5ive - Hesparus
I’m sure there must be some confusion over whether 5ive are in fact a five piece pretty boy band ready to rock the party and slam dunk the funk, I mean the similarities do seem endless, apart from the fact that the 5ive I’m talking about have probably not slam dunked any funk and there’s actually only two of them, I’m not sure how pretty they are either to be honest. Ok so they are in fact so completely different you’ve probably got no chance of confusing them, I hope so for the boy band fans anyway as they would get a pretty big shock if they did just that.
Anyway, this 5ive are in fact an experimental drone metal band from Boston, Massachusetts made up of guitarist Ben Carr and drummer Charlie Harrold and it seems they have been in hiding for the past seven years as that is when their last album was released.
After reading up about this band I didn’t actually expect to like Hesperus and I’m pleased to admit I was pleasantly surprised. It’s definitely got that stoner feel but it’s not as dirge like as I thought it might be, I’m not a big fan of music when it feels as if it’s not getting anywhere, like that wading through treacle feeling, but this has actually got a bit of pace to it. It’s almost like listening to a metal dance track, partly because it’s fully instrumental but mostly because the music just flows.
Not only is it gloriously thick and fuzzy with absolutely punishing riffs, there’s also enough dynamic and tempo variation to keep it listenable and stop it dragging. If they had just kept everything loud and way too slow this review would sound very different.
Following the intense pummelling of opening track ‘Gull’s’, you get the gentle melodic intro of ‘Big Sea’, which slows the pace for a while, but not for long, there’s great variation when the noise kicks in. ‘Heel’ is the track with the slowest intro, you’re almost expecting a pretty melodic vocal to come in over the top, their intro’s almost remind me of Tool, they’ve got a similar groove.
With each track beginning with soothing, melodic guitar work, then gradually building to a large crescendo into one deafening, experimental mass of intricate noise.
I’m not really sure why 5ive have been ignored when bands like Isis and Capricorns have fans flocking. Those bands are brilliant of course but with a bit more exposure perhaps 5ive could be equally as popular.
With brutal riffs a plenty, Hesparus is an album that deserves to be played loud!