There are many themes and ideas that have gone into the incredibly vast realm of black metal over the years as everything from the concept of nature to the very echoes of the soul have been poured into the genre with earnest from bands of all sorts. Downfall of Gaia has always been a band that I’ve been interested in, but despite liking their last few releases, I’ve never really been able to hear any of their material and just… get it. But it’s with their upcoming release that this act has delivered us something that’s a true shard of the soul and something that I can sink my teeth into.

This has always been one of those bands where I simply couldn’t put my finger on what just didn’t do it for me in the end, but ultimately, it just wasn’t for me despite their sound being incredibly promising for someone of my tastes and their entirety from the sound to the quality of it only improving with time. Yet, thankfully, I knew something had to give at some point, and Downfall of Gaia has finally swayed me with this massive six-track album that’s everything from the esoteric wonder that the style is always known for to hauntingly gorgeous as your soul constantly looks in on itself as “Ethic of Radical Finitude” proceeds without a second thought. So much of what has made atmospheric black metal the phenomenon it has become mixed with the distinct passion that Downfall of Gaia has always approached their material with has enabled their fifth full-length album to become something else that transcends the band’s previous works in ways that are all but immensely delicious. There’s so much emotion and passion being poured into every moment of “Ethic of Radical Finitude” to where it becomes incredibly palpable to the highest degree to by the point this record crawls to its end, you’ve been drenched in an absolute miasma of introspective atmosphere that truly pierces your very being to the core that has the power to bring you to your knees while simultaneously allow moments that fill you with a unique sense of hope wreathed in beauty.

Such a particular euphoria is something that’s often enough with atmospheric black metal if you experience enough of it, and Downfall of Gaia has created one of the most bewildering examples of it that I’ve heard for quite some time as they’ve reached the pinnacle of their material with these six tracks. Should you want an apex listen of the style that gets better with each and every listen, you simply can’t go wrong with “Ethic of Radical Finitude”.

“Ethic of Radical Finitude” releases on February 8th via Metal Blade Records!

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