ALBUM REVIEW: Trame Noire – Hypno5e
Experience breeds wisdom, and wisdom encourages the advancement of thought. This is the philosophy apparent throughout Trame Noire, the latest offering from French cinematic post-metal outfit HYPNO5E. Boasting a discography spanning more than two decades, the band has consistently delivered gold despite their approach being fraught with jeopardy: ever experimental, ever pushing the boundaries and refusing to conform, always encouraging the listener to think. These riches are never candidly offered, instead, we are encouraged to dig deep where we find they are abundant and remain fixed in the mind long after each album closes out.
Given this constant growth and sonic expansion, it is remarkable to discover that Trame Noire is yet another successful evolution for the band. Their intention was to create an album that could present a much more organic sound, and this has been realised both in structure and stylistic choice. The almost complete omission of the samples that littered previous albums allows Trame Noire to flow, and although that omission is a rewarding change more so than a direct improvement, it allows HYPNO5E to focus more on rolling soundscapes and textured, hallucinatory composition.
Don’t let this fool you into thinking they have lost a single ounce of crushing heaviness. Simply put, it provides a blank canvas and the perfect breeding ground for their metamorphosis, and they unquestionably thrive within it. Post rock and post metal are still far-reaching, but the production is warmer, more reminiscent of 70s psych rock, and at times it borders on the FLOYD-ian, if not sounding outright like old-school prog. If you were to create a relief map of their sound, you would encounter wide, sweeping plains and mountainous summits that frequently dive and climb, landscapes that provide the stage for the album’s concept. Trame Noire is the French term for ‘dark infrastructure’: urban architecture designed to preserve the blackness of night for nocturnal species, and the album itself follows a protagonist confronting buried trauma over the course of a single night. It is bittersweet, both sonically and lyrically.
Five tracks. Thirty-nine minutes. Rarely does a HYPNO5E runtime sit below an hour, but Trame Noire does a copious amount of heavy lifting throughout its reduced runtime. Lost Fires patiently opens the album with ethereal keys that inch toward the first onslaught of weighty guitars before again falling into starry-eyed prog. Falmer does the same, ebbing and flowing through some of the most graceful moments of the band’s discography, yet punching hard when called upon. Although Molecular Angel and Bare Bones are shorter tracks, they are equally pliable in their approach. As you’d expect, it’s all very dense and technical. There are endless treasures for the prog nerds to covet, but a casual listen never feels overwhelmed. There is an ever-present fluidity that never ceases to be sublime, even at its most crushing. It is impossible not to be swept along.
As Trame Noire is concluded by its 10-minute title track, we can reflect not only on the album but HYPNO5E’s career as a whole, and one word comes to mind more than any other. Consistency. A whole raft of adjectives could be thrown at them, sure, but fundamentally they have built a reputation as a band that shows no fear in their approach to song-craft and have repeatedly raised the bar that they themselves set sky-high years ago. It is no surprise that Trame Noire is a remarkable album. It sits proudly at the summit of a remarkable discography, entirely worthy of being counted among the accomplishments of a band so unique and important within the post-metal genre.
Rating: 9/10
Trame Noire is out now via Pelagic Records.
Like HYPNO5E on Facebook.