pre-chorus that becomes the bridge and the chorus at the same time. Interesting decisions like this in how to structure the songs are all over the record. I don’t want to turn this review into an academic paper on subversion of verse chorus/pop song structure, but rest assured that these dudes set your ear up for surprises constantly. During this structural subversion we’re treated to some riffage displaying a nastier disposition than anything heard on their debut. When Cyborg Octopus decides to get heavy on this new record, boy howdy, do they get fucking heavy. Carroll and Corona each have a moment in the sun with a couple solos before locking into a guitar/sax harmonized line over the last chorus from Forsythe. “Old Stories” is one hell of an opening track that shows the progression of the band’s sound on Between the Light and Air.

“Spectres”, a foray into spaghetti Western vibes, is another standout track. It doesn’t have the lush orchestra of an Ennio Morricone score but does give us that jangly guitar sound evocative of The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly as well as some harmonized soprano sax and choice horse samples before it departs in the realm of chugging breakdowns. “The Projector” is the proggy centerpiece of the album. An epic intro featuring a soaring synth line gives way to heady guitar lines placed within a song structure that gradually, organically develops and moves from section to section. Lots of bright, noodly bits ala Dream Theater drive the song forward before the final chorus exhorts us to “behold the projector” and come to terms with the ugliness and pain from the past that projects itself into the present. 

“Trash Island” is Cyborg Octopus’s take on a Beach Boys style surf rock tune. This is definitely the goofiest track; surf rock style guitars, backing vocal “doo waps”, irreverent lyrics about the plastic waste produced by humans, and a quote from the fucking Jaws score. Written description doesn’t do it justice, you just have to listen to it.

THE BOTTOM LINE

Between the Light and Air represents a step forward for Cyborg Octopus. The sound from their debut record that put them on the map is still here and the members have managed to transcend the loss of a founding member and primary songwriter to put out an excellent prog metal record. Expanding on their sound and diversifying their sound palette, this new record from the SF Bay Area prog metallers is a bold step forward and is required listening for any prog nerds out there.