Fortunately, Ides of Gemini makes no such attempt. The unfortunate fact, however, is many others bands often sound like they seized upon one aspect of the band they loved and stopped there. They share little of the same ambitions held by their heroes. A well-written and played homage or an entertaining, imaginative metal song about the supernatural will always have its place. I believe it scarcely touches doom metal's potential and have long believed that, as a style, doom metal must mature and evolve or else face irrelevance. We are entering uncharted waters where posterity will test the merits of pop culture's icons and many, including Black Sabbath, might be found wanting or buried and blurred by an avalanche of years.
Ides of Gemini serves notice, from the first song, that they will be among the vanguard in any effort to redefine the genre. What initially begins with a strutting, staccato metal riff quickly reveals a band subtly plundering a wider range of reference. "Black Door" certainly isn't the first metal song I've heard with a female vocalist, but the slightly sleepy drone of Sera Timms' voice maintains an impressive balance between power and delicacy. I hear notice of the band's talent in their astonishing and fluid synthesis of doom metal's bedrock elements and a condensed, melodic sensibility. "Black Door" doesn't carry the listener so much as sweep them along with satisfying focus that makes its brief length, a little over three minutes, seem half that.
"The Chalice & The Blade" crawls from the speakers, but the atmosphere is far from funereal. It plays like an anthemic march, but never feels celebratory. Instead, the song has a determined, dogged sort of spirit influenced in no small ways by another fine Sera Timms vocal. Her exultant power strikes a compelling contrast with the music and lyrics alike. One disappointment I will note is how the mix and quasi-ambient vocal production sometimes obscures too many of the band's fine lyrics. I admire any approach that utilizes the musical possibilities of the voice in the same way as a man-made instrument, including strengthening the theatrics of a piece like it does here for Ides of Gemini and other cutting edge doom bands like Pallbearer and Yob, but this particular habit comes with a trade-off.
A bit of catchy rock drumming opens "Seer of Circassia" before Jason Bennett's guitar crashes in with a strong riff. I found myself wanting to hear the interplay between the drumming and bass in a clearer way. Kelly Johnson-Gibson's fleet and steady timekeeping reminded me, in a small way, of Velvet Underground great Maureen Tucker's exuberant, but unobtrusive, pulse. It is no small feat of skill to provide such a superb rhythmic structure while providing sympatric accompaniment to the surrounding players. The layered drone kicking off "White Hart" is a master class in building tension. The processional drums give Bennett firm musical footing to orchestrate the intro with such exquisite timing that the seamless shift into the verses jolted me. One of the album's definite highlights.
The band's theatrical flair sparks again on "May 22, 1453", a reference to a lunar phenomena witnessed in the Constantinople area days before the city's fall. It represents a new development in metal music, particularly doom, that younger musicians have upturned the understanding of what constitutes "heavy" and the limitations of thinking only a distorted guitar ran through a hundred stacks can provide the needed crunch and authenticity. Other reviews have compared Timms' vocal talent to Stevie Nicks, among others, but if she has a clear antecedent in delivery and phrasing, poet and performer Patti Smith is probably closer. In the end, however, all comparisons should hang. Her voice conspires with the music to imbue this track with weighty poetic power and musical muscle.
"The Adversary" has the band again combining their doom grind with melodic vocals. There is a hoary line of thinking on power trios that the sound is too thin without a good bass player high in the mix capable of duping as a quasi-rhythm guitar. A song like this dispels the notion because of structure. I hear a tightly woven axis of "voices" here and the near-note perfect placement of sound and space coalesce into an authoritative whole. I never get the feeling of an undersized boxer punching above their weight. "Fememorde" moves with a confident stride and uses harmonies to strengthen refrains in tasteful ways. This is another gem shaped by the same deceptively minimalist pressure discussed earlier. Timms' is at her emotive best here while Bennett and Johnson-Gibson thrash out a tight, steady backing.
"Valediction" is another of the album's finest moments. The poetry in its lyrics, Bennett's buzz saw guitar attack and gate-pounding fury propelling Johnson-Gibson's percussion are impressive enough, but the song's sturdy construction is another key to success. As in "The Adversary" and some earlier songs, one of this band's important achievements is subsuming strong melodic strains into doom metal's sonic identity. This sort of synthesis needs the sort of structure that metal music often lacks. The regimented structure of metal music doesn't readily support the sort of melodic turns liberally sprinkled through this music. Not every band need apply for this approach. It works for Ides of Gemini for a number of reasons, among them the range of singer Sera Timms. The finale song, "Scimitar", is an appropriately chaotic piece musically, given its subject matter, and the feel of clattering dissonance I feel off the track suggests a battle. It doesn't just stop here though. This feeling runs through me with every song, a sense that the fission produced by the band's performances pours out from the invigorating movement and tension between instruments and words.
It had to happen and I'm glad it did. All bands like Ides of Gemini owe a debt to the pioneers of doom metal, but the total is long since paid. Bands such as this and others mentioned previously are redefining the artistic limits of an important style. Doom metal deserves this constant redefinition and expansion while remaining true to its essential vision. This music resonates most deeply with its devotees when the songs are honest depictions of lives in distress. It speaks clearest to us when it pulls us face to face with our fears, dives headlong into mysteries of life and the heart, and never flinches. Old World New Wave is doom metal at its finest and much, much more.
Words: J.Hillenburg