5ive are another act to add to the growing roster of experimental metal duos. Hesperus is an album of brutal subtleties and delicate cruelty, and an inventive exploration of what two people can do with a drumkit, a guitar and a whole stack of stomp boxes.
Hesperus begins with a faded-in noise that sounds somewhere between a chainsaw and one of those mad-professor’s-lab electrical gizmos. “Gulls” then gradually thickens out into simple yet powerful percussion and a thunderous multilayered guitar riff that flips between a quirky melodic hook and a low-slung grind that makes Queens Of The Stone Age sound like a Camden indie band. 5ive are not to be mistaken for the defunct boy band of the same name, suffice to say.
The scene is set, and the heavy vibe continues into second track “Big Sea” and far beyond; 5ive are all about the power of THE RIFF, and they know a good one when they find it. Hesperus also demonstrates the knack of making two men sound like a full band. To keep things moving, Charlie Harrold provides more rhythmic interest in each bar than the average drummer, and Ben Carr scratches and chugs his way across the audio landscape like a rogue trucker with a head fall of little white pills.
There’s a certain degree of production trickery involved on Hesperus, sure – the studio is an extra instrument to most artists these days - but I’m guessing there will be split signal chains, multiple amplifiers and octaver pedals involved in Carr’s set-up somewhere.
And it’s a glorious racket that 5ive make; all the driving fury and hair-raising riffs of the best stoner and desert rock bands are captured on Hesperus and left to shine unadorned and unfussed by lyrics and solos. Deceptively simple sounding, Hesperus is an album that makes you want to strap on a guitar and drive for the coast as fast as you can, foot to the floor with the wind whipping tears from your eyes.
5ive are living proof that not only can metal be minimalist but that minimalist doesn’t have to mean weak – no one could accuse Hesperus of being an anaemic album. It doesn’t need any vocals or fretwank solos; the spaces in 5ive’s music are both necessary and perfect, leaving the grooves some space to breathe and flex their muscles.
Like their label-mates Pelican, 5ive strip the stoner style of its image and pretence, reducing it to the raw instrumental basics. Hesperus is a must-hear album for fans of riffs and heavy groove.
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Posted in Music reviews |
Tags: 5ive, desert rock, doom, Hesperus, instrumental, stoner
