By building upon their epic, crust-covered roots, Downfall Of Gaia have decided the way forward is to release a blackened doom-streaked, post-rock concept album dealing with the crushing anxiety of modern living.
At times euphoric and overwhelming (often within a single song), they have wrought huge atmospheric swathes that recall both Pelican and Neurosis and merged them with the glacial edge of post-black metal. And while songs are long, they don’t feel laboured. Beneath The Crown Of Cranes starts with a two-minute soundscape and snakes through several subgenres over a colourful 11-minutes.
A modern blackened influence permeates, as the band worship at the altar of Wolves In The Throne Room and it’s these moments, when they replace d-beat for blastbeat that the album really starts to soar. Songs that at first sounded oppressively weighty, slowly take flight. Awesome.