Gaerea thrive on the purging of raw emotions, but on their upcoming fourth album, the Portuguese masked sensations prove that they’re no longer just a black metal band. With Coma, they’re surfacing to the top of extreme metal.

While produced by their trusted confidant Miguel Tereso, Coma expands Gaerea’s signature sound by pulling it in two seemingly opposing directions. “Suspended” is haunted by moments of intense beauty. The band’s new single is accompanied by a video that’s both stunning and soul-stirring. But the pensive moments only heighten its crushing blows.

Coma comes out October 25, 2024 on Season of Mist.

Pre-order & Pre-save: https://orcd.co/gaereacoma

With its sharp and slithering riffs, Gaerea’s previous single spiked the anticipation for Coma to an almost unbearable degree. “Suspended” holds their captive audience in even greater suspense. Like a spider weaving its web, the somber, opening guitar melody unfolds with great care before the booming blast beats swallow you into the band’s inescapable vortex.

“I stand at a fateful divide / where choices collide“, their tortured vocalist screams as if dangling from the grip of a soul-wrenching vice. “Hell breaks loose“.

The never-ending maze that Gaerea dared us to enter during the album’s first official single is obscured by an even thicker haze on “Suspended”. But the band stay clear of any stylistic dead ends. The blindingly fast tremolo picking suddenly relents, opening up a post-rock passage that twinkles like a dying star. “No words can explain why I chose as I did“, their vocalist sings in one great, long mournful sigh.

“Suspended” stands as the first song in Gaerea’s mantle-worthy discography to feature clean singing, but the soft shift only sets up the song’s final knockout. All at once, the riffs, blasts and screams come roaring back into the fray behind an elevated gothic choir, bringing the band’s level of despair to crushing new heights.

The video for “Suspended” was created by Guilherme Henriques.