HYPNO5E

This review makes some general observations on the album, and henceforth comments track by track.

My first observation is about something I truly admire on a band: their ability to make an album different from their usual style. "Alba" is a symphonic prog effort, sometimes pastoral, sometimes eclectic. Radically distinct from their other releases, that are experimental/post metal.

There's this good distribution and precise amount of narration and singing, most of the part in english. But you'll also get plenty of spanish and french, and they do it splendidly, as on their previous works. But this time there's no screaming or throat singing anywhere, what is occasionally done on the other albums. With great sensitivity and maturity, the instruments give space to each other and to the vocals. Therefore, you can clearly here the notes and harmonies. The mood is very good or even brilliant on all compositions. The first track begins with acoustic guitar, narrations, and what seems as a cross between theremin and citar; maybe it's generated by a combination of charango and acoustic guitar, and/or by sound engineering. An amazing sound. When vocalist starts to sing, it's in english; not so incredible. The execution has a cadence that allows the listener to follow and absorb each note. A penetrating female lament appears. 7,5/10.

Spanish vocals introduce next track. The rythym is not so absorbing and memorable, it even gets a little repetitive. But singing is very intense. A fabulous tune on acoustic guitar is performed on the middle of the song. The end of the track presents a gloomy mood with narration in french. 6,5/10.

Third track has 2min. Develops smooth and slow tunes on the piano, and what seems some slide effects on guitar. Goes very deep on my heart. 9,5/10.

Track 4 presents what seems to be a double bass, with low/strong tones. An acoustic guitar with a metallic sound dialogues to a fabulous feminine narration, in spanish. Seems to evoke painful memories. When the second acoustic guitar comes along, they undertake a stimulating rythym. Unexpected changes of harmonies and tones happens, on all instruments. Drums here have more density and accelaration. 9/10.

Next track is not so creative and amusing as the two previous, and doesn't seem to fit very well as a continuation of the album. Considering the fact that this disc has an extention of 74 min, if this track was excluded (or properly edited/summarized and included on the previous track) it would maybe work better. 6/10.

What astonishing harmonies are performed on 6th track! It's even hard to describe, but I guarantee that you'll hear many switches, without startles, of harmonies and cadences. I can also add that they use all the string acoustic instruments, and their technique is at its peak on this part of the disc. The english vocals are even better. All this together, with a melancholic narration in spanish, doesn't let me no doubts that it deserves 10.

A latin flavour is present on 7th track. A gentle harmony, and measured notes make this 3min composition a counterpoint to the introspective and melancholic tone of many previous snippets. 7,5/10.

Next track sounds kind of post-rock. Some beatiful phrases on acoustic guitar, and an evolving drumming and singing delivers a pleasant mood to this song. 8/10.

Mixing electroacoustic music with acoustic guitar, the brief 9th track presents another facet of the band's creative qualities. 8,5/10.

Last track is the longest of the album. The introduction is performed only with an acoustic guitar and vocals. It's a bit repetitive and confusing. When some layers are added with other instruments, the phrasings and harmonies get a little better. From halfway onwards, acoustic guitar and drums get repetitive again. The end of this composition looks like another track. Making it sound awkward. 6/10.

For the originality of the proposal, centralizing the compositions on acoustic guitar, and the combinations it can get with drums and vocal, I'll add 0,5 to my final note. 4.8. on a five-star scale.

Unfortunately, while I would like this review of Sheol to be glowing recommendation and a call for all prog fans to get it on the French scene, I can't quite get behind it. Hypno5e definitely attempt to embody the experimental spirit that characterizes this scene but fail to actualize it. Its almost as if the band sketched on a whiteboard the structure of a boundary pushing record but then filled in that structure with stock chords and riffs until the spaces could be filled with more inspired content.

With all that said, I can also see why prog fans might still love this record. As indicated above, there is a structure to the record that is attempting something huge and, for lack of a better word, cinematic. For some, the form of delivery will be enough to elevate the material actually being delivered. I guess you can say I am one of the poor fans who lost sight of the forest for the trees when evaluating this record. Either way, I encourage any listener to make their own opinion.

"Sheol - Part I" intro spleen depressive, languorous, voice from over there, from VALLEJO for the text, singular space, restful before "Sheol - Part II" tumbles cold, violent, austere like the clip shot on the mountain Ventoux in the middle of a storm; the doom-death groove gives way to a cinematic moment showing the landscape through a clearing in the fog; desolating moment of all beauty; the screaming, screaming voices, then muffled with those of women in French; on KWOON increasing the austere aspect of this musical fury with a little djent after the cinematic scents; Emmanuel with the voices passes from the soft to the brutal without problem, thus anesthetizing the debauchery of animal riffs like THE OCEAN; the heavy, jerky drums, memories of the ANATHEMA sound from the primary period. "Bone Dust" violins for melancholy intro and dark melody, that of the 1st day of the World; female voice amplifying the contemplative side, announcing an apocalyptic air worthy of the Man emerging from his cave; the heavy riff à la GOJIRA in their prog metal phase fits almost miraculously even when there is a return of the delicate melody; symbiosis between technicality and rage, gloom and light with a finale making the progs go away who did not accept the metallic and progressive fusion of this fabulous title. "Tauca - Part I" acoustic guitar interlude, remedy to recover from this debauchery of sounds, such as 'The Battle Of Evermore' gently; no metallic djent break, here it's an evening resting by the fireside by the lake.

"Lava From The Sky" seems to leave on the same atmosphere, dark metal of the end of the world it is you who see, the kind of oxymorian music that I love; madness with latent sweetness and savagery, an experimental death sound laced with depressive post rock; we can only be in the subjective here, in the eye of the storm between calm and chaos; a bit of violins, progressive choirs for an ambient calm and a dissonant maelstrom. "The Dreamer And His Dream" with a cinematic intro worthy of a 'Promotheus', dark, lugubrious, invading, solemn, with a classic rhythm; wind instruments then a seated acoustic guitar, bringing a crescendo that starts on the sound of BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, modern and nervous, tinged with an explosive and melancholic nuance at the same time, a bit like MY DYING BRIDE did so well; a musically deconstructed sound; umpteenth break around 9 minutes where the big Bertha gets into action, staggering before leaving on a serene post-rock sound; to note during these pieces the narration of the texts of poets like SEXTON or DESNOS. "Slow Steams Of Darkness - Part I" with an extract from 'Enfants du Paradis' and the saving piano and classical guitar interlude for an ethereal title bringing "Slow Steams Of Darkness - Part II" to a djent-post- experimental rock-metal with proven paroxysmal doom, amen. A text recited before a yelled, groovy, skinned cry which denotes here, too violent in view of the radiant instrumental parts; the voice becomes soft, and we would like it to remain so; yet another yelled cry, an evil riff, an avalanche of drum pads, the growl arrives, it saturates; and the finale the real one on a piano bed to come back down to earth; but where were you, heaven or hell or ghost between these two worlds?

HYPNO5E released the perfect album in this musical genre; ambient metal, extreme post rock for an inner ghostly journey; a visionary album that must be deciphered, translated, amalgamated to bring out its musical marrow, much more progressive than it seems at first glance; between THE OCEAN and KWOON, between Devin TOWNSEND and BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME, dark-djent-progressive too, a French group which should finally have its worldwide recognition in the very closed circle of underground cult groups. Brutal but melodic album, powerful but intimate, cinematic and progressive, immense, drowned in prog meanders, with unstoppable spleen melodies bringing profusions of eidolies through its musical curves. (5 for compositions in this musical genre.)

When I first heard this soundtrack thanks to a great, descriptive review by BrufordFreak here on progarchives, I was drawn in. I sat up. I leaned in. I was impressed. But I was also 'bumped.' What does that mean? It's an editor's term for feeling that something is just not right in the project's mix. In this case, the gratuitously long 74-minutes that makes up this score is often interrupted by dialogue snippets, i.e. spoken word, in Spanish and French. Both languages are beautiful in accent and cadence, but due to the fact that I do not speak/understand either of them, these elements were lost on me. Although I was discovering the great things that were happening in the instrumental music and songs, the interspersed dialogue bits were bumping me. Literally. They kept popping up at inconvenient times like speed bumps when you're driving along on a smooth road. I considered them a distraction and I almost gave up.

But then, as if struck by lightning, the producer hat on me had the idea to bring the soundtrack into my studio and just simply edit out the dialogue bits. I spent the next day meticulously pruning every second of the 11+ minutes of spoken word dialogue from the .wav files I had purchased on the band's bandcamp page, and voila, just like that, a perfect 63-minute album of incredible music was born, a direct descendant of ABGoaTR's intimate relations with my own two loving ears and editing-informed brain :).

And it was when I started to listen to my personal, homemade-edited version that I literally fell in love with it. Imagine if you took the dreamscape mood and brilliance of Pink Floyd's 'Dark Side of the Moon' and mixed it in with the emotive breakthrough creativity of Radiohead's 'Music-for-a-Film' from 'OK Computer' and then sprinkled in the intimate and gorgeous harmonies from the best Simon & Garfunkel releases; put it all in the oven and baked it to a glistening and golden perfection, in fact, I would call it something I've never called anything before: a perfect 10 type of perfection. I'm guessing that's not what Hypno5e set out to achieve when they began the daunting task of scoring the sprawling eco-scape of a film that seems to be a personal labor of love created to display the beauty of Bolivia through the memory lens of Emmanuel Jessua's adolescent experience, wherein he was raised.

So I consider it like mining a diamond in the rough, a diamond made especially valuable once the dialogue is stripped away and the music is left to stand on its own. I would be remiss if I didn't pause to provide some free yet sage Post Production advice (to no one in particular): sometimes a composer/writer can get too close to a project to see it from the end listener's point-of-view, and that's why editing is such an important part of the mix and the mastering stage. If something doesn't fit properly into a project, or worse, if you find yourself spending a lot of time trying to rationalize why something SHOULD fit into a project; hire an experienced editor. End of advice.

And now on to reviewing the music: 'Alba - Les Ombres Errantes' is a soundtrack that truly packs the power of the three above-mentioned Monolithic Music Milestones and generates its own mathematical calculation of synergy; forming a perfect 10 to the exponential power of 3. This score is a jaw-dropping timeless wonder that will move to the top of the list for anyone who will give this spectacular and brilliant emotive bundle of beauty repeated listens.

Let me predict: Its acoustic and nylon string-focused guitar performance, prowess and compositional maturity will stop you in your tracks. Its gorgeously intimate melodies and harmonies will make you feel again. Its percussive and bass accompaniment that brings and releases tension through restraint will haunt you dreams. Its ebb and flow of emotive song structures and instrumental passages will demand your repeat attention. Its whisper-across-the-pillow beauty woven into every stitch of its tapestry will touch your heart and your soul. It will draw you in. You will find yourself leaning in. And it will become something you tell your loved ones about. You will absolutely want to share it as a great discovery with your family and friends.

Brace yourself. Be ready. Get your house in order and make all of the preparations necessary to welcome 'Alba - Les Ombres Errantes,' an absolute lifetime achievement-type masterpiece by A Backwards Glance on a Travel Road led by Emmanuel Jessua, into your ears, into your heart, and into your life.

1. "Who Wakes Up From This Dream Does Not Bear My Name" (11:10) great sound, great music, diminished by the weak vocals. Reminds me a lot of a gentler, better recorded AGALLOCH. (17.5/20)

2. "Cuarto Del Alba" (7:11) several sections of film dialogue within the softer sections of music, in Bolivian Spanish and French! (13.5/15)

3. "L'ombre Érrante" (2:07) piano and synth interlude (4.5/5)

4. "Night On The Petrified Sea" (10:58) the voice of the Spanish-speaking female narrator over the first 85 second of the song make one fully aware that this album was intended as a soundtrack to a film or story. The music that follows is excellent--especially the acoustic guitar work. Even the singing is pretty good here. The song builds toward the end of the fourth minute until a slide guitar solo takes over the lead at the 4:05 mark. Vocal "ahhs" are nice as are the delicate harmony vocals in the next section. Another narration passage in the eighth minute leads into a slightly more dynamic instrumental section before almost music drops out for a different female narrator--this one in French--speaking over some very eerie, unsettling ambient music. (18/20)

5. "The Wandering Shadows" (7:33) percussions and strings open this one before the full band joins in with a gorgeous motif and vocal melody. The instrumental sections between the vocal sections are even better. The French dialogue inserted in the quiet places makes it even more interesting for the contrasts. And then singing in English in the second verse followed by another gorgeous instrumental section during the fourth minute. My favorite song on the album. (15/15)

6. "Los Heraldos Negros" (10:21) quite a dynamic and moody piece, changing pace and tones several times over the course of its ten minutes while displaying the guitarist's Spanish guitar virtuosity. Up till the seven minute mark when the spoken soundtrack joins in there is an amazingly stressful sense of the pressure or at least presence of Time pushing the song (and the listener) along. It's really difficult to explain, but it's there and it's disturbing. Amazing! My other top three song. (19/20)

7. "Ojos Azules" (3:06) gorgeous layered acoustic folk music over which multiple voices sing in equally gorgeous harmonies. Another top three song for me. (10/10)

8. "Calling" (4:08) drums, bass, and electrified dobro-sounding guitar open this one before multiple layered vocals burst in singing in English. Amazing how multiple languages are used with such facility throughout this album. (9/10)

9. "Agua" (1:59) high pitched synth drone over which echoed acoustic guitar is played. (4/5)

10. "Light Of Desert And The Shadows Inside" (15:33) Ulver-esque (26.25/30)

Total Time 74:06

I must admit, this music is gorgeous and as a film soundtrack I'm quite impressed and awed by this effort and production. I've said it before: This is the kind of purpose I feel progressive rock music has always served well.

A-/five stars; a minor masterpiece of folk-inspired progressive rock soundtrack music.

Favorite tracks: If Pink Floyd went metal we might get something like, "III. West Shore: Where We Lost the Ones" (10:31) (9/10) and insistent "V. Central Shore: Tio" (5:26) which is sung emotionally in Spanish (9/10).

Also good: the dreamy piano-based opener, "I. East Shore: Landscape in the Mist" (1:42) (8/10), the TUNE Lucid Moments-like "VI. North Shore: The Abstract Line" (6:56) (8/10), and; "VIII. The South Shore: Blind Man's Eye" (15:10) (8/10).

I found myself often reminded of the brilliant 2011 album Lucid Moments by Poland's TUNE while listening to this. Despite the growls and heavy sections (which are actually in the minority) this album is well worthy of repeated listens. Four stars.