GAEREA arrived shrouded in mystery. The masked sensations emerged from pandemic limbo with a vision for black metal that was guided not by myths or pagan beliefs but a purging of emotion. Existential dread still pulses through the Portuguese band’s blood, but their upcoming fourth album signals a shift in psychology.
With Coma, GAEREA are no longer strictly a black metal band. Instead, they’re breaking to the forefront of extreme metal. Though their new album was produced by trusted confidant Miguel Tereso, it broadens the band’s signature sound by taking it in two seemingly opposed directions. There are more moments of intense beauty, but they only heighten the ensuing blows.
The world may be as hopeless as the album’s lead single declares. But with Coma, GAEREA have returned to prove that they are only the band who can guide us into the darkness.
Watch the video for “Hope Shatters”:
When GAEREA secretly gave everyone a sneak peek at their new album back in April, they set the world ablaze. Now, with the first official single off Coma, they’re ushering in the immediate aftermath. “Hope Shatters” opens with a lone guitar that wails like a siren before a whirl of blast beats sucks the world back into the band’s vortex.
“Welcome to the urban abyss”, their unnamed vocalist pronounces. “Where dreams turn to rust”.
GAEREA aren’t afraid to embrace harsh realities. There’s clean singing on Coma, but the swarming darkness of “Hope Shatters” is only punctured by cries of agony. Even when the song collapses under its blistering heaviness, the melody hangs perilously in the air, like a swaying chandelier, before it’s smashed to pieces by hammering bass and concussive drum fills.
Still, perhaps GAEREA have uncovered a shred of hope from beneath the blackened wreckage. As “Hope Shatters” meets its end, the band push ahead through the ashes with a triumphant, headbanging riff. “Enter the maze through the never-ending haze”.
With “Hope Shatters”, GAEREA deliver an anthem for our dying era.
The video for “Hope Shatters” was produced by Grupa 13 and directed by Dariusz Szermanowicz.
Coma track listing:
1. The Poet’s Ballet (7:39)
2. Hope Shatters (4:05)
3. Suspended (5:02)
4. World Ablaze (3:29)
5. Coma (5:19)
6. Wilted Flower (5:50)
7. Reborn (3:51)
8. Shapeshifter (6:24)
9. Unknown (4:24)
10. Kingdom of Thorns (4:45)
Reeder, the visionary behind Metal Addicts, has transformed his lifelong passion for metal into a thriving online community for metal aficionados. As a fervent devotee of black metal, Reeder is captivated by its dark, atmospheric, and often unorthodox soundscapes.