Released on: 20th July 2018
Khôrada is about seventy-five percent Agalloch. Which is just an approximation because some of the band members are bigger than the others. It is just an irrefutable fact of life. With another fact being: life goes on, and so then does the majority of Agalloch in Khôrada and their debut album Salt. The experience of being in Agalloch has dearly left its mark and it can be heard through Salt that Agalloch was a major influence in defining its sound.
Along the way and with one singer short of an Agalloch thegroup adopted Aaron Gregory of Giant Squid into their coterie to once again find themselves a complete outfit ready to roar, or croon in avant-garde melancholy as is the case on Salt. In comparison to Agalloch, Khôrada are lighter and more accessible than their incredibly composed earlier efforts in Agalloch but retain a lot in the way of style and progression that their twenty-year career audience would be familiar with. With such a heavy emphasis on the majority’s past efforts it is safe to call this reimagining Agallite.
Without any further comparison to Agalloch; Salt is a highly detailed album filled with variety and atmosphere. With much of its diversity flowing through powerful and interesting drum patterns of which the riffs follow without question. Although that is not to say that the guitars do not get their dues. As inductive as the rhythms are the chords and melodies really push their long passages through destitute silence. Decorating time with tapestries of ornate noise.
At its core this doom infused prog album diverges from the chorus of avant-garde acts by incorporating structures alien to the genre in surreptitious ways. Yet twenty-years experience practicing in one band has imprinted a stylistic habit into most of the bands collective memory. And while you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, you can always dress it up and parade it around the park.
7/10
