5ive - Hesperus (Hydrahead)
1/5
By: Charlie Potter
Everyone knows that playing one riff for hours is really fun. Yet perhaps if 5ive bothered to listen back to what they'd recorded, ever, they might be bored to tears like everyone else who has listened to it.
I really wanted an album by this band when I was younger. They were one of the first bands to be associated with Hydrahead, releasing on sister label Tortuga, I never really got round to forking out the cash. Now that I get one of their albums for free (this is the life), my first thought is that it just sounds too much like a generic Hydrahead album. It's not that I have anything against Hydrahead; Big business, Old Man Gloom, Sunn O))) and Khanate are all fantastic bands, and that's not to mention their recent signing of Mick Barr, but if there is a typical trademark sound, then this is it. 5ive along with Pelican really need to start trying out something new. I mean, I'm really not joking - you get about 4 or 5 riffs per track that all sound very similar, one, maybe two drum beats and the tracks last about seven minutes. Then, between the tracks the riffs sound fairly similar and the drums are almost identical. To be fair to 5ive I have never heard the split that they did with Kid606, it might be rubbish for all I know, but it at least shows that they are up for stuff. But why then, how, have they managed to take 6 years over something that is so unbelievably boring?
The main musical revolution that these bands seem to have bought to the world is an almost excessive use of augmented chords, something that I really consider Aaron Turner's 'sound' (Isis, Old Man Gloom and founder of Hydrahead). I might be wrong, but surely he coined this sound completely, and everyone else is just ripping him off? And as is so often the case, he's the one who has taken it further than anyone else, going as far as recently collaborating with Sir David Scott Stone. Why anyone would want to listen to this when he has clearly taken the sound so much further is beyond me.
Another thing I find confusing about 5ive is that if you try and read up on them it seems that all their fans are stereotypical metallers. Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't argue against there being a great deal of distortion on a guitar, but by no means do I think that alone makes it heavy. It's funny, I am one of the privileged types that has heard the new Portishead album, and that is far heavier than this band can ever hope to be. With 5ive, I can think of no other reason to listen to their records other than to relax, and yet people act like it's going to crush you or something.
If you think this album is good, then I recommend you check out Guapo, an instrumental band who are far more dynamic and know how to keep a lasting tension way better than 5ive. If you want massive riffs for ages then get Jerusalem by Sleep or Amplifier Worship by Boris. Or you could get straight to the point and get Lysol by the Melvins. But if you're not willing to stray from your narrow path you can get one of the million Pelican, 5ive, Cave In or any of those other bands' albums. Personally, Old Man Gloom and Isis are a cut above the rest of that bunch, and I'll leave it at that.
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