Band:	Ides Of Gemini
Album:	Old World New Wave
Style:	Post-metal
Release date:	September 16, 2014
A review by:	Doc G.

01. Black Door
02. The Chalice & The Blade
03. Seer Of Circassia
04. White Hart
05. May 22, 1453
06. The Adversary
07. Fememorde
08. Valediction
09. Scimitar

Well, this is all very nice, but Ides'...Guys/girls...You've still got half an album to write...

It's always depressing to find bands like this: They do one thing really, really well, and show proficiency in many other areas, but choose to drop them in favor of the thing they do best. Ides Of Gemini are sort of this post-metal/doom outfit with a heavy emphasis on some supremely haunting vocals. Picture the vocals of The Devil's Blood's Farida Lamouchi, slowed down, stretched out and put at a distance to achieve the ideal forlorn sound I imagine they were going for. The vocals are really quite remarkable. Ides Of Gemini seem to realize this...and exploit it a little too much.

Let's rephrase that; they exploit it more than their other skills, quite noticeably. Don't get me wrong, there's no problem with playing to your strengths. It's when you ditch other strengths to support it. Old World New Wave boasts its fair share of cold, moving post-metal & doom riffage. Unfortunately, for each minute of great guitarwork, there's four or five that are just aimless, samey repetitions that seem to exist solely for the purpose of supporting the vocals.

In the end, it's all about the final product. Sure, the vocals completely carry this album, that much is painfully clear. However, despite the obvious lackadaisical effort in basically every other aspect, they achieved the goal of creating a distant, haunting, melancholy piece of music. Unfortunately the inequity in elements frequently overtakes the ambiance.

For those of you who want the TL;DR version: Old World New Wave is all amazing atmosphere and aura, but lacking in substance.