Downfall of Gaia are a German

extreme metal Extreme metal is a loosely defined umbrella term for a number of related heavy metal music subgenres that have developed since the early 1980s. It has been defined as a "cluster of metal subgenres characterized by sonic, verbal, and visual tran ...

band formed in 2008 by Dominik Goncalves dos Reis (vocals, guitar) and Anton Lisovoj (vocals, bass). Their current lineup is completed by drummer Michael Kadnar and guitarist Marco Mazzola. Transforming their initial

crust punk Crust punk (also known as crust or stenchcore) is a form of music influenced by English punk rock and extreme metal. The style, which evolved in the early 1980s in England, often has songs with dark and pessimistic lyrics that linger on politic ...

sound through the incorporation of

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

doom metal Doom metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music that typically uses slower tempos, low-tuned guitars and a much "thicker" or "heavier" sound than other heavy metal genres.K. Kahn-Harris, ''Extreme Metal: Music and Culture on the Edge'' ...

, and

post-rock Post-rock is a form of experimental rock characterized by a focus on exploring textures and timbre over traditional rock song structures, chords, or riffs. Post-rock artists are often instrumental, typically combining rock instrumentation with ...

influences, they have released five studio albums. The last four albums came out on

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distrib ...

History

Formation, early releases, and ''Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes'' (2006–2013)

Dominik Goncalves dos Reis and Anton Lisovoj, who knew each other from their area, started writing music together in 2006, focused on

d-beat D-beat (also known as Discore, kängpunk, Discrust, and crust-beat) is a style of hardcore punk, developed in the early 1980s by imitators of Discharge, after whom the genre is named, as well as a drum beat characteristic of this subgenre. D-be ...

and

. In 2008, they shifted towards writing longer, "epic" songs with the ambition to make more "serious" music and changed their name to Downfall of Gaia to mark a transition cemented with the addition of a second guitarist, Peter Wolff, whom they had met that year. They chose the name, which refers to

Gaia In Greek mythology, Gaia (; from Ancient Greek , a poetical form of , 'land' or 'earth'),, , . also spelled Gaea , is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the ancestral mother—sometimes parthenog ...

, the goddess that personifies the Earth in Greek mythology, to correspond with "the lyrics and the atmosphere" of their music. The band's first drummer was replaced by Sven, who in turn was replaced in 2010 by Hannes. They released one demo, ''The Downfall of Gaia'', in 2008, followed in 2009 by a split tape with French band

Kazan Kazan ( ; rus, Казань, p=kɐˈzanʲ; tt-Cyrl, Казан, ''Qazan'', IPA: ɑzan is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Tatarstan in Russia. The city lies at the confluence of the Volga and the Kazanka rivers, covering a ...

and the tour EP ''Salvation in Darkness''. Their debut studio album, ''Epos'', was released in 2010 with the help of several

independent record labels An independent record label (or indie label) is a record label that operates without the funding or distribution of major record labels; they are a type of small and medium-sized enterprise, small- to medium-sized enterprise, or SME. The labels ...

, and was described by Goncalves as incorporating more

and

influences. In 2011, their split LP with Swedish band

In the Hearts of Emperors IN, In or in may refer to: Places * India (country code IN) * Indiana, United States (postal code IN) * Ingolstadt, Germany (license plate code IN) * In, Russia, a town in the Jewish Autonomous Oblast Businesses and organizations * Independ ...

came out on Alerta Antifascista Records, Moment of Collapse and Shove Records. The band began performing more extensively that year, touring the

East Coast of the United States The East Coast of the United States, also known as the Eastern Seaboard, the Atlantic Coast, and the Atlantic Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Eastern United States meets the North Atlantic Ocean. The eastern seaboard contains the coa ...

with Vestiges, besides Europe in October. Downfall of Gaia finished writing for their sophomore album ''Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes'' in early 2012 and were contacted by

a few weeks before they were scheduled to record it; they parted ways with the independent labels and signed to Metal Blade, who released the album on 10 September 2012 in the US and 8 October in Europe. It was recorded with Christoph Scheideldorf at '79 Sound Studio in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, mixed by Jack Shirley of Atomic Garden Studio in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

and mastered by James Plotkin. ''Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes'' is a

concept album A concept album is an album whose tracks hold a larger purpose or meaning collectively than they do individually. This is typically achieved through a single central narrative or theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, or lyrical. Som ...

about a man suffering from depression and

insomnia Insomnia, also known as sleeplessness, is a sleep disorder in which people have trouble sleeping. They may have difficulty falling asleep, or staying asleep as long as desired. Insomnia is typically followed by daytime sleepiness, low energy, ...

and his gradual descend into insanity. Hannes described its style as "mixed", with "influences from

sludge Sludge is a semi-solid slurry that can be produced from a range of industrial processes, from water treatment, wastewater treatment or on-site sanitation systems. For example, it can be produced as a settled suspension obtained from conventiona ...

hardcore Hardcore, hard core or hard-core may refer to: Arts and media Film * ''Hardcore'' (1977 film), a British comedy film * ''Hardcore'' (1979 film), an American crime drama film starring George C Scott * ''Hardcore'' (2001 film), a British documen ...

or even

screamo Screamo (also referred to as skramz) is an aggressive subgenre of emo that emerged in the early 1990s and emphasizes "willfully experimental dissonance and dynamics".Jason Heller, "Feast of Reason". ''Denver Westword'', June 20, 2002Access date: ...

parts or post rock parts", while Kim Kelly wrote in a ''Pitchfork'' review that compared to their older work, the album "relies far more heavily on

Isis Isis (; ''Ēse''; ; Meroitic: ''Wos'' 'a''or ''Wusa''; Phoenician: 𐤀𐤎, romanized: ʾs) was a major goddess in ancient Egyptian religion whose worship spread throughout the Greco-Roman world. Isis was first mentioned in the Old Kingd ...

-inspired

post-metal Post-metal is a music genre rooted in heavy metal but exploring approaches beyond metal conventions. It emerged in the 1990s with bands such as Neurosis and Godflesh, who transformed metal texture through experimental composition. In a way simil ...

and mournful, cathartic black metal for inspiration" while retaining shades of

Amebix Amebix were an English crust punk band. Formed as the Band with No Name, the band's original run was from 1978 to 1987, during which time they released two EPs and three albums. The group reunited in 2008, released another full-length album ...

-style crust punk. The band toured Europe with Vestiges in the summer of 2012 and returned to the US in 2013, a year in which they did more than 100 concerts. In 2014, they performed with bands such as

Neurosis Neurosis is a class of functional mental disorders involving chronic distress, but neither delusions nor hallucinations. The term is no longer used by the professional psychiatric community in the United States, having been eliminated from th ...

Toxic Holocaust Toxic Holocaust is an American thrash metal band from Portland, Oregon. History Joel Grind founded Toxic Holocaust in 1999. He originally wrote and recorded all of the band's music himself, and after a couple of demo releases (''Radiation Sick ...

and Black Tusk as well as at

Hellfest Hellfest (), also called Hellfest Summer Open Air, is a rock festival focusing on heavy metal music, held annually in June in Clisson, France. Its high attendance makes it the French music festival with the largest turnover. It is also one of ...

2014, an appearance which Goncalves that year described, along with getting signed to Metal Blade, as a highlight of their career.

''Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay'', ''Atrophy'', and ''Ethic of Radical Finitude'' (2014–present)

Downfall of Gaia's third studio album, ''Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay'', was released on 11 November 2014 through Metal Blade. The songs were mostly created in two weeks of rehearsing and writing after the band's new drummer, Michael Kadnar from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

who recently replaced Hannes, flew to Germany in March, while vocals were added a month later after Goncalves wrote the lyrics. The final version was recorded at '79 Sound Studio, mixed at Atomic Garden Studio and mastered at Audiosiege Studio in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. Describing the record, Goncalves stated that it "is a concept album about time and all of its relentless sides ... deal ngwith the darker sides of life and the struggles everyone has to fight on a day to day asis and while "songs on

he band's He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

previous records grew slowly and things took their time, this time

hey Hey or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the title s ...

tried to focus on pretty straight, fast and aggressive song structures." In support of the album, they toured the East Coast and the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

of the US in January/February 2015. and Europe with fellow German

band Der Weg einer Freiheit in March/April 2015. Further tours followed, including through Japan and Australia, only ending towards the end of the year when the band began working on their next album. Wolff quit Downfall of Gaia in early 2016 to focus on new projects and private life and was replaced after a few auditions by Marco Mazzola from

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitue ...

in April. The band's fourth studio album, ''Atrophy'', was recorded in June 2016 at Hidden Planet Studio Berlin and mixed and mastered at Atomic Garden Studio. It was released through Metal Blade on 11 November 2016. On 8 February 2019, the band followed it up with their fifth, ''Ethic of Radical Finitude'', through the same label.

Musical style and influences

Downfall of Gaia's style, initially firmly rooted in

, and then increasingly characterised by "longer, more grandiose, back-and-forth sweeping songs" has evolved over the course of their career. Following the 2014 release of ''Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay'', it has been described as "

experimental An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome occurs when ...

-infused

... mixing second-wave black metal influences with progressive and

atmospheric An atmosphere () is a layer of gas or layers of gases that envelop a planet, and is held in place by the gravity of the planetary body. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A s ...

elements", as well as a "blend of

riffs and black metal intensity" and "a mix of black metal, crusty

grind A blade's grind is its cross-sectional shape in a plane normal to the edge. Grind differs from blade profile, which is the blade's cross-sectional shape in the plane containing the blade's edge and the centre contour of the blade's back (me ...

bursts, sludge, and sprawling, sometimes doomy, post-metal". The band has been compared to Fall of Efrafa,

Altar of Plagues Altar of Plagues were an Irish black metal band, founded in Cork by James Kelly. After gaining attention in the metal community with a series of self recorded demos and EPs, the band released their first studio album, '' White Tomb'', in April ...

and

Agrimonia ''Agrimonia'' (from the Greek ), commonly known as agrimony, is a genus of 12–15 species of perennial herbaceous flowering plants in the family Rosaceae, native to the temperate regions of the Northern Hemisphere, with one species also in Afr ...

. Around the same time, Dominik Goncalves dos Reis described the band as influenced initially by

and crust punk and later mostly by doom metal, sludge metal and black metal, naming

Agalloch Agalloch () was an American extreme metal band from Portland, Oregon. Formed in 1995 by frontman John Haughm, they released five full-length albums, four EPs, two singles, one split single, two demos, four compilation albums and one live video ...

, YOB,

Electric Wizard Electric Wizard are an English doom metal band from Dorset. The band formed in 1993 and have recorded nine studio albums, two of which have been considered genre landmarks: ''Come My Fanatics…'' (1997) and ''Dopethrone'' (2000). Electric Wiz ...

and

Wolves in the Throne Room Wolves in the Throne Room is an American black metal band formed in 2002 in Olympia, Washington, by brothers Aaron and Nathan Weaver. They have released seven full-length albums, two live albums, and one EP to date. They have stated one of the f ...

as personal favorites, and Altar of Plagues,

Watain Watain is a Swedish black metal band, formed in 1998.Eduardo Rivadavia: ''Watain Biography'' Allmusic, Macrovision Corporation. The band's name is taken from an early recording by the American black metal group Von.Ronald Ziegler''Merchandise w ...

, Thy Light and early

Ulver Ulver (Norwegian for "wolves") is a Norwegian experimental electronica band founded in 1993, by vocalist Kristoffer Rygg. Their early works, such as debut album '' Bergtatt'', were categorised as folklore-influenced black metal, but the band h ...

(besides Wolves in the Throne Room and Agalloch) as the band's black metal influences. In 2012, he stated that

Cult of Luna Cult of Luna is a Swedish heavy metal band from Umeå founded in 1998. They are known for post-metal music similar to the contemporary bands Neurosis and Isis. The band was signed to Earache Records in the early 2000s and released five albums, i ...

Rosetta Rosetta or Rashid (; ar, رشيد ' ; french: Rosette ; cop, ϯⲣⲁϣⲓⲧ ''ti-Rashit'', Ancient Greek: Βολβιτίνη ''Bolbitinē'') is a port city of the Nile Delta, east of Alexandria, in Egypt's Beheira governorate. The Ro ...

, Altar of Plagues, Neurosis and

Mono Mono may refer to: Common meanings * Infectious mononucleosis, "the kissing disease" * Monaural, monophonic sound reproduction, often shortened to mono * Mono-, a numerical prefix representing anything single Music Performers * Mono (Japanese b ...

were among their biggest influences. However, he noted on both occasions that they enjoy a wide variety of music genres, "from pop to electro to

indie Indie is a short form of "independence" or "independent"; it may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Gaming *Independent video game development, video games created without financial backing from large companies *Indie game, any game (board ...

", one of his all-time favorite albums besides ''

The Eye of Every Storm ''The Eye of Every Storm'' is the eighth studio album from the Californian band Neurosis. It retains the strong folk music influences prominent on the band's previous album '' A Sun That Never Sets'', while exploring their trudging and massive s ...

'' by Neurosis being '' Untrue'' by electronic musician

Burial Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and objec ...

Members

;Current * Dominik Goncalves dos Reis – vocals, guitar (2008–present) * Anton Lisovoj – bass, vocals (2008–present) * Michael Kadnar – drums (2014–present) * Marco Mazzola – guitar (2016–present) ;Former * Peter Wolff – guitar, vocals (2008–2016) * Sven – drums (2014) * Johannes "Hannes" Stoltenburg – drums (2008–2014) Timeline

Discography

;Studio albums *''Epos'' (2010) *''Suffocating in the Swarm of Cranes'' (2012) *''Aeon Unveils the Thrones of Decay'' (2014) *''Atrophy'' (2016) *''Ethic of Radical Finitude'' (2019) ;EPs *''The Downfall of Gaia'' (2008 demo) *''Salvation in Darkness'' (2009) ;Splits *''Downfall of Gaia / Kazan'' (2009) *''Downfall of Gaia / In the Hearts of Emperors'' (2011) ;Compilations *''Downfall of Gaia'' (2013)

References

External links

*
Downfall of Gaia
on

Bandcamp Bandcamp is an American online audio distribution platform founded in 2007 by Oddpost co-founder Ethan Diamond and programmers Shawn Grunberger, Joe Holt and Neal Tucker, with headquarters in Oakland, California, US. On March 2, 2022, Bandcamp ...

*
Downfall of Gaia
on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

{{Authority control German black metal musical groups Post-metal musical groups Sludge metal musical groups Crust and d-beat groups German heavy metal musical groups German post-rock groups German doom metal musical groups German hardcore punk groups 2008 establishments in Germany Musical groups established in 2008 Metal Blade Records artists Musical quartets