While initially finding Downfall of Gaia quite interesting in an inchoate sense, they rather quickly became one of my "shit or get off the pot bands", those being artists that clearly have the potential to be major stars but seem stuck in a developmental rut, never quite taking it to the next level. Then again, two equally exhausting albums in a single year can do that to you.
To be a little more specific, between their early splits and the two aforementioned long players – Epos and Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes – the band barely rose above the relative novelty of their genre alchemy: a little bit of grind, a whole lot of post-metal, some Hunter Hunt-Hendrix guitar worship and a heavy wallop of blackened doom. That's a pretty versatile recipe, but until now Downfall of Gaia seemed largely content to pad out their material with the slower moving, bird chime-friendly post-rock template.
Until now.
What I've been waiting for is a little more balance in their choice of elements, and in this case the third time's the charm, as Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay completely neuters all the criticisms I just listed. That's not to say it's accessible in the slightest; Downfall of Gaia demand patience, as always, but finally – third time's the charm – it's amply rewarded. There's a delicate balance to be made between droning atmospheric interstitial and sheet boredom, a line the band have flirted with to middling effect in the past, but here they finally hit their mark, mounting one campaign after another of rising and falling action that comes up victorious far more often than not.
"Whispers of Aeon", though late in the track order, is the standout centerpiece of the album, a twelve minute epic that kicks off in full on black metal mode before gradually disintegrating into one of the more compelling post-metal drone wind downs in recent memory (Dylan Carlson would be proud). Michael Kadnar's drums are the lynch pin here, beginning with shy, almost reluctant drum rolls and slowly, inexorably escalating into a dominant alpha beatdown that seques seamlessly back into the blackened sludge sound from which it emerged. Masterful.
The album as a whole flows much more harmoniously than its predecessors; the full 60-minute runthrough is an absolute requirement, to the point that the album's availability on Spotify – which curiously omits the two 10+-minute tracks – is completely useless. While not quite perfect – "Darkness Enflames These Sapphire Eyes" starts things off with a less interesting variation on "Whispers of Aeon"'s dynamic, and "Ascending the Throne" is a brief but relatively throwaway interlude – Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay finally shows the band in mastery of their craft.
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