There are albums that find us in strange times of our lives, especially when the last few months have been marked by routine and realignment. It’s harder to find moments of quiet when you are constantly surrounded by noise and outside pressure. However, now that it’s becoming darker earlier and we are transitioning into winter, those quiet times come easier, and that means more time to reflect and think about what the future could bring. It’s fitting that Hypno5e’s newest full-length, Trame Noire, has become the soundtrack to those quiet, darker nights.

Trame Noire stems from the concept of dark infrastructure, which refers to interconnected networks of natural, man-made, and urbanized spaces defined by low levels of artificial light at night. This means that areas deserve to be dark during the night, emphasizing the need for natural sleep cycles, better health outcomes, and healthy circadian rhythms. Given how a lot of places here in the U.S. are always washed in harsh, artificial lighting, it’s easy to see how a person can lose track of time. This concept informs the music that Hypno5e has created, almost as if you can hear the buzzing of low lights, the almost-threatening aspect of urbanization, and the warmth of a crowded street in the dark. These are the things that accompany you at night when you walk home, or during the early morning hours when it’s still pitch-black and you must get ready for the commute. Those are the quiet moments Trame Noire gives, interrupted by flairs of heavy sounds that reminds the listener that, after all, things are still going to be noisy and chaotic in the darkness.

Now, Trame Noire is an album filled with musical contradictions and textures that shouldn’t work together, and yet it does. Unlike their previous album, Sheol, this is more straightforward in its sound, elevating their progressive post-metal to an almost sludgy feel. It also sounds more organic, as if the band removed themselves from using heavier electronics and emphasizing the naturalness of their instruments. This is best seen on fourth track “Bare Bones,” a song that is heavy and warm in its approach, utilizing all instruments to their fullest extent. The music is incredibly intimate, as if you are the only person in the world who’s had the privilege to experience it. It reverberates and moves in a way that makes you catch your breath, wishing for something that you haven’t experienced in a while. Although the story the album is trying to tell is anything but warm, there’s something about Trame Noire that makes it easy to come back to, a sense of deep nostalgia that buries itself in your bones. I kept finding myself coming back to it, trying to figure out why I wanted to listen to this album, why I felt like I missed something while listening. However, after numerous listens, Trame Noire doesn’t give up its secrets, and I am enthralled by its thematic callbacks throughout the album. I also love that “Lost Fires” and the title track are the bookends – they are similar enough to where you have no idea where one song ends and the album begins anew.

What I love the most about Trame Noire is that it feels like a homecoming of sorts. As someone who has spent a long time listening to post-metal before switching to a new genre fascination earlier this year, this album brings back the joy and catharsis I experienced with albums like this. I know that we live in a post-Solaris world, but post-metal doesn’t have to be intricate and sludgy all the time, where the weight of its experimentation outweighs its humanity. At its core, Trame Noire is simple in its concept, yet how it manages to take up space and become intricate in its composition is what will make any post-metal enjoyer come back to experience it time and time again.

All in all, Trame Noire is a fantastic record that has shed its conceptual layers and has opted to approach its music from bare-bones foundation. This is the kind of post-metal that brings me back to embrace the genre at its fullest – music that tugs at my soul, letting me bask in its heaviness despite how strange it can become. I cannot wait to see what Hypno5e does next, but all I know is that I want more of it.

— Hera

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Trame Noire is available now on Pelagic Records. For more information on Hypno5e, visit their official Facebook and Instagram pages.