Cynic is used to hard times. After forming in 1987, it took them until 1993 to release their debut album, the now legendary Focus. They’ve had their gear confiscated by foreign authorities, they’ve had their practice space destroyed by a hurricane and then, before anyone could take notice of…

As mainman for progressive death metal architects Atheist, Kelly Shaefer is well aware of his place in the genre’s history. Now that technical playing is all the rage in metal bands from Russia to France to Kansas, whether they know it yet or not, the new crop of leaders of…

This series was written between Aug. 4 and Oct. 13, published in the weekly editor’s column, Deleted Scenes. Each page is a different installment in the series, so expect some time lapse and intertextuality as these pages go along. The headline pretty much says it all.

Let’s walk through a…