Photo by Lis de Nazareth
Toilet Ov Hell is currently streaming A Distant (Dark) Source, the imminent new full-length from French cinematic, technical post-metal collective HYPNO5E, in its engrossing entirety. The premiere comes on the eve of its release via Pelagic Records.
Writes Toilet Ov Hell of the release, “HYPNO5E delivers on their promises, with heavy, rhythmic delivery akin to the likes of Cult Of Luna and The Ocean Collective, who the band occasionally veers close to with their well-used and well-placed clean vocals, but in a much more embellished and elaborate guise. At its heaviest and grooviest, A Distant (Dark) Source isn’t far off from the territory of Gojira (see album highlight ‘A Distant (Dark) Source Part II’), and at its most technical, the songs are reminiscent of Between The Buried And Me, though coming off from a post-metal platform instead of a prog metal one. Progressive perhaps, but never prog. But it’s the folk- and film music influences, their lack of regard for conventional song structures and means of storytelling that embraces both halves of the term ‘cinematic metal’ and sets them apart from their peers, and very much everyone else as well.”
Adds vocalist/guitarist Emmanuel Jessua, ” This album is the continuity of what we’ve built since the beginning of the band, but it has a more visceral and direct, violent approach. It’s raw, direct and it got no boundaries, it’s our more personal album for many reasons. We found a common way to express this music, now we feel like all those lands we travelled together result in this particular musical object. But there’s more than sound, and we hope that you’ll escape on great wanderings too.”
Stream A Distant (Dark) Source, courtesy of Toilet Ov Hell, at THIS LOCATION.
Find the band’s previously released videos for the record’s thee-part title track as well as “Tauca – Part II (Nowhere)” below.
A Distant (Dark) Source will be released on CD, LP, and digital formats. See all preordering options below:
North America: http://bit.ly/hypno5eNA
Europe: http://bit.ly/hypno5eEU
Australia: http://bit.ly/hypno5eAUS
Digital: http://bit.ly/hypno5eDGTL
Having forged the term “cinematic metal” with their truly epicscope compositions, oftentimes exceeding the twenty-minute mark, HYPNO5E seamlessly merges elements of contemporary metal with Latin folk, and film-score like sonic landscapes. Following 2018’s special acoustic album, Alba – Les Ombres Errantes, the Southern French quartet return with a more “typical” HYPNO5E record, if there is such a thing. Fifth album, A Distant (Dark) Source, serves as the second part of a diptych album project. Each part will be released separately, starting with the second one.
A Distant (Dark) Source is an inward journey to the land of the ghosts of the past. At the origin of this distant dark source lies Tauca, an old Paleolithic lake located in Bolivia, where vocalist and guitarist Emmanuel Jessua has grown up, and continues to find inspiration for his musical endeavors.
Lake Tauca disappeared more than 15,000 years ago, leaving behind an arid land and salt lakes, like the Salt Desert of Uyuni or Coipasa, at 4.500m of altitude in the Andes mountain range. A Distant (Dark) Source is the musical imagination of a night in this desert, during which the old shores of the lake see the return of the shadows of the people who used to live in this area before its disappearance. A man comes back to the lake to look for the shadow of the woman he loved. The album tells the story of this ephemeral return.
A Distant (Dark) Source is the second part of this story and takes place during one single night… but don’t be deterred by such conceptual enthusiasm, as HYPNO5E‘s sound is powerful, visceral, and immediate. There are moments that remind you of the expansive technical elaborations of Between The Buried And Me, but there is also the careful melancholia of Cynic and the sheer power of Gojira… but in the end, all these comparisons fail. HYPNO5E‘s organic sound is undoubtedly their own. Unlike so many bands who rely on a single sound or technique to create their music, HYPNO5E are not bound to any precondition. Fans of Cynic, Between The Buried And Me, Gojira, Meshuggah, Opeth, Cult Of Luna, Pink Floyd, Tesseract, Soen, and Monuments pay heed.
“…this new track opens somberly enough, with emotion-drenched strings and heartfelt vocals leading the way into a core of darkness and melancholy. But near the end of the track, it blows up with furious blastbeats and massive guitars, laying waste to your expectations in a second…” – Heavy Blog Is Heavy on “Tauca – Part II (Nowhere)”
“…a very accomplished, intricate, and all-encompassing chunk of modern progressive metal.” — Heavy Music HQ
“…there is very little that even comes close to touching what HYPNO5E have accomplished with their most moving and ambitious effort, A Distant (Dark) Source. This record is a whirlwind of emotions and precise musicality that will be sure to keep you on edge…” — Metal Utopia
“…one of the most compelling musical acts in the extreme metal scene and their existence elevates this realm.” — Everything is Noise
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