Gaerea has achieved its transformation.
Already well underway with their last album, the hooded band led by Alpha (guitar/vocals), Rho (bass), XI (drums), and Delta (guitar) has definitively anchored itself in a more modern sound with their fifth album, Loss.
Luminary offers some mysterious tones that quickly ignite, with Metalcore influences that are certainly catchy but radically different from what we know of the band. The vocals are also different, retaining their raw edge for the most part, but even shifting to clean singing during more dissonant moments, fading out completely for a silent break before the final charge into Submerged. The track is already well known, and has even been played live, but it still surprises me with its disparity between moments of fury and minimalist passages that occur naturally and lead us to Hellbound, another composition that has already caused quite a stir due to its jerky patterns, almost similar to mosh parts, as well as its overly sweet chorus. We return to aggression with Uncontrolled, which offers interesting touches of heaviness that contrast with the piercing leads, but the mix ends up working, especially on the choruses, as Phoenix adds more plaintive touches, bordering on Alternative Metal, which sound quite strange compared to the atmosphere of the entire song. Cyclone follows with a brief moment of uncertainty guided by clean vocals, then returns to its usual waves of violence, sometimes a little dark thanks to the harmonics, but never hesitating to incorporate more ethereal elements, some of which can be found on LBRNTH. The track is much shorter than the others, offering hazy touches to join Nomad, which develops more epic and haunting touches with palpable rage, expressed quite differently on the choruses. Although very calm, the break barely pauses before exploding again, joining the long Stardust and its soothing introduction, which leaves no doubt as to its status as a ballad: it will be swept away by the band’s now familiar style, consisting of a series of massive riffs while the vocalist screams, pretending to abandon us before bursting into flames one last time until the end.
I’m still torn after two listens. Loss is far from being a bad album in itself, it’s the fact that it was made by Gaerea that leaves me perplexed. The band had announced a change in musical direction, and that is now fully accomplished and embraced.
70/100