Reviews list for Gaerea - Coma (2024)

Another 2024 catchup album and this one comes from the Portuguese black metal band Gaerea. Although calling Coma black metal might be of a false flag, since the album has more in common with the progressive side of death metal. At best, Coma might be one of those progressive death/black metal hybrid albums that are rare, but are becoming more common in circles I visit.

Nevertheless, Coma does have it strong suit moments. I really enjoy the production on this project; the dynamic shifts between the clean post-rock and the ferocious extreme metal passages is pulled off exceptionally well throughout the albums runtime. And despite the harsh vocals requiring some getting used to, I really enjoyed their texture. The vocals are pronounced (which is rare for black metal) and not over-compressed in a cavern of reverb. 

Unfortunately, this is an album that suffers from diminishing returns the longer it goes on. When the album begins, it's good; an elongated post-rock opening before "The Poet's Ballet" opens up into the aforementioned death/black metal hybrid that will become commonplace through the rest of the record. "Hope Shatters" is great and "World Ablaze" has a cheeky post-hardcore feel to it and reminded me of a Svalbard tune in the best way possible. But after the title track, "Coma", the album seems to revert to a very familiar sound and doesn't feel engaging with the audience; songs become formulaic and become interchangeable with the others, the main melodic motifs in the vocals and guitar become less emphatic and more post-metal texture rather than something memorable. The experimentation of song progression through "The Poet's Ballet" and "Suspended" is forgotten as shorter, more intense tracks become the regular.

Coma is a record that has aspirations that are pulled off mostly well. True black/death metal crossovers are much less frequent than you may think, so hearing one that is as blatant as this makes it a decent jumping on point. Although the album does fall into familiarity after a while, it still does leave some echo of uniqueness to it. 

Best Songs: Hope Shatters, World Ablaze, Unknown