Cyhra - The Vertigo Trigger - August 2023

[eochaid]

I still remember how the band started. Jesper was making music on his own. Jake was making music on his own. They both realized that they were following a common direction and started working together. Now, it's about a singer with no original ideas working with a guitarist with no talent for musical composition.

 

[DE4life]

It’s weird because this new album very much feels like the sharp decline and last breath of a dying band when I don’t really think it was meant to be the case or even should be. Nuclear Blast pushed Cyhra surprisingly hard even with TVT, but the incident of the refusing to fund their tour visas raised massive alarm bells. I get the feeling the band has been even more tumultuous internally than most people realize, moreso in the professional sense than personal, especially with the shifts throughout Jesper’s recent life. Either way, it’s just weird. I’m not going to pretend that they were in their prime— It’s been a downward slope from the very beginning— But they very well should be in it.

In a way, I get the feeling that Jake’s making music just because he feels like making music, and I get that. I also get that it really wouldn’t get much traction off name alone too. However, it was never one man’s band, it was for better and for worse, a supergroup. That’s what most fans really loved about it in the beginning. I don’t really think Jake is in denial or anything— But acknowledging any or all of the volatility would pretty much be the death knell to whoever’s actually stuck around with them.

I think Jesper’s started became more involved in the Band again towards the end of TVT’s writing process, at least since what seems to be late in No Halos’ writing process and early in TVT’s writing process. He does seem strangely absent from this new stuff, but considering just how involved he is in THE, I think it’s that his priorities have shifted again. He was definitely a bit involved in DOTL, but stepped away from it early on, which would line up with coming back to Cyhra late in TVT’s writing, just as the bassist. Jake had recently gotten Marcus involved by that point, and I’m guessing from a mix of being excited to work and write with him and of not wanting to come off like a dick for shifting his spot in the band, Jesper became the bassist, especially since it was something he already had experience in doing. It’s not a decision I’d agree with in terms of quality, but I don’t think Jake felt the need to prove anything after Letters and No Halos. I think the split from Amaranthe weighed pretty heavily on him in the beginning, and it was inspiration to get the best out of the band that he could— And honestly? Cyhra was great for that. I wouldn’t wish for Jake to be hung up on it, but I do wish he kept a bit of a competitive spirit to want to rise above them in terms of popularity and results, at least so Cyhra would’ve stayed good. But I think with the passing of time, with getting it out of his system, with being a father, with the music kinda just becoming the music and not close friends in a specific, pained spot in life, it just makes sense why things ended up this way— And on a personal level, I’m glad things got better. Jesper seems to be less involved in Cyhra now because he’s genuinely excited and inspired working with THE, given how much more involved he’s been with MOTU and even everything post-release. I don’t know if there were ever tensions between him or Jake, but with THE being a good creative outlet for Jesper, and Jake just wanting to make music, I think it’s easier for them to just comfortably settle into how things are with Cyhra— And at that point, it does seem like they’re recording as friends again. I think if it was anything different Jesper would’ve left Cyhra officially by now.

The only thing I can reasonably hope for with the new record is that the spacing between the writing period of the singles and the rest of the album are as distant as they were with TVT, since the majority of TVT’s tracks were far better than the first three singles. Something like Let’s Have My Story Told would’ve actually made for a surprisingly cool lead single… You know, compared to fucking Ready to Rumble.

I think it started off as, essentially, a two man band (Jake and Jesper). On the first album you can hear Jesper's melodic trademark combined with Jake's power metal leanings. Letters is a strange album in many ways, but you can't call it boring or generic. It sounds like a band with a lot of potential putting a variety of different ideas out there to see what people like and what they don't. There's some straight melodic metal, some tracks which lean more towards power metal, some songs which have a distinctly gothic atmosphere, and others which combine these in quite unique ways. You even have some powerful, well crafted ballads with Inside a Lullaby and Closure. The band could and should have refined this eccentric start into something a little more structured for their follow up album.

Instead, they distilled their sound into its most basic elements. They lost all of the intricacy of Letters and reduced their output to, mostly, commercial melodic metal. At this point I think the band shifted heavily towards being a one man project (Jake) with Euge providing support and Jesper adding a few touches here and there. The two man dynamic, as it existed on Letters, wasn't there anymore. I remember seeing an interview with Jake around the time the album came out where he took credit for the direction and overall sound of NHIH. It may have turned out better if Jesper had been primary support rather than Euge. Whilst I think Euge is a solid guitarist, he isn't Jesper when it comes to putting melodies together. Jesper just has an innate ability to create magic - Euge can give us moments here or there which sound very nice, but not entire songs. Jake definitely can't.

I have no idea who was doing what on TVT, but I can't accept Jesper was seriously involved on the creative side. In fact, even Euge's influence seems to be reduced. Listen to the lyrics on TVT and it's about a guy who thinks he's superior to everyone else, and his perception is somehow above the rest of us. Ironically this is expressed in a quite childish and basic manner. At this point I think we go from Cyhra being 70% Jake (Halos) to 95% Jake. TVT is just so, so generic. The songs that are reasonable (Fahrenheit, Ashlight) are still absolutely forgettable and simple.

The singles released so far from the latest album seem to be following the same pattern as TVT, just with much worse production. So now not only do we have basic, forgettable songs, but dogshit production to go along with it. The lyrics meanwhile just continue to become increasingly juvenile. Superman might be the some of the worst lyrics I have ever seen from a supposedly serious song. Genuinely like they were written by an 8 year old - and what's frustrating is that we know Jake can do much better than that. He's never been Shakespeare, in fact if we're being honest his lyrics have never really been anything above average, but they were still okay. Letters and Halos had some solid stuff lyrically, even if it's nothing amazing. TVT was bad, but the latest stuff is awful. It's like he is regressing in terms of maturity - funnily enough, not too dissimilar to a certain other vocalist Jesper used to be paired up with, although Anders' highs lyrically were far above anything Jake has written.

 

[Xpyro125]

I think it started off as, essentially, a two man band (Jake and Jesper). On the first album you can hear Jesper's melodic trademark combined with Jake's power metal leanings. Letters is a strange album in many ways, but you can't call it boring or generic. It sounds like a band with a lot of potential putting a variety of different ideas out there to see what people like and what they don't. There's some straight melodic metal, some tracks which lean more towards power metal, some songs which have a distinctly gothic atmosphere, and others which combine these in quite unique ways. You even have some powerful, well crafted ballads with Inside a Lullaby and Closure. The band could and should have refined this eccentric start into something a little more structured for their follow up album.

Instead, they distilled their sound into its most basic elements. They lost all of the intricacy of Letters and reduced their output to, mostly, commercial melodic metal. At this point I think the band shifted heavily towards being a one man project (Jake) with Euge providing support and Jesper adding a few touches here and there. The two man dynamic, as it existed on Letters, wasn't there anymore.

Just from what I’ve spoken with some of the members about, I do believe Alex did the drum parts of Letters, but not so much the overall compositions. He was definitely a lot more involved in that time compared to NHIH and after, and it shows in the drumming and in the sound of the kit, but Jake and Jesper were the core from what we knew.

But Euge actually was a big part of the band during Letters’ writing sessions. He wasn’t able to take on more than just fine print guest credits due to contractual obligations from his time in Shining (Yes, that Shining, with Kvarforth), but he did some leads and all of the solos. I personally feel that the band’s best guitar dynamic is where he’s the Björn to Jesper’s… Jesper, like they were on Letters, because he did have a big hand in the album being made. It’s a small thing, but Euge being the core band member involved in the community, both with reaching out to fans at the time and to making all of Cyhra’s guitar playthrough/how to play videos was always such a smart thing to me, given that his involvement in the band otherwise didn’t seem to be as much publicly as it was behind the scenes.

I remember seeing an interview with Jake around the time the album came out where he took credit for the direction and overall sound of NHIH. It may have turned out better if Jesper had been primary support rather than Euge. Whilst I think Euge is a solid guitarist, he isn't Jesper when it comes to putting melodies together. Jesper just has an innate ability to create magic - Euge can give us moments here or there which sound very nice, but not entire songs. Jake definitely can't.

I’ve been relistening to their entire discography recently, and the big thing that I’ve noticed is that particularly on TVT-onward, it just feels like there’s a lead guitar part, particularly a Jesper-styled lead, missing on most songs— Like the songs were first or second drafts that could’ve been fantastic with revisions. NHIH actually didn’t have quite as much of this issue, they feel more like final drafts, but I think what they ended up with on that album was more lacking overall than what could’ve been with TVT and Mark of My Sins.

As for Jesper’s lack of involvement on NHIH, that’s due to some issues he had going on in his personal life that definitely took him away from music in general at the time. He never made any statements or anything, instead taking down every post and whatnot involving what became said issue. It’s not something I want to say outright out of respect for Jesper, it’s clear he doesn’t want to talk about it, and it isn’t something that you’ll find on Wikipedia or anywhere else— If you knew about it at the time, you know, and if you don’t, you won’t. All I’ll say is that it has nothing to do with any addictions or with the band, even though I previously believed his lack of involvement with the band had something to do with Jake. That was definitely more of me projecting how I felt about the band back then, and if anything, Jesper’s sort of return to music and public involvement with THE and him staying in Cyhra is proof of his and Jake’s friendship to me. The reason why Jake never gave a true update about Jesper, instead just saying “yeah, he’s in the band, but even if he leaves we’ll always have a place here for him” is because said situation in his personal life was probably more complicated and distressing to him than any of us— Including the few who know the gist of what happened— will ever know.

I remember him making posts with the riff/lead of what would become Lies and Clayman’s riff about a year before NHIH came out— Likely right before the issues in his personal life came up, and that’s where I think the cutoff of his major involvement in the writing process is, probably just as the writing process of NHIH kicked into high gear.

I have no idea who was doing what on TVT, but I can't accept Jesper was seriously involved on the creative side. In fact, even Euge's influence seems to be reduced. Listen to the lyrics on TVT and it's about a guy who thinks he's superior to everyone else, and his perception is somehow above the rest of us. Ironically this is expressed in a quite childish and basic manner. At this point I think we go from Cyhra being 70% Jake (Halos) to 95% Jake. TVT is just so, so generic. The songs that are reasonable (Fahrenheit, Ashlight) are still absolutely forgettable and simple.

Going through the timeline of what we know about Jesper’s life and involvement with bands, I actually do very much believe he wasn’t involved with the writing process of TVT until the very end. He was really involved in THE and Days of the Lost in at least a good part of its writing process and in the early part of its release cycle— To the point where he did a couple shows with them live after he had dropped from Cyhra shows. We know now that he dropped out from THE shows as well, but he’s been seriously involved with MotU even still, so I really do believe his passion is there; touring just isn’t for him anymore, it was likely so stressful that it outweighs the joy he got out of it. Considering that MotU is still very much alive with its release cycle if you look at THE’s channel (edit: not a new song ._.), it makes sense as to why he hasn’t been involved in these singles.

In a way, I think NHIH was majority Euge for guitars and Jesper supporting early on in the writing process, with Jake giving the overall direction he wanted. As for TVT, it’s clear that it was Jake at the core, with Euge doing solos and whatnot, similar to how Jesper and Euge did things on Letters. It’d be why Euge’s parts in TVT were always the best parts of the guitarwork— He’s fantastic at writing solos, something Jesper (Or Björn, I forget) said he didn’t enjoy writing as much, but I do believe he is still talented overall, just given his other work. I really don’t think Cyhra is a good showing for him overall and I do think that that’s because Jake calls the shots. After all, even with Euge being more involved in Letters than people know, he wasn’t there from the beginning, and he was never publicly part of the core of the band the same way Jake or Jesper were— Which is a shame because I genuinely think the band would actually be better if he was. As for Jake, I think he provides decent foundations, but it would’ve been far, far better if Euge, Jesper, or now Marcus, could revise those foundations and add lead guitarwork on top of them. I genuinely think that if that was done, TVT would be a better album than NHIH hands down, compared to things being a matter of taste or give and take.

I do still like TVT well enough— Let’s Have My Story Told is still pretty great in spite of having the same caveats the rest of TVT has, 1.000.000 Fahrenheit has a nice sense of groove pervading the song, Buried Alive has a slight power metal feel to it that I really like, and Ashlight has a great ethereal feel to it with a similar level of care put into it that Letters had. I don’t think the lyrics are completely great in Ashlight, but they’re better there than in just about anything else from NHIH-onward. It is a stark change stylistically for the band, being more towards Amaranthe than Jesper-based melodic metal, the latter of which I prefer, but there very much is something to enjoy with TVT. I just wish there were more lead guitar melodies overall, that’s the big piece missing for me.

The singles released so far from the latest album seem to be following the same pattern as TVT, just with much worse production. So now not only do we have basic, forgettable songs, but dogshit production to go along with it. The lyrics meanwhile just continue to become increasingly juvenile. Superman might be the some of the worst lyrics I have ever seen from a supposedly serious song. Genuinely like they were written by an 8 year old - and what's frustrating is that we know Jake can do much better than that. He's never been Shakespeare, in fact if we're being honest his lyrics have never really been anything above average, but they were still okay. Letters and Halos had some solid stuff lyrically, even if it's nothing amazing. TVT was bad, but the latest stuff is awful. It's like he is regressing in terms of maturity - funnily enough, not too dissimilar to a certain other vocalist Jesper used to be paired up with, although Anders' highs lyrically were far above anything Jake has written.

The new singles showcase the pitfalls of TVT a lot more as well as how much Nuclear Blast’s funding/Jacob Hansen’s production did for the band— The latter of which I already clocked as a Blood Stain Child fan (Go from Amateras to Metalia/Cyberia, I fucking dare you, it’s an even worse difference in quality than with Cyhra). Couple those with Alex not being involved at all with the first two singles, only one guitarist involved in the writing and recording of the first two singles (Who clearly did not get to revise nor refine their material), and Jesper solely being involved with writing baselines due to likely only being in the band to support Jake as his friend, and fuck. I think I’ve been seriously desensitized by BSC, but I really do believe that going from TVT to these singles isn’t as bad as it gets. I don’t feel like I’m actively suffering listening to any of these, just that the band is on autopilot, which is still really bad.

Something I don’t really think I ever got into enough is that the one thing I could always say about Euge as a guitarist is you could feel the joy and passion in his 80s-styled indulgence regarding his soloing. Every time I’ve seen or envisioned him playing in the band, he’s either had a smile on his face or was passionately explaining the in-depth details of the music in Cyhra, his solo stuff, or even earlier In Flames material and guitar production in one video. No matter how much I try to envision it, I can’t feel that joy or passion here. I don’t think he got to write solos for these songs, and simply put, I really do think Jake is making music just to make music at this point, stuff that would be more fitting as solo work/a vessel for his vocals in the vein of later Katatonia than as Cyhra material. Not even just everything from Letters, but also the better aspects of NHIH and TVT are pretty much gone in the new singles.

I will say that I do still believe that Mark of My Sins had the potential to be an actually great Cyhra song. The foundation there is better, the entire band recorded the material, Jake actually did sort of try lyrically (At least for anything post-Letters), and with some real lead guitar melodies and soling, I really do believe there’s a ton of potential. I don’t really know what’s been going on behind the scenes, but the biggest thing holding Cyhra back is the way they (Jake) just say “fuck it, first draft’s good enough” instead of getting the best quality they can. I genuinely believe that if Euge could’ve added more to the guitarwork, he can make fantastic songs.

Jake, Jesper, and Euge had something to prove on Letters— Against Amaranthe with the fallout after Maximalism, against In Flames post-Battles, and against Shining with the end of Euge’s time in that band. I think Euge’s solos after Letters prove he still has gas in the tank, while Jesper’s stayed away due to personal issues initially then THE afterwards, but Jake… He got it all out of his system with Letters. In a way, as much as Letters was lightning in a bottle, it was a fluke, it was a product of how things went for him and Jesper at the time, and that time has come and gone. I think Nuclear Blast knew of Jesper stepping away initially and figured “okay, but he’ll come back”, but when DotL kicked off and Jesper moved to bass in the band, that pretty much solidified in the label’s mind that the biggest appeal Cyhra had was gone. Maybe their theoretical fourth album under NB would’ve been successful, but I think NHIH was as successful as it was due to how much NB pushed it— The initial curiosity and novelty of Jesper and Jake being back with Letters wore off, particularly with a lot of In Flames fans not caring for anything past Karma. TVT was also rather successful due to how much NB pushed it, but the label refusing to fund Cyhra’s tour visas, making them resort to crowdfunding, showed more that the label wanted the album to do well as a Nuclear Blast-owned album, rather than wanting the band to continue being successful as a Nuclear Blast-licensed band. Couple that with some fans starting on shit about Letters and NHIH being the golden era and how the band wasn’t the same anymore, they were always destined to be losing fans as time went on— That was just offset by Nuclear Blast pushing them as hard as they pushed fucking Foregone and THE. I thought for a time that their sustained view numbers on music videos was impressive, but I realize that 1. Reviewers, a lot more of them, praised NHIH and TVT than Letters, and 2. The band gained a bigger and bigger following with those albums. The numbers should be substantially more as the videos went on, but instead those things just counteracted the bleeding fans. I still think the tour visa situation was really shitty on NB’s part, as of course the tours were for Cyhra’s livelihood and not for the label to make money, so what did it matter to them? That shit sucked, and I feel for the band in that instance.

In retrospect, all of that is the most logical explanation for everything that’s happened with the quality of the band over time. These are talented musicians, I really do believe that, but the material will never reflect that again the same way it did with Letters. Unfortunately, I think all of the circumstances surrounding the band’s history really is the perfect storm in such a depressing way.

 

[DE4life]

Bye Bye Forever randomly came on my playlist today and I was like, man, it's amazing how even this sounds way better than anything off TVT or the recently released singles. Like, Halos was a backwards step for sure, but it wasn't irredeemably bad. I put on 'Hit Me' afterwards and thought, if it wasn't for that idiotic chorus this would be a quite nice track as well. There is a section from 02:45 to about 03:15 which is fantastic, sounds like pure Jesper - but writing credits are solely Jake and Euge, so if it isn't Jesper, then a great job by Euge there.

According to Discogs, credits for NHIH are:

Out of My Life: Jake, Euge, Jesper - Karma-lite, so not surprised all three were involved in this one. Shit song though. Awful first single.

No Halos in Hell: Jake, Euge, Jesper - Honestly I've always thought this song sucks. Boring as hell. Disappointing if all three genuinely collaborated on it.

Battle From Within: Jake - Surprised to see this is a Jake solo composition. It's the only song on the whole album that has Jake as the only musical credit. With that said, it's a basic pop-metal track, so, yeah.

I Am The One: Jake, Euge, Jesper - It's OK. Shit chorus again.

Bye Bye Forever: Jake, Jesper - Musically I can definitely hear Jesper's influence here. It's another one where, if it didn't have such a ridiculous sounding chorus, it'd be solid enough.

Dreams Gone Wrong: Jake, Euge, Jesper - One of my favourites from the album.

Lost in Time: Jake, Mangold (?) - who the fuck is Mangold? Some songwriter who seems to do a lot of pop stuff. OK then. Jesper can do pop stuff though, so why not just use him? This is the only song Mangold contributes too as well. Turns out he and Jake became friends and have released some music as KEYS. OK then. Maybe I'll check it out.

Kings Tonight: Jake, Euge, Jesper - Much like No Halos in Hell, disappointing three man collab.

I Had Your Back: Jake, Euge - I don't like it much. Forgettable.

Blood Brothers: Jake, Jesper - The most disappointing song that just Jake and Jesper wrote on this album. Pretty generic.

Hit Me: Jake, Euge - Actually a cool song instrumentally, just a stupid chorus. Euge did a good job on this one.

Man of Eternal Rain: Jake, Jesper - This one always felt to me like it had the quality to be on LtM, so not surprised Jesper was behind it musically. Probably my #1 on the album.

I don't see any specific credits for Lies or Kings & Queens, but Encyclopedia Metallum has Jake, Euge & Jesper for the former and Jake & Euge for the latter.

So, ultimately:

Jake:
Battle From Within

Jake & Jesper:
Bye Bye Forever
Blood Brothers
Man of Eternal Rain

Jake & Euge:
I Had Your Back
Hit Me
Kings & Queens

Jake, Euge & Jesper:
Out Of My Life
No Halos In Hell
I Am The One
Dreams Gone Wrong
Kings Tonight
Lies

Jake & Mangold:
Lost in Time

Jake on his own: Basic pop-metal.

Jake & Jesper: Generally good stuff, but Jake fucks things up with shit choruses.

Jake & Euge: Not great.

Jake, Euge & Jesper: Average at best.

Jake & Mangold: KEYS.

My conclusion - stick to Jake & Jesper writing the songs, let Euge solos or melodic sections here or there, make sure choruses have some actual effort put into them in terms of melody and lyrics.

If songwriting largely switched to Jake & Euge and occasionally Jake, Euge & Jesper then I can see why TVT and new songs have turned out the way they have.

 

[DE4life]

Hmmm, you know, I don't mind it. If you don't mind cheesy keyboards then it's quite alright. I prefer this to pretty much anything Cyhra has put out since Halos, honestly. It's better than new Cyhra stuff simply on account of having professional sounding production.

 

[Xpyro125]

Bye Bye Forever randomly came on my playlist today and I was like, man, it's amazing how even this sounds way better than anything off TVT or the recently released singles. Like, Halos was a backwards step for sure, but it wasn't irredeemably bad.

The title and lyrics are dumb, but I genuinely think Bye Bye Forever is one of the best songs off the album, if not the best. There’s something sort of P!nk-esque about it, and I really like that.

I put on 'Hit Me' afterwards and thought, if it wasn't for that idiotic chorus this would be a quite nice track as well. There is a section from 02:45 to about 03:15 which is fantastic, sounds like pure Jesper - but writing credits are solely Jake and Euge, so if it isn't Jesper, then a great job by Euge there.

Same sort of feelings here, yeah. I do distinctly remember this being Euge, and both the riff and the use of harmonics at the end of the solo very much feel like his style.

According to Discogs, credits for NHIH are:

Out of My Life: Jake, Euge, Jesper - Karma-lite, so not surprised all three were involved in this one. Shit song though. Awful first single.

I used to think it was awful, but after Ready to Rumble and Superman as lead singles, I’m desperately praying for another Out of My Life.

No Halos in Hell: Jake, Euge, Jesper - Honestly I've always thought this song sucks. Boring as hell. Disappointing if all three genuinely collaborated on it.

Battle From Within: Jake - Surprised to see this is a Jake solo composition. It's the only song on the whole album that has Jake as the only musical credit. With that said, it's a basic pop-metal track, so, yeah.

Battle From Within’s about his brother, so it makes a ton of sense to me. It’s probably also why it’s one of the only songs with decently good and actually genuine lyrics on here. I’m not huge on it musically, but it shows that Jake can still write good lyrics if he put his mind to it.

I Am The One: Jake, Euge, Jesper - It's OK. Shit chorus again.

I’ve always loved this one, but in a sort of Amaranthe way. Love the instrumentals as a Cyhra song too, so it kinda just works even though it probably shouldn’t.

Bye Bye Forever: Jake, Jesper - Musically I can definitely hear Jesper's influence here. It's another one where, if it didn't have such a ridiculous sounding chorus, it'd be solid enough.

I don’t know why, I thought Euge was involved in this one. Guess not, good job to Jesper.

Dreams Gone Wrong: Jake, Euge, Jesper - One of my favourites from the album.

Lost in Time: Jake, Mangold (?) - who the fuck is Mangold? Some songwriter who seems to do a lot of pop stuff. OK then. Jesper can do pop stuff though, so why not just use him? This is the only song Mangold contributes too as well. Turns out he and Jake became friends and have released some music as KEYS. OK then. Maybe I'll check it out.

Never heard of KEYS, but I’ll have to check them out too.

Kings Tonight: Jake, Euge, Jesper - Much like No Halos in Hell, disappointing three man collab.

Surprised to see Jesper on Kings Tonight, it always felt like it was just Euge and Jake. I enjoy it in the same way I enjoy Amaranthe songs though, so I actually do like it.

I Had Your Back: Jake, Euge - I don't like it much. Forgettable.

Blood Brothers: Jake, Jesper - The most disappointing song that just Jake and Jesper wrote on this album. Pretty generic.

Yeah, these two sucked. Love the acoustic part of Blood Brothers, but that’s it.

Hit Me: Jake, Euge - Actually a cool song instrumentally, just a stupid chorus. Euge did a good job on this one.

Man of Eternal Rain: Jake, Jesper - This one always felt to me like it had the quality to be on LtM, so not surprised Jesper was behind it musically. Probably my #1 on the album.

I don't see any specific credits for Lies or Kings & Queens, but Encyclopedia Metallum has Jake, Euge & Jesper for the former and Jake & Euge for the latter.

Lies was absolutely Jesper for the lead melody, but I can see Euge writing the bridge/breakdown(?). Keyboards were probably Jake, so it all checks out.

Kings and Queens is another shit song, constantly forget it exists.

Maybe it’s just me, but it’s weird how much better and more naturally Lost in Time is in the full band version than on the album version. I didn’t really notice it until my last listen through the album, but the base version’s just weirdly… Dramatic isn’t the right word, but it and syrupy are how I’d describe it. The full band version really fixes that.

The acoustic versions are also really cool, particularly with I Am the One changing the chorus’ vocal melody until bringing back the album version for the last chorus. I just think that’s a nice touch. Reminds me a ton of the Amaranthe B-Sides.

So, ultimately:

Jake:
Battle From Within

Jake & Jesper:
Bye Bye Forever
Blood Brothers
Man of Eternal Rain

Jake & Euge:
I Had Your Back
Hit Me
Kings & Queens

Jake, Euge & Jesper:
Out Of My Life
No Halos In Hell
I Am The One
Dreams Gone Wrong
Kings Tonight
Lies

Jake & Mangold:
Lost in Time

Jake on his own: Basic pop-metal.

Jake & Jesper: Generally good stuff, but Jake fucks things up with shit choruses.

Jake & Euge: Not great.

Jake, Euge & Jesper: Average at best.

Jake & Mangold: KEYS.

My conclusion - stick to Jake & Jesper writing the songs, let Euge solos or melodic sections here or there, make sure choruses have some actual effort put into them in terms of melody and lyrics.

If songwriting largely switched to Jake & Euge and occasionally Jake, Euge & Jesper then I can see why TVT and new songs have turned out the way they have.

I would’ve loved for the band to keep that lineup for compositions, it’s definitely them at their best, particularly Jesper and Euge together. While there are some songs I like a lot on TVT, I would say that there’s far less effort and care put into it than into NHIH pound for pound. It suffers a lot from first draft syndrome, and that’s a shame because I really do feel the songs have a lot of potential to be even better than those on NHIH. It’s a problem that’s seriously plaguing the new singles, that’s for damn sure.

 

[Xpyro125]

Hmmm, you know, I don't mind it. If you don't mind cheesy keyboards then it's quite alright. I prefer this to pretty much anything Cyhra has put out since Halos, honestly. It's better than new Cyhra stuff simply on account of having professional sounding production.

Reminds me quite a bit of Dynazty/Enter Eternity-era Shining Star-sounding power metal. I don’t really care for the way the drums are mixed, and the guitars in the verses aren’t great, but it is an alright song overall. The keyboard solo was really cool at least. Definitely a band where you can see where their passions lie for better and for worse.

 

[DE4life]

The middle part of Halos is definitely where they lose me - the beginning and the end is alright, but there's a stretch in the middle where I just don't have any interest. On a personal level, that's how almost all of TVT feels to me. So, Halos is still better by some margin.

I've listened to a few Keys songs now - I actually quite like them! Power metal mixed with 80s melodic rock, although there's quite a bit of variation. Jake sounds FAR better on the Keys stuff than anything he's done recently with Cyhra. He actually has variation in his vocal delivery and melodies. I imagine part of that comes down to songwriting, as I would assume Mark Mangold is the main songwriter there. He also does some of the lead vocals, for example:



Pretty cool song - the guy has a solid voice, too. The only downside for me is that the songs are often 6+ minutes in length which is a bit higher than I'd prefer, but yeah, generally speaking this band has a lot more musical merit than modern Cyhra.

 

[Xpyro125]

The middle part of Halos is definitely where they lose me - the beginning and the end is alright, but there's a stretch in the middle where I just don't have any interest. On a personal level, that's how almost all of TVT feels to me. So, Halos is still better by some margin.

I've listened to a few Keys songs now - I actually quite like them! Power metal mixed with 80s melodic rock, although there's quite a bit of variation. Jake sounds FAR better on the Keys stuff than anything he's done recently with Cyhra. He actually has variation in his vocal delivery and melodies. I imagine part of that comes down to songwriting, as I would assume Mark Mangold is the main songwriter there. He also does some of the lead vocals, for example:



Pretty cool song - the guy has a solid voice, too. The only downside for me is that the songs are often 6+ minutes in length which is a bit higher than I'd prefer, but yeah, generally speaking this band has a lot more musical merit than modern Cyhra.

Okay, Vortex wasn’t bad by any stretch, but I love this a lot more. I kinda wish the mix was fuller, particularly vocally, but there’s so much soul and bluesiness in this that I really, really love. The guitars are also really cool in this too, and the drumming (and everything) feels a lot less stilted. Definitely buying this song once I have the money to do so.

 

[DE4life]

All of the songs from that album are on YouTube, definitely check it out. Some songs with Mangold on vocals, some with Jake. It's actually a very solid album, plenty of variance and some nice melodies throughout. It reminds me why I do like Jake as a vocalist - he can be excellent, it just isn't happening with Cyhra. I guess he's just not as good when he's producing/writing himself.

 

[Xpyro125]

All of the songs from that album are on YouTube, definitely check it out. Some songs with Mangold on vocals, some with Jake. It's actually a very solid album, plenty of variance and some nice melodies throughout. It reminds me why I do like Jake as a vocalist - he can be excellent, it just isn't happening with Cyhra. I guess he's just not as good when he's producing/writing himself.

I hesitate to call Jake a visionary— I don’t feel it’d be particularly justified— but visionaries, auteurs, etc. really need others to sort of keep them in check to get the best out of them. I don’t think anyone’s keeping Jake in check over at Cyhra, but instead of resulting in him going crazy with ideas… There’s just no real motivation or effort. Dreamland was cool back in the day, he had a surprisingly cool and coherent vision for Amaranthe, and Cyhra was brilliant when everyone took part and played to their strengths. I don’t think he’s a great songwriter or leader on his own, but with others, he can do great things. Definitely going to check out more of KEYS to see how it’s turned out.

 

[DE4life]

Yeah, Dreamland is pretty cool, I liked that band. First two Amaranthe albums I'm a big fan of. Cyhra started off well and then... off a cliff.

I think the most disappointing thing from Cyhra's recent output is Jake refusing to push himself vocally. Listening to Keys reminds me that he has plenty of range and dynamics to work with, but he never seems to show this properly with Cyhra. He did on LtM, but never really after that. Even on Halos his vocals were pretty basic across the board. You'd expect that with essentially full creative control, he'd try some experimental stuff, but instead he seems to have gone in the opposite direction and become extremely generic. To the point where, listening to Cyhra's newer stuff, I was questioning whether he was even a good vocalist anymore. Listening to Keys reminds me that yes, he is, he's just not putting the effort into Cyhra for some reason. It's hard to understand why.

 

[Xpyro125]

Yeah, Dreamland is pretty cool, I liked that band. First two Amaranthe albums I'm a big fan of. Cyhra started off well and then... off a cliff.

I think the most disappointing thing from Cyhra's recent output is Jake refusing to push himself vocally. Listening to Keys reminds me that he has plenty of range and dynamics to work with, but he never seems to show this properly with Cyhra. He did on LtM, but never really after that. Even on Halos his vocals were pretty basic across the board. You'd expect that with essentially full creative control, he'd try some experimental stuff, but instead he seems to have gone in the opposite direction and become extremely generic. To the point where, listening to Cyhra's newer stuff, I was questioning whether he was even a good vocalist anymore. Listening to Keys reminds me that yes, he is, he's just not putting the effort into Cyhra for some reason. It's hard to understand why.

For me it’s the instrumentation and lyrics that have been more of a consistent letdown. Songs like Ready to Rumble, Life is a Hurricane, and If I had lazier showings for him vocally, but I do think it was pretty refreshing that TVT showcased his lower register a lot more. But man, I want more effort instrumentally, more creativity, more melodic lead guitarwork, fewer standard core breakdowns, and lyrics that actually make sense and mean something. Battle From Within, Ashlight, and Mark of My Sins are steps in the right direction, sure, but even those don’t compare to the worst of Letters’ lyrics. I do get it though, when Jake really pushes himself, he is a fantastic vocalist— Though something I really miss is the dynamic between him and Elize vocally with how wonderfully they harmonized together. I didn’t go to any Cyhra album in with that kind of expectation (shoutouts to everyone who were pissed a Jake-fronted band wasn’t melodeath), but I do still miss it. The variety in the Amaranth vocalists also made his singing shine that much more.

I do still really enjoy Massive Addictive, even if Jake’s writing and lyrics moved away from cheesy Hollywood B movies a bit too much, and while Maximalism moved away from that completely, I’ve come around on it a ton since its release since it’s actually a really fun album. After all the generic, serious, schlocky modern core, sometimes it’s nice to revisit bad or “bad” music that’s a lot more fun, even if it’s stuff like Amaranthe, Limp Bizkit, fucking Madonna, because it’s just fun. Even though something like Sevens by Scapegoat is fantastic, Welcome to the Space Jam is super refreshing these days. Maybe that’s just me though, I don’t know. I realize I’ve gone on a tangent, so cheers to that, I guess.

The one thing giving me hope for Cyhra is that the album tracks on TVT were leagues better than the singles. I hope that rings true for their next album.

 

[Moonshield_]

Battle from Within is my absolute favourite along with Closure. How can you all not see the beauty of this song ?

More generally, the first two albums are pure gems.

 

[DE4life]

Jake's lyrics with Cyhra post-LtM are absolute shit, honestly. As you say, mostly really low effort. Sometimes I do think he puts effort in, for example on The Voice You Need To Hear, which is actually not that bad overall, but the words are still just not hitting in the way they need to be. He'd really benefit from working with somebody who can structure words in a better way. It's not his strong suit, to say the least.

Massive Addictive isn't a total loss for me - but weirdly there is one stretch of the album I like, and the rest I'm totally ambivalent on. Drop Dead Cynical, Trinity, Massive Addictive and Digital World I like a lot. It's bizarre that they all come one after the other, and I don't really have much interest in any of the others. Just a coincidence, I guess, but still.

After MA it's honestly slim pickings for me. I don't know if it's a diminishing returns thing, where the band just didn't evolve enough for me to retain interest, but I barely cared for anything they put out after MA. I don't like a single song on Maximalism or Helix. Not that any of the songs are bad, necessarily, but none of them hold my interest. From Manifest I did like Viral, and Archangel is great as well. That's about it though. The Catalyst was another album where I cared for absolutely nothing. So yeah, they are more of a historical interest for me now than a current interest. Liking two songs in the past eight years isn't a good sign.

 

[DE4life]

Battle from Within is my absolute favourite along with Closure. How can you all not see the beauty of this song ?

More generally, the first two albums are pure gems.

Battle from Within is an OK pop-metal track. I actually think the chorus is very strong. The rest... not so much.

 

[Moonshield_]

Battle from Within is an OK pop-metal track. I actually think the chorus is very strong. The rest... not so much.

I need to be sure I understand you well : are you saying that the very first notes of piano from this song don't instantly bring tears to your eyes ?

As far as I'm concerned, it moves me everytime !

(It was crazy drinking on this back then)

 

[DE4life]

Haha, it doesn't give me that kind of emotional reaction, no... but it's cool that it impacts you that way. I remember the opening to Closure legitimately giving me goosebumps when I first heard it. I was in awe of that track when I first heard it.

 

[Xpyro125]

I wish the instrumentals of Battle From Within were a bit more substantial, but I do quite like the lyrics and vocals. I do think I respect it more than I enjoy it, it it is one of the best songs from NHIH.

Jake's lyrics with Cyhra post-LtM are absolute shit, honestly. As you say, mostly really low effort. Sometimes I do think he puts effort in, for example on The Voice You Need To Hear, which is actually not that bad overall, but the words are still just not hitting in the way they need to be. He'd really benefit from working with somebody who can structure words in a better way. It's not his strong suit, to say the least.

Massive Addictive isn't a total loss for me - but weirdly there is one stretch of the album I like, and the rest I'm totally ambivalent on. Drop Dead Cynical, Trinity, Massive Addictive and Digital World I like a lot. It's bizarre that they all come one after the other, and I don't really have much interest in any of the others. Just a coincidence, I guess, but still.

That’s 100% the best stretch of the album, no contest. I do quite like all of the other songs on there, but DDC and Digital World are some of the best Amaranthe songs period.

After MA it's honestly slim pickings for me. I don't know if it's a diminishing returns thing, where the band just didn't evolve enough for me to retain interest, but I barely cared for anything they put out after MA. I don't like a single song on Maximalism or Helix. Not that any of the songs are bad, necessarily, but none of them hold my interest.

I think the title track and Boomerang are objectively pretty good for the fun songs, 21 and On the Rocks require me to be in a Battles type pop metal mood, Fury’s one of my favorite Amaranthe songs, and Faster and BDAC are both very much Jake at his best (Those are the only two songs he wrote for the album too), even if the latter’s electronics are too goddamn loud and fuck up an otherwise fantastic song.

I think the metal aspects of Helix are better than Maximalism, but the electronics are a strict downgrade to a massive degree. There are still quite a few good songs, but it was definitely a transitory album to their decline imo. The big thing is that they stopped being fun and intentionally cheesy, save for on GG6 (Which was good) and BOOM! (Which was really, really bad).

From Manifest I did like Viral, and Archangel is great as well. That's about it though. The Catalyst was another album where I cared for absolutely nothing. So yeah, they are more of a historical interest for me now than a current interest. Liking two songs in the past eight years isn't a good sign.

Die and Wake Up is a fantastic song imo, love its 2000s-feeling energy, and the Do or Die (I think that was the song) that had Nils and Henrik iirc instead of Elize and Angela Gossow was a lot better than its single version, but Manifest was such a forgettable album to me otherwise— Save for BOOM!. I wish I could forget that song. The most I remember from the album otherwise is them dropping a phone into an aquarium or some shit from I think Viral’s(?) music video… What a waste of a phone. It really sucks that Henrik left afterwards, as I think his growls were an excellent fit for the band, but I respect that he did so for his family after realizing how much he loved being with them during the pandemic. It was actually super refreshing to see that side of him over the “if you even minorly criticize us, fuck you, your opinion doesn’t matter” persona, I really like him as a family man.

I just didn’t listen to The Catalyst. That huge wave of artists using or having to use AI for music videos really turned me off from them (Amaranthe, Within Temptation, Linkin Park with Lost, etc.), and I just refused to listen to that material, regardless of it was better or worse. Cemetery Skyline using AI for its art was super disappointing too, and I tried not to listen to or recommend anything from after I found out about it, but they’re probably the only band I respect enough to give another shot afterwards. They seem like a rather genuine band, and Mikael’s a pretty genuine person, so I do want to support them.

Honestly, I don’t even know who the new growler is for Amaranthe, I just haven’t looked. I don’t think it’s still the Samy guy who toured with them for a bit, but I could be wrong. I was already losing interest in the band anyways, Damnation Flame sucked, so I guess the AI thing was honestly more of an excuse for them anyways.

 

[Xpyro125]

I need to be sure I understand you well : are you saying that the very first notes of piano from this song don't instantly bring tears to your eyes ?

As far as I'm concerned, it moves me everytime !

(It was crazy drinking on this back then)

Haha, it doesn't give me that kind of emotional reaction, no... but it's cool that it impacts you that way. I remember the opening to Closure legitimately giving me goosebumps when I first heard it. I was in awe of that track when I first heard it.

Battle From Within definitely hit me hard on the first listen, and it still does here and there, but that really depends on what kind of mood it catches me in. Relistening to it now, I think it’s actually the production I take issue with rather than the instrumentation. The components there are all good, but it just sounds a bit too cleaned up/processed.

Closure gets me every time though, even to this day. Absolutely cherish that song with my whole being.