The collective formerly known as 5ive may have assumed a cumbersome moniker, but in no way does that extra baggage complicate the single-minded, hard-rocking vibe (man) committed to this CD. For ‘Hemophiliac Dream’, the follow-up to 2001’s ‘Telestic Disfracture’, core 5ive musos Ben Carr and Charlie Harrold teamed up with Isis bass-man, Jeff Caxide, for some new adventures in sci-fi. Clearly inspired by their new project, the trio’s creative juices gushed so hard that they managed to squirt not nine, not ten, but ONE new track onto this 2‑track release. The other – Hemophiliac Dream Part II — is a remix. 

Not exactly a prolific display, is it? 

But fear not, m’dears. The juices are 100% pure, and the result — a pulverising 24-minute quiet-loud-LOUDER instrumental – is a magnificent blast of heavy psychedelia for the Noughties. Shamelessly plundering vintage Pink Floyd, the Continuum magpies have nabbed ‘Set the Controls for the Heart of the Sun’ and filtered it through Mogwai’s template of increasing intensity, ‘My Father, My King’…

…which means this most definitely isn’t a super-quick hit. Nope, The Hemophiliac Dream is one of those long, slow-burning types that starts quietly, all spacey fx and cosmic haze, and gradually builds into something far more visceral. A fashionably late appearance by the key riff starts the Main Event, rumbling tribal percussion pours petrol on the dust-dry beginnings, and then it’s just a case of waiting waiting waiting for the stray spark that floats down to set the whole thing off… 

…which – of course — it does. BIG TIME. The Rage is unleashed via pounding, brink-of-sanity stickwork and torrents of rough, fuzzed-up riffing that is waaaaaay more reckless than a mere three-piece has any right to be… talk about turbulent, this lot almost disintegrate in a massive, Blackpool-sized Big One of a freefall. In short, it rocks. Long. 

Then they ease off the savagery, coast back to the beginning and do it all over again, the crazy mofos. Two heavyweight trips to the heart of the sun – what else do you want? A barbed interpretation by James Plotkin? Well, bugger me if they haven’t thrown that in as a mangled remix. Sweet Dreams.