De Portugese black metal-giganten Gaerea (met een Nederlands tintje in de vorm van gitarist Sonja Schuringa) hebben een nieuw album aangekondigd: Coma komt uit op 25 oktober. Nu al wordt een tipje van de sluier opgelicht met Unknown, de nieuwe singel.
"Though they formed during the most uncertain time in recent history, GAEREA emerged from pandemic limbo with a new strand of black metal. Instead of pagan beliefs or lo-fi fidelity, the masked visionaries were guided by a purging of raw emotions. The world has quickly come to share their vision, following them from the gates of Hellfest to tours across China and the U.S.
But on their upcoming fourth album, Gaerea are proving that they're no longer just a black metal band. While it still packs plenty of bloodied emotion, with Coma, the Portuguese sensations are poised to surface to the top of extreme metal. On "Unknown", they unveil both the beauty and brutality of their new identity.
LEES:
When Coma was secretly introduced back in May, Gaerea set the world ablaze. The album's first official single raised everyone's hopes by delivering an anthem for our dying era. "Unknown" heightens the anticipation to an unbearable degree. Like an out-of-body experience, the opening guitar solo hovers as if suspended from a ghostly height, grounded by a warm but numbing bass line.
The maze-like existence that Gaerea speak of on Coma becomes hazier on "Unknown". Even when the song opens into soft post-rock passages, the melodies are haunted by a familiar dread. "A mere observer, detached creature", the band's tortured vocalist cries out, as if forced to watch some other masked deviant write his life story.
But Gaerea know who they are. Within its many twists and turns, "Unknown" springs with more deadly hooks than a booby trap. The riff slithers and shakes with minor key tremolo picking before the chorus worms into your ear canals with sharp pangs of melodic distortion. Once the blast beats have sucked you into their vortex, the band's sheer artistic force is blinding, like looking upon the face of god. "This is who I am, sublime".
With "Unknown", Gaerea make their presence felt on the world of extreme metal.
The video for "Unknown" was directed by Claudio Marino and produced by Artax Film.
