Artists: Ara Ophidia and I\D
Title: Split
Label: Self-released
Format: CD-R
Duration: 39 min
Released: March 24, 2010
Price: SGD8.00
Inventory Status: Sold Out
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Tracklisting:
Ara Ophidia:
1. Ordained By Semen
2. AO (feat. MXDTH of Sect Insanabalis)
3. Catatonic POV
I\D:
4. Skin Homage
Ara Ophidia / I\D Media Release:
Ara Ophidia and I\D hail from the sunny shithole called Singapore. AO offers up 3 sinister ritual invokations to the Dark. With I\D one can enjoy a leisurely trudge thru the very bowels of this wretched existence. Doomed eternal.
We say:
An unusual pairing for a split release that somehow rubs off the other in the right way. Act I: Zen pulses, buzzing flies, the ghosts of a guitar riff, distorted voices quiet and cracked. The mysterious Ara Ophidia begins with three tracks (14 minutes) of dark ambience that is as much meditation as it is metal. Act II: The boys of I\D follow, storming in on an epic 25-minute track that begins in the cosmos, returns to explore terra firma before reigniting. Features the gonzo sax of Tim O’Dwyer who, some three-quarters of the way in, sounds like late Coltrane riffing off A Night in Tunisia.
Other review/s:
“… highly recommended to those [who] like dark and strange atmospheres, coupled with noise and hoots and toots (think Sunn O))) and their didgeridoos, or Norwegian Blackjazz ensemble Shining).” – Heavy Metal Tribune
“Ara Ophidia […] perhaps a lo-fi version of some of Cold Meat Industries’ more malevolent output [….] My favorite song is their final one though (“Catatonic POV”), which steps away from their previous template in favor of a simple bit of melancholy guitar ambiance and some ranting vocals that gradually intensify into garbled crackling that threatens to tear the song apart.
“I certainly dig the mixture of atonal skwonking saxophone, feedback, and electronic noise [of I\D…] these guys definitely kick up quite an unholy racket sometimes and I would happily go see them play if I inexplicably found myself in Singapore (or at least I would try, and then get hopelessly lost).” – Foxy Digitalis
Audio Samples:
1. Ordained By Semen
2. AO (feat. MXDTH of Sect Insanabalis)
4. Skin Homage
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