French post metal pioneers HYPNO5E have always been a borderline band, in the truest sense of the term: a band that transcend the borders and limitations of not only the genre of music which is commonly considered to be their territory, but the territory of music itself. Their conceptual, cinematic live show has always been built upon a strong visual component… but that was just the beginning of a journey which is now reaching the next level.
Alba – Les Ombres Errantes (“The Wandering Shadows”) is the first full length movie directed by singer and guitar player Emmanuel Jessua… and his band, HYPNO5E.
They have turned down their amps, & switched them off entirely, to provide the stunning 75 minutes soundtrack for this ambitious project.
Jessua grew up in Bolivia, where the movie was filmed with a team of 7 French and Bolivian volunteers, and a budget of only €22.000.
The result is a breathtaking visual and sonic journey through the otherworldly landscapes of one of the most intriguing places on earth… a journey that orbits around the memories and reflections of a man contemplating about the eternal loss of childhood.
“The idea of this movie was born in the Amazon forest, precisely in Rurenabaque, on the terrace of a small hotel on the Beni river shore”, tells Jessua. “I was only 10 years old and had been living with my family in Bolivia for more than five years. I was experiencing life with an incredible intensity, in a fantastic environment… with this film, I wanted to capture the constant exceeding of limits that I feel when I’m in Bolivia: the limits between the gods and the human, between sanity and madness, between the past and the present. It is in the religious and musical syncretism of the Oruro carnival (where my mother used to dance each year) that this exceeding of limits can be witnessed the best, where myth and reality mingle, and where the protagonists lose their sensation of time or space‘
For fans who are used to the technical post metal that HYPNO5E have become known for, the band’s acoustic alter ego (featuring the same members), also known under the guise A BACKWARD GLANCE ON A TRAVEL ROAD, might come as a surprise at first: but fans of the band are well aware that moments of folk and latin have always been present in HYPNO5E’s epic take on contemporary metal.
Alba – Les Ombres Errantes’ is a movie, an album and a cinematic live show in its original form.
It will be released on April 6 worldwide!
TRACK LIST:
SIDE A:
1. Who wakes up from this dream does not bear my name (11:10)
2. Cuarto del Alba (7:11)
SIDE B:
3. L’ombre errante (2:07)
4. Night on the petrifed sea (10:59)
5. Ghosts – The wandering Shadows (7:34)
SIDE C:
6. Los Heraldos Negros (10:22) 7. Ojos Azules (3:06)
8. Calling (4:08)
SIDE D:
9. Agua (2:00)
10. Light Of Desert And The Shadows Inside (15:34)
Watch The Trailer Here
vimeo.com/247279267/c4f19ca1f8
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Copenhagen’s LLNN burst onto the international scene with 2016’s critically acclaimed debut album „Loss“, a sheer display of „absolute raging rawness“, as Terrorizer put it. But there is more to LLNN’s sound than that: „the wavering drone synths that are effortlessly merged with a raw hardcore-driven darkness define the subtle idiosycratic nuances of LLNN’s very unsubtle, painfully overwhelming sound“ (The Sludgelord).
After a split EP with LA’s WOVOKA in the summer of 2017, LLNN now return with their sophomore album, „Deads.“, which evades all the pitfalls of the sophomore slump. Produced by Jacob Bredahl and mastered by Tue Madsen “Deads“ is an erosive, abrasive, dystopian, apocalyptic monolith of monstrous dimensions.
Compared to its predecessor, „Deads“ is more compact, yet more complex and organic all at the same time. The band has now perfectionized the amalgamization of the stringed instruments section (bass, guitar) with keys player Ketil Sejersen’s very dominant 80’s Sci- Fi movie-esque synth layers, which are inspired by composers like Brad Fiedel, Vangalis, John Carpenter and Stanley Kubrick as much as by Sci-Fi / horror games like Silent Hill, Dead Space, Halo and Limbo.
„Some of the synth sounds on the album consists of recordings from everyday sounds transformed into eerie soundscapes, for instance the sounds of boiling water“, drummer Rasmus G. Sejersen comments. „We wanted the soundscapes to be a persistent and dynamic underlay of sounds that influence the music’s core and soul throughout the entire album, together with all the riffs, rhythms and vocals“.
It doesn’t come as a suprise that this band triggers the interest of movie soundtrack composers like the award-winning Peter Albrechtsen, known for his work on movies like „Dunkirk”, “Antichrist” or “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo”:
”As a sound designer for movies, I love when music feels like a sonic adventure. I’m obsessed with music that explores what sound can do to our body, to our mind, to our imagination. LLNN ‘s new album is one of the most overwhelmingly intense records I’ve heard in quite a while and the way it blends abstract ambient sounds, shattering rhythms and extreme noise is both hypnotic and powerful. The sense of sonic detail is staggering and for each spin I hear new elements, echoes, textures and my mind gets new visual associations. Sometimes it feels like the soundtracks of Apocalypse Now and Eraserhead has been melted together and blasted through a ferocious guitar amp – these songs have both a sense of impending doom and an extraordinary combination of raw energy and gritty beauty.“
Not much else to say, except this: LLNN will be unleashing their custom take on contemporary post metal supporting Vancouver’s BISON on their April European headline tour, including performances at ROADBURN, DESERT FEST (London) and PELAGIC FEST.
TRACK LISTING
1) Despots • 2) Parallels • 3) Armada • 4) Civilizations • 5) Appeaser • 6) Deplete • 7) Structures • 8) Deads
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ABRAHAM emerged from the flourishing Swiss music scene of the past decade. During their now 8 years of existence and through festivals and tours supporting Cult of Luna and The Ocean, the band have forged their reputation as one of the leading post metal bands in Europe — but this record here is really… something else.
Something else in every imaginable regard: intensity. Conceptuality. Ferocity. Delivery. Obsession. Depth. Length. Darkness. Madness.
Look, Here Comes The Dark! is, simply put, a concept album about the end of times: a classic post-apocalyptic dystopia, like a musical version of McCarthy’s „The Road“, or Whitehead’s „Zone One“.
The album is divided into four consecutive periods, one for each vinyl record, throughout which the story of the disappearance of all life on Earth is told. Each section is defined by a unique approach in terms of style, songwriting, degree of experimentation and choice of instrumentation. Producer Magnus Lindberg from Cult Of Luna has taken an approach that honors each part’s own integrity and identity, and mixed the drums, guitars, synths, vocals diferently for each part, as if they were independent records.
“This is so intense that it is almost physically painful.” – Metal Hammer
I – ANTHROPOCENE
The first part begins with the downfall of civilization, the remains of mankind and technology, and the survivors’ feeble attempts to escape from the urban chaos that ensues. This part is characterized by compositions that reflect the loss of bearing, as well as faster pieces that evoke a sort of panic feel. The vile, hopeless atmosphere of these times is sonically reflected by a dirty, gritty, blurred and granular sound.
II – PHYTOCENE
In the second section, mankind’s architectural heritage is reclaimed by vegetation. The balance of power is inverted: remaining animal life is endangered, driven to extinction by furhter mindless exhaustion and depletion, without the chance for recovery. The musical experience of this second part aims to convey a sensation of suffocation in an environment where it is becoming increasingly impossible to breathe. The compositions are slower- paced and more imposing, leaving more space to the bass.
III – MYOCENE
The third period depicts landscapes where lush vegetation has given way to a humongous sprawling mycelium, controlling all remaining life. The last form of collective consciousness has merged into a gigantic organism whose ultimate task is to purge the planet of the scoria of humanity. Focusing on the mysteries of consciousness and its unlimited capacity, the band sets foot on an experimental field… there are some jazz-inspired compositions here, and the lyrics delve into vastly psychedelic territories, delivered by acid-soaked, multi-layered vocals.
IV – ORYKTOCENE
The grand finale leaves no doubt about how desolate a sphere Earth has become: an empty rock floating in space. The compositions are stripped bare here, with no room for anything superfluous. The minimalist drone-like instrumentation results in a very dry and cold sound. A cynical epilogue leaves us with a few survivors finally departing into space, perpetuating and disseminating the destructive force that lies within humankind,
Though it’s easy to assume a clear message from this theme, the band clarifies that this album does not intend to serve as a political pamphlet. „This apocalyptic frame of mind allows us to apprehend the dark and violent emotions which emerge when we are confronted with our sinking world, enabling us to move beyond denial and bargain- ing, to welcome fear, despair, and rage instead of letting them consume us and thereupon to begin to grieve over the demise of our civilization“, comments vocalist and drummer David Haldimann, whose broken, wrecked melodic vocals clash with main vocalist Olivier Haehnel’s destructive and prophetic growls.
FOR FANS OF
BREACH • CULT OF LUNA • WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM • ISIS • ROSETTA • MINSK • RUSSIAN CIRCLES • NEUROSIS • CHELSEA WOLFE • PG.LOST • YLVA
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