Serving as a shining beacon to how broad the spectrum of blackened aural delights truly extends, the juxtaposition of pairing the mysterious and elusive VERMAPYRE with Los Angeles, CA's IDES OF GEMINI indeed serves one of the sharper contrasts one could expect from a split record. VERMAPYRE kicks things off with a live documentation of a May 21, 2011 performance in Oslo, Norway. It's raw, it's unrelenting, it's absolutely vicious. Rehydration feels necessary upon the conclusion of what's clearly an exercise and simultaneous reward system of the id. Right on cue, IDES OF GEMINI come in like the high tide, enveloping the listener with a wide open flood of dreamy, cerebral doom. Sera Timms ethereal vocals hit like a sirenÍs song atop nasty, glacial riffs and expansive percussive emanations. When played back to back, it's almost as if IDES OF GEMINI are the skillful hand administering sutures incurred during VERMAPYRE's unapologetic nail bomb of sound. Housed in a special jacket featuring artwork from both bands and UV spot gloss atop a matte flood, each copy also contains a complementary download code of the entire program, additional art, and color vinyl.
