Downfall of Gaia
Aeon Unveils The Thrones Of Decay

The greatest enemy of man, impossible to defeat, is time. It flows in an almost infinite hourglass, surrounding and absorbing him, in a game of attractions and repulsions across the dimensions of past, present, and future. This, in brief summary, is the concept that supports the new work by Downfall of Gaia, a German quartet that now fits into that black metal line filled with more or less evident influences from other musical scenes, related and not. An hour and a few more seconds to catapult into a rather oppressive and visceral world, dominated by an incessant blend of crust reminiscences (which belong to the band's DNA) and post hardcore, in which the drama of their proposal desperately attempts again and again to break through.

The intensity that invades from the very first jolts of "Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay" is magnificent in its desolate reality. An arid acknowledgment of all that time takes and eternally kidnaps, leaving the individual stripped of their inner weaknesses. Each passage through the seven compositions is a small narrative arc contributing to the overarching story and the obsessive and repetitive leitmotif of the platter. Because yes, the rides cut, slicing transversally the most excited moments with those of false calm constructed thanks to a decidedly inspired songwriting, which does not fall into clichés and that slowly enriches the career of Downfall of Gaia. The screams are harrowing, raspy, and with no hint of compromising release. Decadent and abrasive, they become the voice of a melancholy hidden behind the sense of powerlessness that time causes. Things change, the people around us change with the evolution of life, and there's a risk of ending up in a suffocating situation where familiar faces become strangers. One has the perception that everything slips from one's control, becoming elusive in the face of the perpetual machine of the ticking hands that move mercilessly. Thus, it is not uncommon for the pieces to follow this trend, where blinding outbursts are opposed by slowdowns and melodies that drag wearily toward the end. An alternation of looks at who one was, is, and will be, in an anxiety described by moments of oblivion with reminiscent shades of ambient solutions in the epicness that distinguishes the two closing tracks "Whispers of Aeon" and "Excavated". The latter instrumental and, for this writer, a true gem capable of elevating an album that in its compactness risks being too bewildering.

The landscapes full of shadows and dark places drawn by the intertwining of ours never disappear and uneasily reappear, clashing with the heavy grip intended by the apocalyptic tones of the fierce wall of sound. This is a show of strength by Downfall of Gaia. They may not have the expressive depth of other artists in the genre, but the martial and annihilating atmospheres fit perfectly into the intimate pieces that saturate the album in such a way as to plunge the album into a transcendental and hypnotic dimension, where yes, the ethereal takes over, but the world being constructed is in ruins and disintegrates piece by piece always under the watchful ticking of the clock. The flames engulf everything, and what's burning are the last touches of a piano that becomes increasingly distorted and anxiously returns us to reality, detaching us from the album's imagery.

"We are walking shadows on a journey through life that is covered with loss, unexpected changes and dealing with unwanted circumstances. Men talk of killing time, while time quietly kills them."