Cynical Bliss

Formed in 1989 Curt Luedy, Don Frase, and Brent Black, all core members of Mistreater and Maddoxx , with the addition of another guitarist (who went by Domino) who hated using his real full name to the point that it isn't even known by the other members of Cynical Bliss (unless Don Frase knew before his passing in 2016). They had several untitled songs when Brent met his fellow Maddoxx bandmate at a local bar and recommend he come check them out. One audition tape and a few days later and Scott's February 1990 recruitment was complete. At that point they had several unnamed (or currently unknown title) songs, and some with titles such as "Tonight" (which was written by Brent and was released on theìr 1990 Promo), "Vaca (Place In Mind)", and "Front of the Line". Scott's first rehearsal recording with the band, in March 1990, includes all of these. Scott's signature guitar style led the band to include more heavy/doom and speed metal influences in their writing, adding some contrast Domino's more traditional '80s heavy metal style. With the lineup completed in February 1990 they began writing new songs, such as "Freakshow", "Master of Imagination" and the still unreleased cuts like "Powerfront", "Cynical Bliss", "The Mighty Mohecan", and others, and began playing extensively in the live circuit, notably doing several co-headliners with Blasphemy . In June they wrote "Hiding Within Yourself", and even recorded it in rehearsal on July 9th 1990 (alongside other new tracks "Cynical Bliss" and "Powerfront"), but this original version of "Hiding..." has the extremely rare original lyrics, completely different from the lyrics released on the "Promo '90" several months later. Around this time Domino wrote a new original, mostly in an upbeat and traditional '80s metal style, which Scott severely disliked, citing this one song and the concern that Cynical Bliss would continue in that direction, and the bands drug use, as his reason for leaving the band in early 1991, very shortly after joining the newly formed Embalmer (who had changed their name from Corpse Grinder , and who Scott knew since 1985 when their previous band Malachai frequently opened for and co-headlined with Maddoxx) After recording their debut demo and eventually leaving Embalmer, and a brief period between projects, he learned that Cynical Bliss had never disbanded. Due to Curt's heavy work schedule progress was slow, playing as often as they could and even playing a couple all-instrumental live sets when Curt wasn't available. He also learned that in late 1993 Domino had left the band. Since Dominos writing style was what led to Scotts decision to leave initially, in 1994 Scott re-joined Cynical Bliss, also bringing Blasphemy / Bloodshed founder and ex- Maddoxx guitarist Steve "Roach" Ennis to fill out the lineup for what was expected to be the heaviest Cynical Bliss has ever been. During this tragically short-lived period of Luedy / Frase / Brent / Cunningham / Roach the band never played out, but they did record a rehearsal tape documenting the era, including classic material as well as 3 brand-new originals, "Insanity", "Keep It" and another yet-untitled song. These 3 are the only songs written by Curt/Scott/Brent/and Roach together, making them highly sought after (not to mention the rest of the tape with this very lineup performing classic "Promo '90" tracks and other unreleased tunes). Sadly within only a few months after this lineup solidified the band split for good, with Roach going on play in the new version of Blasphemy, Bloodshed , and Cunningham joining Sodomized . Brent Black passed away in Medina, Ohio on September 4th, 2017 and Don Frase a.k.a. Fredo passed away in 2016..