Gaerea – Coma

Gaerea caught my attention a number of times before. Every time, it seemed to me like they can make black metal a lot more varied and compositionally interesting than most bands out there would. There’s an element of experimentation and progressive influences as well as clever integration of engaging rhythms that somehow seems to make them more accessible to broader crowds, without sacrificing the atmosphere, aesthetic and chaos typical of black metal. But the release of “Coma” is the first time I decided to spin an entire album and see how it plays out. In the end, it still becomes slightly monotonous for me, but not enough to bother me too much. I still find this to be a fantastic record with impressive moments and an overall powerful and unique emotional output.

The first thing to notice with Gaerea is that they actually have good quality production. The standard elitist may have whatever opinion they choose about this, but in Gaerea’s case, I feel like this works like a charm on their music, since so much of their appeal is in sounding massive and epic, which is difficult to achieve with lo-fi production. It also somehow doesn’t prevent them from sounding black metal.

Their sound circles around the typical black metal tropes: blast beats, tremolo picking melodies and constant scarring screams. But they organize their song structures in a way that leaves room for a lot of ebb and flow, tension and release, as well as suspenseful or surprising moments.

Gaerea – Suspended

They use a lot of atmospheric sections, usually created using stripped down clean guitars with a bit of delay effect. The intro to the first track of the album, ‘The Poet’s Ballet’, displays this beautifully, layering a male choral effect over the clean guitar for over 2 minutes. Parts like this often take a while and allow the listener to sink into tranquility before being struck by the barrage of black metal noise. Sometimes though, the shift from atmosphere to aggression isn’t sudden, but evolves in gradual build-ups. ‘Unknown’ is a good example of this, showcasing the grumbling sound of the bass and some fantastic drum grooves that build up to the moment where the blasting strikes.

I have to shout out the drum parts, as they’re particularly clever. Songs like ‘The Poet’s Ballet’, ‘Coma’ or ‘Unknown’ have some massively thunderous sections with heavy use of floor toms that build a lot of tension which then explodes into blast beats or screams. There are also moments where the drum parts seem to be using doom metal patterns. ‘Suspended’ has a good example of this. And some songs also show more headbanging grooves or variation away from the typical blasting (‘World Ablaze’, ‘Kingdom of Thorns’). That constant sense of noise is still maintained through these variations, due to the constant grind on the guitars, using a lot of gain and often relying on tremolo picking. The melodic element is also often based on tremolo picking, though sometimes it spaces out and lets some screeching but memorable themes shine through (‘Shapeshifter’).

Gaerea – Hope Shatters

The vocals fit the black metal sound, but are based on more mid-range growls rather than any typical shrieking. It’s more through the scarring dry tone that they fit the sound. There are also moments of muffled whispering adding more atmosphere to the mix (‘Wilted Flower’). And then they have the most epic moments, when on top of the fully built soundscape with riffs, blast beats and screams, they also add a layer of choir and string sections and bring the guitar melodies into a high register.

The final product is quite entrancing and although very aggressive, it becomes quite immersive and meditative as well. The lyrics are also quite psychological, dealing with various forms of desperation, real or perceived entrapment, inner isolation, deception and hopelessness. It’s hard to pull a specific message from them. Rather, they just seem vividly descriptive of some complex processes and experiences.

Gaerea – World Ablaze

Overall, I am impressed. I will admit, through the last couple of songs I was starting to feel like I got the idea and I’m just being fed more of the same, but the sound is so good that at the same time, I didn’t really feel like turning off the music. It’s immersive and although brutal and jarring, it’s also strangely peaceful and fragile. When done right, I feel like black metal can evoke some abstract and unspecified emotions of a primal nature, and that’s probably the strongest takeaway from Gaerea’s latest album! I strongly recommend you give ‘Coma’ your time and attention!

Track List:

1. The Poet’s Ballet (07:39)
2. Hope Shatters (04:05)
3. Suspended (05:02)
4. World Ablaze (03:29)
5. Coma (05:19)
6. Wilted Flower (05:50)
7. Reborn (03:51)
8. Shapeshifter (06:24)
9. Unknown (04:24)
10. Kingdom of Thorns (04:45)