HYPNO5E // TRAME NOIRE - T-SHIRT Release Date: November 6, 2026 Since forming in the south of France in 2003, Hypno5e have made a distinct, indelible mark on the progressive scene. Their self-styled ‘cinematic metal’ mixes heavy music, the avant-garde, post-rock, immersive samples and Latin American influences across widescreen songs. On their much-anticipated seventh album, Trame Noire, they continue their unique journey, while also throwing in new ideas ready to excite longtime fans and newcomers alike. The follow-up to the immense conceptual duology of A Distant (Dark) Source (2019) and Sheol (2023), Trame Noire is named after the French term for ‘dark infrastructure’: urban architecture designed to preserve the blackness of the night for nocturnal species. It tells the story of a protagonist who confronts his trauma over the course of one night, as every insect, every flap of a wing and every change in temperature brings back long-buried memories. “The main concept of this album is something I discovered on the island of La Réunion,” explains singer, guitarist, conceptual mastermind and visual director Emmanuel Jessua. “At an observatory, I met this scientist who was studying trame noire. The story is almost a detail; what I like about trame noire is how you have this constant metamorphosis, so small things like a change in light or a pulse or the movement of a leaf tell something to the character.” After debuting with 2007’s Des deux l’une est l’autre, Hypno5e won widespread acclaim with 2012’s Acid Mist Tomorrow and 2016’s Shores of the Abstract Line, which perfected their vast and textured approach. The soundtrack to 2018’s Alba – Les ombres errantes exposed their acoustic side, before A Distant (Dark) Source and Sheol carried their vision even further, the latter even featuring a sweeping string section. In contrast to almost every other one of their albums, which last for more than an hour, Trame Noire clocks in at a svelte 39 minutes. But, it’s no less cinematic for it. The songs run like an uncut thread, seamlessly shifting between atmospheric wonder and ferocious payoffs. Opener ‘Lost Fires’ rises from lonely keys to a section driven by Jessua’s lush vocals, followed by hulking guitars. ‘Falmer’ offers some of the sweetest and hardest moments of Hypno5e’s career: a hypnotic detour evokes the prime of Pink Floyd, then crashes into a metallic thunder that sounds like Gojira gone black metal. ‘Molecular Angel’ channels old-school prog, drums clamouring beneath gorgeous singing and ambient instruments, and ‘Bare Bones’ is a guitar-powered attack, incorporating wild leads and hammering thuds. The 10-minute title track is a suitably dynamic finale, but it remains consistent in its utter, bittersweet beauty. As well as condensing their grandeur into their shortest run-time to date, the band limited their use of samples (reflecting the lyrics’ focus on one voice and one character) and employed a warmer style of production, influenced by the masterpieces of 70s psychedelic rock. Even the artwork – painted by Emmanuel’s father, co-lyricist and frequent collaborator Thierry Jessua – is a decades-old, unrefined sketch, unlike the meticulously honed pieces seen on past covers. “This album, I told myself, ‘Let’s try new things!’” says Emmanuel. “We did it with Alba, the acoustic album, and that’s one of the albums that people like the most. I want to have a new language, a new way of telling the story, to tell it differently on each album.” The evolution also reflects the fact that Trame Noire was the first album to be made from start to finish with Hypno5e’s current lineup, rounded out by co-guitarist Jonathan Maurois, bassist Charles Villanueva and drummer Pierre Rettien. “The new lineup brings different atmospheres,” Emmanuel continues. “It doesn’t mean that Hypno5e is going to be this way forever now, but I think there was a more direct and free way of composing. Everybody had more of a say on the decisions and the structures we put on the album.” Trame Noire is another bold statement in a career defined by non-conformity. Shorter, warmer and presented in a totally different way to previous works, it ensures that Hypno5e remain one of one, even after more than two decades.
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