Review by: Kunal Nandi
This has already been out a while on Hydra Head’s tuneful offshoot, but still warrants serious attention. Not to be confused with a particularly poor boyband, Boston’s 5ive are an amorphous group of musicians, centred around a guitar ‘n’ drums duo, providing a second album of severely wigged-out (mostly) instrumental heaviosity. So, chugging riffs, spacey effects, chunky Sabbath-y drums, Earth-y influences, blah blah blah.
But what the hell is this? A song drifting past the ten-minute mark without so much as a hint of boredom on my part? 5ive have achieved something rare here, something that really takes its time to establish a groove, before exploring it fully and ending it just at the right time. Even after the 20-minute epic has wound down in a wail of feedback and crashing drums, you end up begging for more.
The addition of some choice vocals hither and thither (including Jonah from the brilliant Milligram/Only Living Witness on “Stockholm Blues”) and weird instruments help spice up the proceedings immeasurably, and the whole thing is a highly enjoyable experience that totally engulfs the listener. Top Hole!