Hypno5e – Trame Noire
Release Date: 6th November 2026
Label: Pelagic Records
Bandcamp
Genre: Progressive Metal
FFO: Katatonia, The Ocean, Periphery.
Review By: Ben Harris-Hayes
Experienced French progressive/avant-garde metallers, Hypno5e, return with their 8th album, Trame Noire, in early November with another epic trek through cinematic soundscapes and high-concept storytelling.
Named after the French term for “dark infrastructure”: an urban architecture designed to preserve the blackness of the night for nocturnal species.
It tells the story of a protagonist who confronts his trauma across one night, with every moment bringing back buried memories.
Band leader, Emmanuel Jessua, strides through Katatonia-esque vocal harmonies and muscular riffage, while his bandmates complete their huge sound across five tracks, with 3 of them hitting around the ten-minute mark.
Unsurprisingly to me (at least), the winding journey through each song is very much akin to a lot of bands on Pelagic Records, in that there is a LOT to take in…but would it be Prog if it was any different?
The main thing that caught my ear upon initial listens was the Jonas Renske-esque harmonies, which I’ve always loved, and it’s not meant to be disparaging to Hyno5e in their approach to how they’ve gone about a more singular voice here.
The more extreme vocals are present with a rage-filled delivery that sit in nice contrast to the aforementioned clean harmonies.
Whether it was intentional or not, I didn’t detect much approach to a more accessible songwriting and delivery in the songs, and whether the listener wants that sort of thing is purely subjective; but if you know Hypno5e from their previous work, then I suspect you are more than prepared to digest an unobvious approach to the music, with sudden leaps of structure and changes coming from way out there.
There are moments of absolute clarity in places, with parts of songs reaching blastbeat-driven ferocity akin to Norse blackened metal, through to clean passages with synths.
I’ve spent this review skirting around the idea that, to me, this record is a journey, but it is a difficult one.
I cannot fault the band’s drive to be seen as not delivering something formulaic, which sits with The Ocean, their aforementioned label mates on Pelagic Records.
There were definite moments that made me chuckle, which is my way of being impressed at what I’m hearing…and there were moments where I was indifferent to things.
I guess I’ve always been in a strange need of “feeling” something from the artists I listen to, and ‘Trame Noire’ delivers a disquieting, unnerving feel.
Whether I “enjoyed” it in a literal sense is neither here nor there…but it kept me coming back for subsequent listens.
It’s not immediately accessible; it’s not easy to digest, and it takes a number of playthroughs to get your head around what the band are trying to convey, even from someone like myself who thinks he’s a musician who knows his way around progressive music!
And THAT is what makes this record weirdly enjoyable to me.
It’s not the obvious, it’s not served up in nice major-key parts with hooks, and because of this, it deserves your time.
High art needs its space to breathe its own way, and ‘Trame Noire’ definitely whistles to its own, dissonant tune; even if I could be picky and say parts do sound like other bands…but we all borrow/are inspired by what’s around us, right?
A well-deserved, brooding 4 out of 5 for our French friends on their new album.
(4 / 5)
