HYPNO5E: A Distant (dark) Source (OTHERS EXTREME): review / opinion to read on Music Waves

Three years ago, Music Waves was impressed by "Shores of the Abstract Line", a teeming, violent and sensitive album. Hypno5e then published the soundtrack of the first film of its singer-guitarist Emmanuel Jessua ("Alba - Les Ombres Errantes"). Today the band offers "A Distant (Dark) Source", a five-act piece oscillating between shadow and light, between velvety softness and icy bite. The album is like an initiatory journey lulled by the backwash of melodic waves.

'In the Blue Glow of Dawn' starts with a soft six-stringed with a melancholic melody. The peaceful atmosphere quickly turns to fury when the overpowering guitars and percussion drums appear on the second part. But deep down, there is still the memory of the sweet melody of the first part. The rhythm gets faster, the heat reaches the track, but the intensity does not prevent the clear beauty from floating, reminding us again of the softness of the introduction. Alfred de Musset's poem ('La Nuit de Décembre') breaks the violence, builds a serene atmosphere with throbbing arpeggios, counterbalanced by a sudden rise in power.

'A Distant Dark Source' begins with a soothing atmosphere, then the six-stringed string splashes the sky with dark colours. The beauty is enhanced by melodies sprinkled in the heart of this storm. Some passages are reminiscent of djent while others are reminiscent of metalcore, pop or brutal death. The group always prefers the deep darkness of hell, even if it is sweet, because Aragon, Guillaume Apollinaire and so many others, soothe it with their simple, cruel or brutal words. Finally, the arpeggio loops of the last part are hallucinogenic substances that create auditory mirages... Thus an impression of well-being invades the track, the listeners are amazed, frozen.

'On Our Bed Of Soil' is an abyssal dive that begins as a ballad with bare chords and the melancholic poetry of Hölderlin. The heavy guitar of the second part arrives smoothly as the voice continues its first lamentation. Then the gradual rise in power, leads to intense rage. But here too the choirs resound as if in a grand church. The mist breaks up and appears as a mysterious voice reciting T. S. Eliott's poetry. Finally, after a languid evolution, an intense blast causes hell to pour down on earth. However, even when the musical landscape is devastated, the melody is the only light, the only guide, the definitive anchor point that never disappears.

'On A Dry Lake' is simpler, like a meditation at the gates of a bright dawn where the atmospheres merge. Finally 'Tauca, Pt. 2' is full of poetic quotations, discreet synthesizers and simple guitars that invite you to travel to strange shores. The voice is then the guide, even when the turmoil is born from an overpowering guitar.

"A Distant (Dark) Source" is a magical album where the band, at the top of their game, delivers a concentrate of poetry, darkness and melancholy. The disc, full of references, carries the band's music high, but retains its raw, sometimes brutal, intense and warm flavours. Hypnotic from beginning to end, Hypno5e's work is carried by simple melodies that hit by a sincere beauty and an obvious musical complexity... an essential of this end of year. - Official website

HYPNO5E

A DISTANT (DARK) SOURCE

PELAGIC

OTHERS EXTREME