Biography
Paul Alberto Masvidal (born January 20, 1971) is the guitarist, singer and a founding member of the recently reunited progressive metal band Cynic and currently also leads the band Æon Spoke.
In 1989, when Masvidal was in high school, he toured Mexico as a replacement guitarist for the band Death but declined an invitation to permanently join the band in order to remain committed to Cynic. This had many journalists curious at the time, since Death were emerging as an influential and popular underground act, but Masvidal stuck to his guns and claimed to firmly believe in Cynic. However, in 1991 Masvidal and a fellow Cynic member, drummer Sean Reinert, were recruited by Death to record Human, arguably Death's most critically acclaimed release. After touring the world with Death they both returned to Cynic in 1992.
1993 saw the release of Focus, (regarded as a landmark release in the field of technical death metal/progressive metal) on the Roadrunner label, the only album Cynic recorded till 2008. Roadrunner re-released it in 2005 as a special collector's edition due to high demand. After Cynic's disbandment Masvidal has been a member of the Cynic spin-off Portal and more recently his current band, Æon Spoke, which features Masvidal's childhood friend and drummer Reinert, also from Miami. It was also announced, via the Cynical Sphere web site in Autumn 2006, that Cynic would be reforming for a tour, featuring Masvidal and Reinert. This took place in early summer 2007.
Based in Los Angeles, Æon Spoke have been described as 'progressive ethereal rock' and had a full-length release in 2007 on SPV Records. In 2004, the band received airplay in the UK for the single Silence, including BBC Radio 2 and XFM, leading to a week of London gigs and radio appearances. The following year, the track Emmanuel appeared in the film What the Bleep Do We Know!? and the band returned to the UK. Their tracks have also appeared on the Warner Brothers television series Smallville, One Tree Hill and the motion picture 'Cry Wolf'.
Masvidal also writes and performs music for television and motion pictures, credits include main title (composer credit) on an Emmy nominated NBC teen series show 'Operation Junkyard', short films 'The Yellow Umbrella', 'A Bride In Black', session musician for Carsey Warner network sitcoms, 'That 70's Show, 3rd Rock From The Sun, also has library songs regularly performed on network and cable television.
Masvidal has just finished recording a new Cynic album titled Traced in Air, which was released on November 17, 2008 in Europe and November 25, 2008 in the USA.
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