Gaerea

This morning when I woke up, I received a message from my buddy Tito of Everlasting Spew Records. The message contained an introduction to the Portuguese black metal act Gaerea. I never heard about the band before, and I was very interested to listen to their materials since Tito always recommended me with great bands even in the past. After a couple of listens to their materials, I totally got what I expected before even checking out the band. Again, Tito had given me a band that is worth locking on my radar for times to come.

Gaerea's self-titled EP is a pretty satisfactory modern black metal offering which expands its elements on death metal and even funeral doom. Imagine the style of Mgła melded well with a little Behemoth and topped with some ponderous funeral vibe of bands like Mournful Congregation, Skepticism, and Thergothon; that is the music that this black metal group puts on the table.

The EP carries 27 minutes of arctic and oppressively dark guitar riifs with desolating tremolo pickings, nefariously wicked harsh vocal conveyance, crushing drum work which adds up on the total brutality of the already barbaric pitch-black aura of the EP, and a blustery bass sound that will literally open the gates of the unworldly domain with its robust uniform pitch. This EP will pull you to an endless void of darkness and misanthropy. And that is a good thing when it comes to BM releases.

I always have a lot of trouble with most modern age BM albums being all super symphonic and mediocre, but Gaerea is not one of those snowflakes acts. This horde of masked individuals are one of the best in the modern age. Their songs has that pulverizing and cloudy vibe which will give the listeners that feeling of making the hairs on the back of their necks stand up. Kinda like the feeling you get when you see something that entertains you very well that it'll make you wanna go ape-shit and bash somebody's face with a rock. You all get the point.

Now don't be fooled by the simplistic and mid-paced delivery of the band, because as you go deeper into listening to their record you will find out that the facile and not so complex haulage of the group actually has enough power to throw you into a dimension of anguish and iniquity. I've heard and seen a lot of black metal bands that suffered when picking a more slow and unembellished approached than their more blistering and pummeling peers in the genre, but Gaerea did just fine with this debut EP.

To end this review, Gaerea's self-titled EP is a memorable and appealing album though it may not be as neck breaking or thrashing as other great black metal contemporaries. Its debuts like these that makes me want to keep my ears and eyes on an interesting group. This horde of faceless mortals just earned a spot on my list, and I will certainly be thrilled to hear about a full-length release from them in the near future.