Review by Arek on September 8, 2024.

Pincer Consortium is a brand new name on the music market, but the musicians who power this band are not such novices. Here they are - Pete Dempsey (voc./bass. - Crisistianity, T.V.P., The Dagda, Scald) and Maciek Pasinski (voc./git./bass. - Sirrah, TMCT, qIp, Scald). They were united by their dark personality, musical openness, and cooperation on Scald's "Regius I". To get to know their musical souls, I suggest playing a song by each of their bands. These are people who cannot be easily put in a genre drawer. It is similar to Pincer Consortium and their debut album. Because what will such a progressive/death/black/doom/industrial conglomeration tell you? This set of terms can both encourage and scare the listener away and what if I told you that the main musical trend of the album is death/black with a predominance of the former? However, you can expect significant influences of progressive, doom, and a bit of industrial. A bit clearer? No, it's much darker there, more cosmic. This incredible musical story is densely woven with darkness, evil, and the unknown. I simply invite you to listen.

The gentle introduction to ‘Alpha Omega Decay’, this cosmic journey/battle, does not announce what will happen in a few seconds. A strong shot of black energy, like a burst from a high-caliber rapid-fire machine gun, spreads death and evil. Here we get to know the perfect synergy of Maciek's voice with the bass and on the other side the parts of high-pitched guitars and Pete's voice. These forces of darkness and light, as if fighting with each other, will intertwine throughout the album. I warn you, however, that both darkness and light are equally biting and dangerous. This piece is led by a dark melody line and consists of three parts in terms of tempo. The first and third are dynamic kicks, while the middle slowdown is like a retrospective story/memory of what we have encountered and what we will have to face.

‘Twin Galactic Tides’ indicates from the very first seconds that there is no mercy and there will be no mercy. Again, the drums and guitar volleys rip apart everything in their path. This is a typical battle piece, whose domain is to bring death and destruction, and momentary slowdowns will only allow you to catch your breath, but the sweat and blood will not cool down.

It is time for the longest and one of the slowest pieces on the album, ‘Schizoid Rivalry | Double Occultation’. However, you should not be afraid of it, because it is neither one-dimensional nor boring. With its highly developed form, it precisely describes the nasty forms we have to fight and comprehend the scale of destruction and death that has already occurred. And the characteristic melodic motif gnaws into the brain so much that it will certainly nestle for a long time, to force us to play it again like a drug.

‘Dual Termination Shock’ is another dynamic piece, but its strength is not speed, but diversity. So many musical genres are mixed in it but, most importantly, it does not cause an indigestible caricature. It is not so easy to combine thrash motifs with technical death/black metal, up to symphonic elements, but everything here is perfectly chosen and fitted.

‘Tandemic Dispersal’ will allow you to heal the battle wounds again. Basically, the piece, and especially its melody, is maintained at a medium-slow tempo, although the aggressive shots of the rhythm section significantly increase its dynamics and add brutality. These explosions, although masked by a dark melody, can bruise you thoroughly.

The next battle track, ‘Spectral Dyad’, begins with a fast salvo, which will be interrupted by short, dark slowdowns. After this battle, there will be no prisoners, and only the strongest will survive. Pay attention to the interesting nostalgic-jazzy motif at the end of the track. How cinematically it evokes the image of a battlefield strewn with the corpses of alien life forms.

The ending ‘Bi-Fold Conclusion’, is like a walk of a severely wounded listener through the battle ruins. This seemingly calm track will have a moment of escalation of the light and dark energy of this conflict. It is a very picturesque and progressive track with numerous motifs of cosmic electronics. It perfectly closes the entire album and ends this slaughter.

Geminus Schism is an excellent album, and so multi-colored that it will certainly not be digestible for most genre extremists. I devoured it many times, and my ideas about it described above were created before I got to know the text layer, which I also encourage you to check. In a way, what Pete created with words was the source of the musical layer, but above all it is amazing. Boosted by Maciek's illustrations, it gives another dimension to this dark "adventure". I can also tell you that many more of these sick/dark illustrations were created during the Geminus Schism session and I hope they see the light of day or night somewhere because they are worth it. I can't wait for this digipak to fall into my hands. Check THIS out too.

Rating: 9.6 out of 10