GAEREA – Coma

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7.0

• Bands:
  GAEREA
• Duration: 00:50:48
• Available from: 10/25/2024
• Label:

• Season Of Mist

Streaming not yet available

Gaerea's climb to (underground) success does not stop in the slightest, one of the most determined and constant groups to appear on the extreme metal scene in recent years. In fact, since the publication of the EP of the same name in 2016, the Portuguese group has been beating the iron of the market with an almost mathematical cadence, accompanying the aforementioned recording productivity with an obsessive attention to the surrounding elements (aesthetics, merchandise, social media, etc.) and with increasingly relevant live appearances both in the Old and New Continent, supporting giants such as Rotting Christ and Wolves in the Throne Room and giving the impression of increasing, session after session, its own fan base, now no longer just belonging to to the black metal sphere.
Having found an equally consolidated partner in the Season of Mist, the group then returns to make itself heard with “Coma”, the fourth full-length of a journey which, after a start in murky waters and crossed by currents of misery and malaise (in addition to the mini of the same name , think of the debut album “Unsettling Whispers”), has gradually been smoothed out and 'cleaned up', while being careful not to go overboard with pandering and extremely simple and obvious solutions.
In this sense, the new tracklist can be seen as the fruit of an evolution consistent with the quintet's ambitions: a collection of songs further smoothed from the point of view of impact and writing, in which the guitar work sounds more rounded, the rhythm section works hard on particularly intriguing patterns and the melody – always expressed with a taste for yearning and catharsis – is the true fulcrum of the narrative, also making its appearance in the vocal department.
This is probably enough to make them end up once and for all in the eyes of a segment of the public, thanks to the assists provided by the live (and video clip) overacting of the former guitarist Guilherme Henriques, here at his first official test on the microphone following the departure of frontman Ruben Freitas in 2022.
Having said that we side with those who find a certain way of presenting themselves that is, to say the least, kitsch and out of place, at least in the studio, our band does not lower the quality bar much, creating a work that is catchy and oriented towards individuals, but arranged with criterion and strong in a punctually effective melodic vein, which expands the elegiac arias introduced starting from “Limbo” (daughters of certain metalcore and post-metal) and rising to a flow to purge the body and mind from the harmfulness of the modern world.
Fishing a little here and a little there from the contemporary black metal school, Gaerea confirm themselves as skilled and competent musicians, today able to make up for the end of the surprise effect around their name (inevitable, given the rhythms of publication) with yet another handful of pieces with attention to both form and substance, in which the presence of some filler does not affect the overall result too much.
An album which, driven by the functional “Hope Shatters” and World Ablaze” and the more composite “The Poet's Ballet” and “Wilted Flower”, strengthens (without overdoing it) its presence within the scene.