Metal Underground.com

If there were such a genre as progressive metalcore, it would be easy to classify France's Hypno5e as such if you're looking for a bird's-eye view explanation of the sound. It's probably better if you're not, because such a label does about as much to describe the sound as "good" does to describe the taste of a top shelf cognac. With Hypno5e, the beauty is in the ingredients. On the band’s second effort, Hypno5e has elaborated on the best parts from first album, "Des Deux L'une Est L'autre" (reviewed here).

For ten and a half minutes, the first track defines the direction of the album -- buildup followed by frenetic release, in waves. The beauty is in the pacing, which has become less abrupt and more deliberate than on the first album. Rather than show the group’s entire hand up front, Hypno5e develops tension by a calculated series of thematically derivative instrumentation sections, audio clips from films, and dramatically light clean passages. The bass guitar is particularly ominous, lending a huge presence as if it were a specter lurking in the corner of the room.

The second song, divided up among two tracks, is a titan of a piece with markedly different passages. One of them is a big build-up centered around clean vocals and drums, which unfolds into murky discord that will have the listener checking the room for ghosts. The interspersed audio clips from various films enhance the sound, taking from the adventurous leanings of music from the 1960s.

The third song, "Story of the Eye," is the album's anchoring point, clocking in at around eleven minutes in length. Involving lo-fi clips from what sounds like the same film that was featured in "Tutuguri" off of the first album, the accompanying piano makes the section positively terrifying when leading up to lyrics that sound like "this is the eye that penetrates you." With some tricky production work to accentuate the rhythmic elements present, the band lets loose with hardcore leanings with syncopation and assorted time signatures galore.

By the mid-point of the album, the cinematic scope has become solidified. Audiophiles will appreciate the subtle nuances in the background behind the main rhythm section, which the band has paid just as much, if not more, attention to. The stereo image is filled with the rise and fall of echoey guitars, back-masked cymbals, distorted vocals, and even flutes and other assorted instruments at times. "Gehenne" is a surprisingly Spanish-language piece that radiates energy over three tracks. The instrumentation begs the question "how do they remember all of these parts when playing live?"

Rounding out the album is the gradually unfurling "Brume Unique Obscurite," which feels mournful for the first seven and a half minutes. For the second part, various complex chord voicings and chugging patterns over the two guitars are integrated to elaborate on the themes established in the first part. The album ends with another audio clip from a film, leaving the listener once again frightened.

Filled to the brim with atypical riffs, dark atmospheres, and bright and punchy production work, "Acid Mist Tomorrow" is sure to please attention-deficit-type listeners without venturing too far off the map. Moreover, the pacing suggests a great deal of thought behind the music. This is a sophomore full-length release done right. More importantly, it shows that the band is devoted to getting the sound just right rather than quickly spitting records out, given that this is five years after the release of their debut.