Live Review: Gaerea - Manchester

Live Review: Gaerea – Club Academy, Manchester

11th September 2026
Support: Conjurer
Words: Oli Gonzalez
Photos: Rich Price

The music industry thrives on change and the landscape is ever shifting. There are very few guarantees and certainties, though we can agree that if you stay stagnant and refuse to change, you’ll almost certainly fall into obscurity!

Enter Gaerea!

We don’t often think of Portugal as a hotbed for metal, but Gaerea is the hottest thing to come out of the Iberian nation since…well, ever. Maybe. The world was introduced to their chaotic and aggressive black metal infused post metal sound in the shape of early albums “Limbo” and “Mirage”, before “Coma” came in autumn 2024, representing a change in style. That blackened edge was slowly being phased out for a more accessible style with cleaner vocals and choruses. Tonight, they returned to Manchester to kick off the UK leg of their headline tour, 10 months since they closed Damnation’s Holy Goat Brewing stage in the city. Since then, they added “Loss” to their discography, characterised by a more anthemic and melodic style with choruses designed to get arena’s singing along in unison.

So, what could we expect on this headline set? More stadium-like anthems or an homage to their older sound? Let’s find out…

Following a similar trajectory, Conjurer burst onto the scene roughly a decade ago and have also seen their style change over the years. At a rather late 8.10pm stage time, they calmly took to the stage. Having seen them tear apart Techfest and Radar Festival on prominent card placings, seeing them open a show seemed unusual at a rather late 8.10pm stage time. Though this provided a rare golden opportunity for people to finish work and arrive, head to the merch stand and get their first drinks in hand. The net net of this was a very healthy crowd before the band had even played a note! Almost 1 year on from releasing “Unself”, it was inevitable that the set was going to be filled with songs from this, opening with ‘All Apart’ before progressing to ‘Hollow’. These songs represent Conjurer’s low and slow sludge infused doom style they’ve become known for. A far cry from the blistering intensity and energy of songs from their early albums.

Though pinning Conjurer to one genre is pretty useless; they’ll just smash out of any genre labels you try to pin on them and make you feel stupid for trying. Though no matter what songs they play, there’s always constants in the sound. The savage dense and nasty tones roaring out from their amplifiers, and the dual vocal assault of Dan and Brady despite also holding down these neck snapping riffs! Riffs that may not have resulted in any pits but plenty of headbanging, as well as the biggest reaction of their set within a few seconds of ‘Let Us Live’, thus showing that connection was real. 50 minutes flew faster than 50 minutes should!

Gaerea are always one for the theatrical and stretched out walk ons – like at Fortress of Damnation festivals – and tonight was no different. This was a cue to quickly get into position and lock in for the ride.

Kicking off with ‘Luminary’ seemed fitting given that this is the opener for new album “Loss”.

“There’s a gap inside my mind,
Where faces fade away…”

Within minutes, the whole venue had locked in in unison, singing along to this infectives ballad! This was quickly followed by ‘Hellbound’ and ‘Cyclone’. It was the first night so you wouldn’t expect breaking voices nor vocal chord fatigue. Though it seemed like Gaerea’s frontman was struggling up there! Backing tracks should be used sparingly, not as a crutch for a strained voice, which is what it felt like here, especially when trying to hit those higher notes and deliver them with the crushing energy on record.

The set continued to plow through the band’s newer era, though songs like ‘I Am The Nomad’ and ‘World Ablaze’ felt like a nod to Gaerea’s older, earlier aggressive sound. The pits were in motion now, but things were just getting started when Phoenix represented a new peak energy and chaos! Though things came crashing down to earth with the more introspective and somewhat melancholic ‘Submerged’. Though you couldn’t exactly become submerged in the ambience of this number due to the incessant chatter and loud talking.

IF YOU’RE GOING TO TALK THROUGH THE SET, LEAVE!!

Rant over before it begins. Though the chorus provided no opportunity for any loud talking to ruin this, giving the overwhelming wall of sound washing over Club Academy! The crowd provided additional reverb for the band, and in doing so demonstrating the biggest engagement of the night. Gaerea walked off…we knew they were coming back though. They did, for one last number; ‘Stardust’. Very little if any acknowledgement of “Mirage” or “Limbo”, expect for the token offering ‘Laude’. This is a sign that Gaerea have all but moved away from that sound now, and songs like ‘Salve’ remain a distant memory in their set list. Though it has to be said no matter what form their set list takes, they always sound flawless with their ‘ampless’ set up, being a joy for any sound engineer to mix, as well as human connection being always being the central cog in their machine. Especially when the anonymous frontman expressed his deep gratitude for the city of Manchester, citing their first show in Rebellion and being blown away at the idea of playing to 300 people that night. They played to nearly double that tonight, and will play to even more when they headline Bloodstock’s Sophie Lancaster stage in the summer of 2027!

Overall, a solid show and glimpse into the future of metal. Could we have had an opening act? There would be no shortage of local bands in Manchester who’d sell their souls to the devil for a slot like this! This feels like an opportunity wasted in some ways, though the night flowed well with indulgent deeper dive sets and less stagnant time waiting between bands.