THIS WEEK I’M LISTENING TO...BARYON – Hypnos (independent release)

Being old-school – or maybe just old – I don’t really have the time nor inclination to understand the myriad of labels now attached to metal outfits, so to my simplistic way of thinking Baryon are a stylish and exciting progressive metal act. But the band are on record as saying that they wanted “to create the ultimate post-metal record made in Germany – more melodic than Cult Of Luna, but heavier than the usual post-rock acts,” and who am I to argue with that?

‘Hypnos’ is the Bensheim-based quintet’s second album, belatedly following on from 2015’s ‘Inauguration’. It’s a beautifully crafted collection of soundscapes, soaring and multi-layered and packed full of imagery and imagination, and overall is a very sophisticated album which requires multiple plays to get the best from it. While some of the material – ‘Cardiac Eye’, for example – strays into Katatonia territory at times, for the most part ‘Hypnos’ is a singularly determined and boundary-pushing release and in songs like ‘The Bargain’ and closer ‘Communion’ the band (Philip Neumann and Dimitrios Kasprzyk – guitars, Felix Schäfer – keyboards, Maximilian Hauser – bass and Philipp Schäfer – drums) have fashioned material which is huge and ambitious. As a result, collectively the six tracks on offer combine to create a body of work which is there to be experienced rather than just listened to. And whereas on ‘Inauguration’ Felix Schäfer handled the vocals, this time round they’ve called in guest singer Sebastian Bracht from Dahmian and Sol1dude, whose plaintive delivery so clearly suits the material which is heavy, certainly, but which at the same time is imbued with an ethereal quality.

Baryon are definitely a band for the ArcTanGent Festival stage – they’ll go down a storm there.

John Tucker July 2024