Downfall of Gaia | website | facebook | bandcamp |
Released on November 11, 2014 via Metal Blade Records
Downfall of Gaia first appeared on my radar whilst I was investigating various acts playing the famed Valley stage at Hellfest 2014 and it was their brand of sludge infused post-metal on second album Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes that piqued my interest, however it was the face melting live performance on the day that truly captured it.
So, I waited with baited breath the arrived or album number three Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay – somewhat ironically as the album’s concept is based on time passing aggressively – which has finally dropped and is an absolute masterpiece in modern metal.
A drawn out squall of noise and light melodic guitar work heightens the tension waiting for opening track ‘Darkness Inflames These Sapphire Eyes’ to reveal its true intentions and it does so in dramatic style with full throttle black metal blasting of rattling drums, hyper speed riffing and otherworldly growled vocals that seamlessly incorporates melodic post-metal soundscapes and crunching sludge riffs into the fray. The ringing guitar tone in the melodies are a particular joy to behold. The intensity collapses into a squall of feedback, which gives way to a gentle guitar melody with growled vocals that is abruptly intruded by further black metal blasting from which a splendidly good post-metal crescendo emerges.
A bust of white noise transitions us into the glacial and crushing ‘Carved into Shadows’ mixing huge doom RIFFS and hints of post-metal soundscaping to superb affect. Jagged harmonics signal a switch to melodically tinged black metal blasting mixing with sludge based RIFF work. The tempo and dynamic of the song constantly shifts without losing focus or intensity resulting in a glorious pay off in an extended passage of furious post-metal histrionics.
After those eighteen minutes of stunning musicianship you’d be forgiven for needing a breather and that’s exactly what they provide with the short yet hauntingly beautiful instrumental passage ‘Ascending The Throne’.
This leads nicely into ‘Of Stillness And Solitude’, which picks the baton back up and breaks into a slow motion ferocity of scaling rhythms and soundscapes and for the next twenty minutes (three songs) they pull out all the tricks of pulsating bursts of blasting black metal, post-metal atmospherics and sludge riffing surging against and within each interspersed with deft touches of light and dramatic interventions.
The closing statement ‘Excavated’ is a different beast altogether, an unsettling yet also triumphant surge of atmospherics, disjointed rhythms, out of tune keys and white noise.
