Sunday 30 April 2017

Ides Of Gemini - WOMEN (Album Review)


Release date: April 28th 2017. Label: Rise Above Records. Format: CD/DD/Vinyl

Women – Tracklisting

01. Mother Kiev
02. The Rose
03. The Dancer
04. Raft of Medusa
05. Heroine's Descent
06. Swan Diver
07. The Last Siren
08. Zohra
09. She Has a Secret
10. Queen of New Orleans
11. Marianne

Members:

Sera Timms, J. Bennett, Scott Batiste, Adam Murray

Review

Ides Of Gemini’s new album is entitled ‘Women’ and it is a somewhat vintage sounding doom metal album, as if it was crafted over twenty years ago.

The guitar riffs, bass lines and drum beats are minimalistic in nature, made by a group who design without technological confusion, thus contributing to the overall hypnotism effect of this band. The vocals do not caress, but rather haunt, with lyrics sung in grey, meaning they blend and are not screamed in contrast against the shrouded dream of music; yet they are far from withdrawn and more than a mere appurtenance.

The album’s murky atmosphere could have been released back in the times of early 80’s doom metal, the coveted kind found entombed within divine recordings of black vinyl, yet this is a novel recording which constructs a vitrine for the female vocal art. Sera Timms is an enchantress, who provides the lull laments and mollified moans perfectly formulated to seep into the respites of your mind like a knife through the demise of your heart.

There are few who sound as organic and ancestral as Ides Of Gemini. The ambiance of cloudy sustained chord vibrations is crafted with leaden distortion, while the pluck and pick is constructed with an elementary origin of scales, all culminating in a doom laden, circuitous sensation. The uncomplicated drums follow a blueprint schematic, interlocking the skeleton of the serpent. The semi-dulcet vocals are like a spool of timeworn thread unwound into your being and embroidered onto your soul. The overall melodic energy is more analogous to a slow burning purple candle flame, rather than a roaring reckless red fireball.

The mystical similarity between all of the songs unifies this euphonious lot into a cohesive, spiritualistic album. My most beloved tunes are ‘She Has A Secret’, which suspends and dissolves in creation like a fine expresso and ‘Queen of New Orleans’ which transfers impetus into tender compassion, pouring in like oily Sambuca.

There is definitely a noticeable continuity of mood and identity sewn between all of the Ides Of Gemini albums, so none of the tried and true fans should be disappointed here.

In conclusion, Ides Of Gemini are the high clergy who decided it was right time to assemble as a choir in order to generate power to the congregation through an altar of music.

Its time to learn the truth as you slowly drown…Ides of Gemini are on the rise.

Words by Nick Palmisano

You can buy Women from Rise Above Records now.

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