I will have to open this review up by admitting that Downfall of Gaia‘s Ethic of Radical Finitude fell off my radar. It was an album that I heard a lot of people I know sing praise of, and it’s not an album I would call ‘bad’ in any way, but it fell a little flat on my ears, which I thought strange since on paper the band’s kind of sweeping post-black metal is usually very much my thing. It was familiar but didn’t do anything that set itself apart much from other bands making the same kind of music; it was missing a kind of spark of originality. It brings me the utmost pleasure to say that on their follow-up album Silhouettes of Disgust, Downfall of Gaia have very much found that spark and made an album that captivated me from the very first note.
While Downfall of Gaia might be known more for the post-black metal side of their music, their origins featured much more varied musical themes, from atmospheric sludge to crust punk, and it is the return of guitarist Peter Wolff to the band, one of Downfall of Gaia’s founding members who left the group in 2015 to pursue other life avenues, that seems to have facilitated a return to those same musical roots. The result is an album that is surprising in just how much ground it covers, augmenting the cinematic, blast beat driven atmospheric black metal with high-energy d-beat punk, gloomy early goth vibes, loping sludge, and even keyboards for the first time in the band’s history. The songs on Silhouettes are also much shorter, punchier, and to the point than on previous releases, which helps to up the intensity while still maintaining the building and breaking of tension that brings the emotional punch to Downfall of Gaia’s music. Every (admittedly very subjective) complaint I could make about Ethics of Radical Finitude has been course corrected here in a way that makes the songs feel much more vibrant and interesting to me. It’s an album that truly stands out from the pack.
Silhouettes of Disgust is the perfect example of ‘all killer, no filler’. It pulls you immediately into the mosh pit and bashes you around relentlessly, but you come out of it feeling like you made some new friends. It’s a joyfully engaging listen, and one that ensures that I will now be looking forward to what comes next from this band.
— Vincent
Silhouettes of Disgust will be available March 17th on Metal Blade Records. For more information on Downfall of Gaia, visit the band’s official website.
Nine Circles 