Five The Hierophant – Apeiron

The Hierophant. The fifth card in the Major arcana in Tarot. Symbolizing spirituality, conformity and religious beliefs. Having that in mind, it hints to the depth and mysticism that is to be experienced in Five The Hierophant’s music. The UK band has a very specific sound, that I would describe as hypnotic doom jazz with a pinch of world elements.

Their latest album, “Apeiron”, will take you on a journey into the darkest corners of your subconscious mind. For the cover art the band has once again used a painting by Odd Nerdrum, keeping the visual consistency in their library.

“Apeiron” fits its name perfectly. It manages to create that limitless, spacious feeling. Isolated and empty, yet grandiose and filled with various nuances. Each song feels like a different scene, but in the end, they are all interconnected.

We start with ‘Apeiron’. Not long after the track begins, the hypnotic drums kick in. The repetitive chant, led on by the haunting sax, keeps getting progressively more and more intense. That type of trance-indulging repetitiveness can be heard in all of the following songs. It does a great job at representing the cyclic nature of reality.

‘Moon Over Ziggurat’ is a more mellow track. It is so immersive, with the soundscape slowly filling up with various sounds, blending with the main motif from the intro. This one for me carries the best of that ancient Mediterranean spirit, which inspired it in the first place. You can almost feel the fresh night wind in the desert.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xyj9-b9q-mo

The haunting intro of the next track brings out a very dense, apocalyptic premonition. All that tension makes perfect sense for a track called ‘Tower of Silence I’. The brooding, slow feeling brings out the sinking sense of death.

‘Initiatory Sickness’ keeps that slow pace, until halfway through that nice, fizzy riff comes up. From there it starts to progressively pick up the pace, just to slow down around the 8-th minute. Then that same riff comes back, slower and nastier. Pure bliss!

Next up is my favourite of the album – ‘Uroboros’. It is the most dynamic one, the percussions are captivating, the bass is great. There’s an interesting switch around the 9-th minute, where it suddenly gets slower and heavier. The band usually utilize their various range of instruments well in their discography so far, but I personally feel like they went all in on this track.

The closer of the album, ‘Tower of Silence II’, has a fantastic intro.  The track is mostly led by the tasteful percussions. Its outro I can probably best describe as the musical equivalent of “When you stare into the abyss, the abyss stares back at you.”

It’s incredible how an album without any lyrics can paint pictures of ancient civilizations so vividly. How one can experience life and death, nothingness and infinity, through it, sonically. With just the track titles as a guide, you get to dive into a whole different timeline, to experience the chaos, the movement, the stillness, rebirth, unity.

As a fan of Five The Hierophant, I knew that this album would be of quality, but it exceeded my expectations. I find “Apeiron” very engaging and captivating in all of its diversity, probably one of my favourite releases for 2024!

Tracklist:

1. Apeiron
2. Moon Over Ziggurat
3. Tower of Silence I
4. Initiatory Sickness
5. Uroboros
6. Tower of Silence II