Ophitic Oracles, Bespoke Isheth Zenunim Split

Silcharde Records

Street: 02.20

Black Seas of Infinity/The Red Path = Gräuen Pestanz + The Red Angle + Scapegoat

There’s something about opening the package containing this split cassette release, pulling a black cassette tape wrapped in shed snakeskin out of the plastic case with some strange symbol/logo on it. Unwrapping the snakeskin feels like the beginning of an odd ritualistic experience. The music contained on the magnetic tape is of the mood and mind-altering stuff that you don’t need to inhale or ingest to feel something strange.

This is the first recorded work of BSOI since 2009. Each side works in great conjunction with the other—the almost dark, spiritual-sounding chants with the interesting beat-oriented work of The Red Path. Then there is the deep-space, densely dark and intense droning, ambient sound that drowns out the rest of the world of BSOI. Both sides suck you in easily. It’s all almost like an interactive experience—a journey that you want to take and, whatever your mood, that journey will definitely be an altered one. –Bryer Wharton