Hypno5e have forged the term “cinematic metal” with their truly epic-scope compositions, oftentimes exceeding not only the 10- but the 20-minutes mark, merging elements of contemporary metal with latin folk and soundtrack-score like sonic landscapes. After the acoustic special album “Alba – Les Ombres Errantes” (2018), the Southern French quartet are now returning with a more “typical” Hypno5e record, if there is such a thing: their 5th album, “A Distant (Dark) Source”, is the second part of a diptych album project.

Each part will be released separately, starting with the second one. “A Distant (Dark) Source” continues to chase those demons and lost memories which the band has been chasing ever since their debut album “Des Deux L’Une Est L’Autre”: the album 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 singer and guitarist Emmanuel Jessua has grown up, and continues to find inspiration for his musical endeavors.

Emmanuel Jessua (guitar, vocals), Charles Villanueva (bass), Pierre Rettien (drums), Jonathan Maurois (guitar)

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.

Don’t be deterred by such conceptual enthusiasm, as their sound is powerful, visceral and immediate. There are moments that remind you of the expansive technical elaborations of BTBAM, 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, they are not bound to any precondition.

Pelagic Records

Alba – Les Ombres Errantes is the first full length movie directed by singer and guitar player Emmanuel Jessua. The story features two brothers who reunite when their mother dies in La Paz, after a long separation through a Bolivia that is both real and dreamlike.

The soundtrack of the movie, performed by Hypno5e‘s acoustic alter ego band A Backward Glance On A Travel Road (featuring the same members) captures the essence of that whirlwind which blurs and reunites age, dreams, and reality.

Hypno5e has turned down their amps, or switched them off entirely, to provide the  soundtrack for this ambitious project. 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.