From the off, this album simply screams ‘now’ – a wistful, female-fronted power trio delivering arcane-tinged, esoteric hymns through the medium of ethereal vocals, quasi-tribal percussion and metal-tinged riffing from the (obligatory) big-bearded guitarist. Cloaked in an autumnal ambience and merging influences as diverse as dreampop, goth, shoegaze and alt-rock with a metal backbone, it’s a very contemporary, very ‘2014’ cocktail frankly – and given the general scepticism shown towards anything even remotely ‘hipster’ from the metal scene at large these days, I have to be honest that the whole package did ring a few alarm bells.
Unfairly, as it turns out. Whilst Ides of Gemini undeniably tick a few trendy boxes, there’s enough invention, atmosphere and sheer guitar power here to satisfy the staunchest of traditional metal listeners. The star of the show is undeniably front woman Sera Timms (previously of atmospheric doom metal outfit Black Math Horsemen) whose strident vocal tones soar with a perfect balance of both ghostly fragility and sheer power. There are times – such as on album highlight ‘White Hart’ – where they harmonise so richly that we enter near-Gregorian levels of choir-like ambience, describing sonic arcs of real beauty. On the staccato drive of ‘Femmemorde’ meanwhile their authoritative delivery emphasises the power that Timms has at her command.
The rest of the band are no slouches either. Guitarist J Bennett keeps things rooted firmly within the metal sphere, his downtuned, growling string work switching seamlessly between discordant chugging and more melodic, chiming chord structures. ‘The Adversary’ sees him knuckle down and launch into some palm-muted crunch whilst ‘May 22, 1453’ introduces some cleaner arpeggios into the mix for a welcome shift in tone. Drummer Kelly Johnston keeps things pretty simple, generally locking into a tom-heavy shuffle behind the guitars/vocals and little variation in pace. It’s an understated performance – perhaps not helped by the drums being somewhat undermixed and lacking in both tone and power – and it seems she is content for the focus to remain on others.
Old World New Wave’ is the band’s second album and it is without question a distinctive and characterful release with some moments where they really tap into something special and soar. I do have some tiny (yet nagging) doubts as to the longevity of their approach however – already, towards the end of the record and ‘Valediction’, the recipe of big, ghostly vocals, simmering guitars and plodding percussion loses a little of its shine somewhat, though this could simply be the band running out of songwriting steam. A little more punch and variety in the overall sound – particularly from the rhythm section – would really help lend the material a greater sense of urgency. Nevertheless, this is an intriguing and well-crafted album and one I can see myself returning to many times as autumn closes in.
(8/10 Frank Allain)
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