Gaerea Surface to the Top of Extreme Metal on ‘Coma’
Posted on October 25, 2024
More information about Coma
Ever since they set the world ablaze, Gaerea have raised the anticipation for their fourth album to an almost unbearable degree. From now on, the Portuguese masked sensations are no longer strictly a black metal band. Instead, they are emerging from the underground and clawing to the top of extreme metal.
“As someone who’s already heard Coma in full, you’re getting a glimpse at one of the best metal records of 2024”, wrote Metal Injection
Now, Coma has finally surfaced. Gaerea’s new album is out today, October 25, 2024 on Season of Mist. Hear all ten beautiful and bloodied songs today by listening to the full album playlist on Season of Mist’s YouTube channel, which features several all-new visualizers.
Listen to Coma
https://redirect.season-of-mist.com/comafullalbum
Order & Stream
As is often the case with black metal, Gaerea arrived shrouded in mystery. But while their identities remained hidden, the band emerged from pandemic limbo with a vision that was guided not by myths or pagan beliefs but a purging of raw emotion. Fear and loathing still pulse through their icy veins. However, with Coma, Gaerea have altered their stylistic makeup.
“In the depths of my mind / Where the dusk resides“, their new album beings with a heavy and heartfelt sigh. Coma is the first entry in Gaerea’s mantle-worthy discography to feature clean singing, though “The Poet’s Ballet” is neither angel nor demon. Instead, the way the tremolo picking twists away from the light into wailing dissonance sounds like a soul trapped in purgatory.
While produced by Gaerea’s trusted confidant Miguel Tereso, Coma expands their signature sound in seemingly opposing directions. “World Ablaze” funnels their blackened vortex into a clearer song structure that’s centered around an undeniable chorus. Even their most unsettling whispers were haunted by slivers of melody, but the new album digs its claws deeper into softly chiming post-rock. With its somber opening chords, “Suspended” unfolds like a wilted flower. That is, until the riffs come roaring into the fray behind an elevated gothic choir, bringing the band’s level of despair to crushing new heights.
Coma is carefully constructed, but the moments of intense beauty only raise Gaerea’s devestating blows. Like a swaying chandelier, the bridge on “Hope Shatters” hangs perilously in the air before it’s smashed to pieces by a hammering bass groove. “Welcome to the urban abyss“, their vocalist screams in bloody anguish, as if chained to the gates of hell. “Where dreams turn to rust“.
The maze-like existence that Gaerea speak of on Coma is obscured by a depressive haze that feels like it will never end. Often, the lyrics go off in search of a greater sense of self, only to reach another dead end. “In the depths of bleakness / A glimmer of dawn” their vocalist cries out beneath the title track’s unrelenting drum fills.
But Coma finds Gaerea asserting their new identity with even greater confidence. “Unknown” now stands as the band’s most viciously catchy song. The hooks slither and shake to a minor key before worming into your ear canals with sharp melancholic pangs. Once the blast beats suck you into their vortex, the band’s sheer artistic force is blinding, like looking into the eyes of god. “This is who I am, sublime”.
As grand finale “Kingdom of Thorns” reveals in all its devastating glory, the crown of excellence is a heavy one for any extreme metal band to come and bear. “Lone in the spotlight“, their vocalist cries out above the album’s mountain of a climax. But with Coma, Gaerea are boldly laying claiming to the throne.
2024-2025 Coma World Tour
To usher in this new era, Gaerea are touring behind Coma well into 2025.
First, the masked sensations will return to North America this November with Zeal & Ardor and ZETRA. Next year, they’ll embark on their first headlining tour of Europe with 10+ dates across Germany, Denmark, Norway and Sweden.
Get tickets at https://www.gaerea.com/
Gaerea North American Tour 2024 with Zeal & Ardor and ZETRA
November 23 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer [TICKETS]
November 24 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge [TICKETS]
November 25 – Allston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall [TICKETS]
November 27 – Montreal, QC @ Le Studio TD [TICKETS]
November 28 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House [TICKETS]
November 29 – Detroit, MI @ The Majestic [TICKETS]
November 30 – Millvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre [TICKETS]
December 2 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue [TICKETS]
December 3 – Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall [TICKETS]
December 4 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theatre [TICKETS]
December 6 – Engelwood, CO @ Gothic Theatre [TICKETS]
December 7 – Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge [TICKETS]
December 9 – Seattle, WA @ The Showbox [TICKETS]
December 10 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre [TICKETS]
December 11 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom [TICKETS]
December 13 – Berkeley, CA @ UC Theatre [TICKETS]
December 14 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory [TICKETS]
December 15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom [TICKETS]
December 17 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk [TICKETS]
December 18 – Dallas, TX @ Studio at The Factory [TICKETS]
Gaerea European Headlining Tour 2025
16 Apr: Osnabrück, DE @ Bastard Club [TICKETS]
17 Apr: Aalborg, DK @ 1000Fryd [TICKETS]
18 Apr: Oslo, NO @ Inferno Festival [TICKETS]
19 Apr: Stockholm, SE @ Kollektivet Livet [TICKETS]
20 Apr: Copenhagen, DK @ BETA [TICKETS]
22 Apr: Hamburg, DE @ Headcrash [TICKETS]
23 Apr: Leipzig, DE @ UT Connewitz [TICKETS]
24 Apr: Berlin, DE @ Cassiopeia [TICKETS]
25 Apr: Munich, DE @ Kranhalle [TICKETS]
26 Apr: Karlsruhe, DE @ Die Stadmitte [TICKETS]
27 Apr: Frankfurt, DE @ Das Bett [TICKETS]
More praise for Coma
“This is the band’s best-sounding album to date. It’s powerful, dark, menacing, driven, melancholic, rich, textured, atmospheric – it’s all of the above” – A&P Reacts
“Bigger, more confident and with a more varied musical palette, Coma is hideously strong” – Wonderbox Metal
“when they put their cloaked heads down, Gaerea indubitably deliver the goods” – Metal Hammer
“Gaerea are back and ready to conquer the world” – Metal Temple (10/10)
“Quite simply some of the finest, most dynamic shit you’ve heard all year” – Metal Bites (9/10)
“Much like the highly anticipated sequel to a major box office hit, Coma came with all the preconceived notions and baggage, and yet it still manages to completely blow the fucking roof off” – Ghost Cult Magazine
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