“Welcome to the urban abyss”: Rising black metal favourites Gaerea release crushing single Hope Shatters, announce new album Coma and Zeal & Ardor tour

Gaerea in 2024
(Image credit: Chantik Photography)

Masked black metal champions Gaerea have returned with new single Hope Shatters.

The track, released today (July 16), is the Portuguese quintet’s second new song of 2024, following April’s World Ablaze.

Watch the music video below.

Gaerea’s unnamed vocalist comments: “Welcome to the urban abyss. Where dreams turn to rust.”

The band have also announced that both Hope Shatters and World Ablaze will appear on their next studio album Coma.

Coma will come out on October 25 via Season Of Mist.

The release will be supported on a tour of North America with Swiss avant-garde metal collective Zeal & Ardor.

The run will start on November 23 at Union Transfer in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and wrap up on December 18 at Studio At The Factory in Dallas, Texas.

Tickets go on general sale on Friday (July 19) at 10am local time.

See the full list of dates below.

The album art and track listing for Coma are also available below.

Ahead of the release, Gaerea will perform in Europe with Behemoth. They’ve also planned a string of European festival dates for the summer.

Coma will be the outfit’s fourth album, following its critically acclaimed predecessors Unsettling Whispers (2018), Limbo (2020) and Mirage (2022).

Gaerea’s vocalist explained the band’s creative process in a 2022 Metal Hammer interview.

“We write albums as if they were film scripts,” he told journalist Jonathan Selzer.

“It’s the way I imagine all of these worlds.

“Each of the songs on Mirage is a specific episode in different people’s lives, and I have all the shots as if it was a music video in my head.

“It’s how I see this band, and it really bleeds through on all our visuals and how we present ourselves.

“I can see the whole movie in front of my eyes, and it’s what makes it authentic for me.

“If I can see all the details of these lyrics, then these songs, the art and the scenarios are real.”

GAEREA - HOPE SHATTERS (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - YouTube GAEREA - HOPE SHATTERS (OFFICIAL VIDEO) - YouTube
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Gaerea – Coma track listing:

The Poet’s Ballet
Hope Shatters
Suspended
World Ablaze
Coma
Wilted Flower
Reborn
Shapeshifter
Unknown
Kingdom Of Thorns

Gaerea – Coma album cover

(Image credit: Season Of Mist)

Gaerea 2024 North American tour w/ Zeal & Ardor

November 23 – Philadelphia, PA @ Union Transfer
November 24 – New York, NY @ Le Poisson Rouge
November 25 – Allston, MA @ Brighton Music Hall
November 27 – Montreal, QC @ Le Studio TD
November 28 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House
November 19 – Detroit, MI @ The Majestic
November 30 – Milvale, PA @ Mr. Smalls Theatre
December 2 –   Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
December 3 –   Chicago, IL @ Thalia Hall
December 4 –   Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theatre
December 6 –   Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre
December 7 –   Salt Lake City, UT @ Urban Lounge
December 9 –   Seattle, WA @ The Showbox
December 10 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theatre
December 11 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom
December 13 – Berkeley, CA @ US Theatre
December 14 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory
December 15 – Phoenix, AZ @ Crescent Ballroom
December 17 – Austin, TX @ Mohawk
December 18 – Dallas, TX @ Studio at The Factory

Matt Mills
Contributing Editor, Metal Hammer

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Prog and Metal Hammer, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, NME, Guitar and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.