Music like In the Hearts of Emperors

Downfall of Gaia are a German extreme metal band formed in 2008 and currently signed to Metal Blade Records. The band is composed of founding members Dominik Goncalves dos Reis (vocals, guitar) and Anton Lisovoj (vocals, bass), as well as drummer Michael Kadnar and guitarist Marco Mazzola. They have released four studio albums, their latest being Atrophy, which came out on 11 November 2016.

Dominik Goncalves dos Reis and Anton Lisovoj, who knew each other from their area, started writing music together in 2006, focused on d-beat and crust punk. 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, 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 and the tour EP Salvation in Darkness. Their debut studio album, Epos, was released in 2010 with the help of several independent record labels, and was described by Goncalves as incorporating more doom metal and post-rock influences. In 2011, their split LP with Swedish band In the Hearts of Emperors 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 with Vestiges, besides Europe in October.