Gliding into conscious minds with 2010’s four track demo The Disruption Writ, Ides of Gemini have added to the core of the band – Sera Timms (bass/vocals) and J.Bennett (guitar/backing vocals) – by introducing drummer Kelly Johnston to provide a somewhat martial tone to proceedings. Reworking the tracks found on the aforementioned cassette, the band has turned the processed beats of old into a fully rounded and slyly dangerous entity with debut full length Constantinople.
Using moments of peace to imbue Constantinople with an undercurrent of doom, Ides of Gemini use shades of light and dark to construct a full length of blissful and dreamy folk-tinged occult rock. Sera Timms breathes life into Constantinople, a record that is reminiscent of The Devil’s Blood and Worm Ouroborus in its vocal style, her voice carrying waves of destruction in the depths and judgment in the highs. “Slain in Spirit” and the military beat that sits within slithers with a mystical essence, the band utilsing the space in the track to conjure a terrific trance-like state whilst burning with a seductive power.
Sonically minimal, Constantinople is dynamic in its use of gentle progression and the occasionally massive crunching guitar tone adds a hidden weight to the funeralistic shades evoked by this three-piece. Soft rolling beats permeate “One to Oneness” whilst Timms voice is laced with a power to invoke from beyond this reality, menacing in a sweetly delicate manner. Dirty bass lines spill on “Reaping Golden,” sauntering through the initial stages of the track before giving way to the martial kicks of the drum and flashes of fragmented guitar lines. The simple mix of instruments and voice gives Ides of Gemini a strangely apocalyptic tone. The end of the known world will not come in crashes of sound and fury but with whispers of unnerving strength. Constantinople is an album of sighs and esoteric nightmares, lulling with enigmatic subtleties and supernatural wonder.
Ides of Gemini are deadly; allow yourself to be swept along in the swells of euphoric disaster that flow from this haunting trio.
Constantinople is released May 29th on Neurot Recordings.
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