I won’t lie to you. I was excited to hear the news that Cyanide 4 was back with a brand new album. You see, here at Rockpages, we’ve been tracking down this band right from its very first, baby steps with the EP; we’ve done interviews and special features due to one simple reason: because we sincerely believe that Cyanide 4 was for a full decade the best thing that came from Greece regarding hard rock and sleaze sound. And since we are candid and quite honest now, personally I was disappointed to see founding member Nasty George departing as I truly believe that together with GA Sinn were the most important elements in the artistically successful story of Cyanide 4. So, one can easily gather that we were equally anxious and worried as to how the…new Cyanide 4 would sound. “Would “Amalgama” meet our expectations”? That was the big question.
From my perspective, the new Cyanide 4 album is a sonic mosaic or if you prefer an…amalgam(a) of hard rock elements. At least, this is how I perceived the new record upon listening to it numerous times. Right from the classic sleaze direction of the band where Crashdiet meets Vain up to a more moody and darker approach, “Amalgama” left us under the greatest impression. The overall compositional quality together with the flawless guitar work are obvious right from the very first listening session while the absolute highlights is a triple, sleaze attack (“Redeemer”, “Unknown Momentum” and “Barred & Scarred”) that closes the album. If I had to point down one thing that I really missed this time around was the absence of more backing and gang vocals that were so predominant especially on the band’s first full-length record “Every Day Is A Masquerade”. Details…
Cyanide 4 is back and hopefully…back for good! Can’t wait to see them live on stage and…not wait another 5 years for their next record.
Highlight: The solo on “Warlike Fellow” is absolutely astonishing and need special reference…for sure.
