I think it’s fair to say that Five the Hierophant’s music doesn’t conform to one genre. Avant-garde, post black metal, doom, ambient and jazz all appear to be in there. One description I read of “Apeiron”, the band’s third album is that it is “a hypnotic, hallucinatory experience”.
Our strange instrumental journey starts with the title song. A distorted, gloomy canvas stands behind a saxophone tune. Out of nowhere it all becomes frantic and exciting. The sax then gives us the sound of Arabian nights. An electronic wave provides the wind machine and the misty horizon. This is “Moon over Ziggurat”. I can see where the “hypnotic, hallucinatory experience” comes from. This is designed to send us into a trance, but in a good way as the drum beat provides power behind the psychedelic vibe. After the sultry “Moon over Ziggurat” comes “Tower of Silence”. Like a space ship, the electronic waves return but with a noise frequency adding menace. The sax intervenes intermittently, resembling a slow train proceeding across a plain and sounding its horn. Mysterious and inconclusive. From distortion “Initiatory Sickness” moves to a languid beat, making its way down a snaky path with its music of mystery and saxophonic expression. The mood becomes more upbeat in an understated way. Electronic waves provide calm, but then the scene becomes momentarily wild and the atmosphere is more tense. To finish this ever-evolving song culminates in sax-infused weighty doom.
The start of “Uroboros” suggests a post-metal build up. Slow in delivery and beat, it is dark and moody. Moody is a good word to describe this album as a whole. It is dreamy, but not to my ears cinematic as claimed. “Uroboros” continues in trance-like fashion. Sure enough the heaviness is ramped up and we hit the depths, sonically speaking. It slows down and we return to the languid psychedelic soundscape which is very common element of this album. The energy ramps up again – I realise that changing energy and tempo adds colour, but I don’t really get a sense of direction – before stepping back to a doomy passage. The album closes with “Tower of Silence II”. I described part I as mysterious and inconclusive. This is the same. The harsh noise and the electronic waves are there but it doesn’t reach any heights and in common with much of what’s gone before, it’s quite deadpan.
I found “Apeiron” quite interesting to listen to, and enjoyed for the most part its sultry ambience. It’s not uniform in that there are transformations in soundscapes and styles are switched but I really didn’t gain an appreciation of where it was all leading to, and found that any moments of excitement were at a premium.
(6.5/10 Andrew Doherty)
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