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.