You can tell from the twisted cover art that the title Rope Enough For Two isn’t about measuring enough nylon rope to go pleasure-sailing. It looks like a gnarled crone’s pleading for mercy, and unlikely to receive it. But if those clasped hands are begging for riffs heavier than a public witch trial, the condemned crone is in luck. A split featuring Atlanta doom outfits Dayglo Mourning and Bludy Gyres, Rope Enough For Two boasts 35 minutes of fuzz and gloom punctuated with tales of wizards and giants.
Dayglo Mourning kick off the ceremony by lighting a joint with flames from a funeral pyre on “Weed Creeper.” Their take on doom is soaked in Southern whiskey and rock ‘n’ roll, packed with groove and grit perfect for that moment the doomsday clock strikes 4:20. Throughout the three songs borrowed from their eponymous debut LP, the howls from Matt Rayborn and Joe Mills conjure the sun-baked sweat and blood of Floridian sludge comrades Junior Bruce and Hollow Leg. By the time they close with their final track “Dark Ritual,” it feels like Dayglo Mourning have lit a bunch of black candles at an altar littered with Tony Iommi’s battle-tested guitar picks.
Bludy Gyres offer one track (“Behold! Your World Now Burns”), and it’s a 17-minute epic loosely based on Jack and the Beanstalk. If you forgot the climactic showdown between Jack and the giant, it’s some scary, suspenseful shit. The riffs honor that foreboding entrance into a world where you’re dwarfed by danger, trudging at an oppressive pace that feels like ambient horror. Tommy Stewart’s searing vocals slash through the sludge and muck before climbing to the clouds during passages of dreamy psych and classic prog. The song’s a re-master of a song Bludy Gyres have been compelled to revisit since 2015, and this version is the most intricately textured yet.
Below, stream Rope Enough For Two before it’s released from Black Doomba Records on December 7th. All you gotta do is press play and brace yourselves for the creak of the hangman’s door.