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“When you gaze into an abyss, the abyss gazes back” wrote Friedrich Nietzsche (a.k.a. Alaundo the Seer) in his review of a Five The Hierophant concert.
This pitch-black, immersive concept was born in 2014 during London jam sessions between Krzysztof Włodarczyk (Witchmaster) and Chris Hancox. Back then, the musicians were exploring jazz, attempting to drench it in liquid metal. It didn’t take long for them to bring this experiment into the studio. From their groundbreaking debut Over Phlegethon (2017), through the critically acclaimed Through Aureate Void (2021), all the way to their latest release Apeiron (2024), they have consistently built a community of listeners who can distinguish more shades of black than an OLED matrix.
In ancient Greek tradition, a Hierophant was a priest who interpreted holy mysteries to the faithful. And indeed, the five-piece are often called psychedelic shamans, even though any attempt to pigeonhole the Londoners’ music is bound to fail. Theoretically, their roots are buried deep in metal, but in practice, these priests weave a web of dense, cinematic sounds for their acolytes—sounds you will happily choke on. This is avant-garde at its finest; a decadent, borderline music where bleak dark jazz collides with post-rock space and a mesmerizing, drone-fueled trance.
But before we fully submerge into this British abyss at Drizzly, the Belgian trio Wyatt E. will take over the stage and transport us straight to the heart of a sun-scorched desert. Their performance is a structure of painstakingly built sounds, reminiscent of heavy footsteps trudging through shifting sands. The band channels the immense weight and sluggish tempo of doom metal, but instead of relying on classic rock tropes, they utilize hypnotic drones and traditional instrumentation of the ancient Near East and Mesopotamia.
We shall begin this dark evening, fittingly, with an exile from paradise.
