Gaerea - Limbo (2020)^{Release ID: 22535}

The thumping misery of Portugal's Gaerea sounds like a cursed army with the most terrible of afflictions that marches on out of sheer despair from the discomfort of having to stop to endure anymore suffering.  At the same time the band deploy melody superbly to create an almost accessible aspect to their sound.  They remind me a lot of Behemoth (without ever quite becoming as mainstream sounding as the Poles do) but use the majesty of Mgla-style melodies to lift their sound out of the drudgery of the aforementioned dank march into an ethereal display of conflicting emotions and thoughts.

On their second full-length the band show a maturity from the debut some two years ago.  Their song structures are solid enough and sufficiently developed to allow them to approach starting the album with an eleven minute plus opener, which is brave and bold in equal amounts.  The band "book end" the record by adding a thirteen minute plus offering to close the album with, leaving a soundscape of mixed reward in between for the listener to pick at.  Second track Null doesn't quite capture the same depth as the aforementioned opener but serves a charging segway into the rest of the record.  Here melody seeps in on a couple of occasions to add variety as opposed to just balance to proceedings.  The frenetic performance of the drums in particular stands out here (alongside the vocals) as they adjust to the pace throughout the track, constantly driving proceedings.

The tremolo riffs act as a real source of menace as well as melody on Limbo, an album title that I find a bit odd as I get no sense of uncertainty here.  If anything it comes across as a very assured sounding album from a band with a very conscious direction that they deliver with equal amounts of passion and ability.  Whilst it may go on a little bit in places, the sophomore release from the band is clear in how it shows the development and ongoing potential of the band.  The low choral vocals in the background towards the final third of Glare are so subtle that you miss them the first couple of times around as they creep in the background becoming almost subliminal in effect.  They are elsewhere here also, lurking in the shadows of tracks.  The mining riff at the start of Conspiranoia on the other hand is a full frontal jackhammer into your brain that gives the song instant purpose of its nefarious intent.

I do find that the aesthetic of sadness and general misanthropy gets a bit draining towards the end of the record but at the same time it is also what keeps me paying attention as they take these moments to really drive home the message of the record with varied use of melody, changes of tempo and emotional drops in intensity.  At their most frantic, they are terrifying (Urge) and at their most catchy they are infectious and venomous (Mare).