AGHORA

(UNITED STATES)

ENTHEOGENIC FREQUENCIES

(2020)
LABEL:

AUTRE LABEL

GENRE:

PROGRESSIVE METAL

TAGS:
Epic, Fusion, Groovy, Instrumental, Jazzy, Technical
"Aghora is back with a totally instrumental configuration, fourteen years after completing her splendid second album. With this rare density of "Entheogenic Frequencies" the status of cult band is more than ever a reality."
NUNO777 (24.01.2020)  
4/5
(0) opinions (1) comment(s)
Aghora is considered a cult band by many fans of hybrid progressive metal. The band led by guitarist Santiago Dobles, and which has welcomed great musicians such as Sean Malone and Sean Reinert, hadn't been talked about in fourteen years, cultivating the rarity and aura that surrounds it. After two albums that forged the legend, the group decided to resume writing its history with "Entheogenic Frequencies".

Apart from the fact that Sean Reinert has been replaced by Matt Thompson as drummer, the major fact of this rebirth is the absence of vocals. The latter had the virtue of offering breathing spaces in a particularly dense and virtuoso music. In other words, with this disappearance, it is to be expected that the instruments will not be idle in order to fill the blank. Intuition validated by a record opening that acts like a real constriction of the respiratory tracts with an impressive surge of progressive metal fusion led by a Dantesque rhythmic section. Difficult to swallow this magma saturating the sound space which proves to be a test giving access to some treasures whose survivors will have the reward. These moments are rare and all the more precious during the first fifteen minutes and materialize notably by a lightning in a guitar phrasing of character ('Path') or a luminous theme in the melodic perspective that it opens to the infernal march of 'Arrival', a kind of Step In Fluid under entheogen.

We start to breathe from 'Kingdom of Ea', the big saturations bow before some acoustic passages ('Kingdom of Ea', 'Tree Of Answers'), the groove diversifies the measures ('Cave') and the hovering sequences cool down the boiling, but the guiding principle of the record remains the same. It's about cultivating rarity and bringing out the relief of brilliant ideas by contrasting with a confused and nebulous environment. The resulting perception is as much about intoxication when the bass and guitar repeat a melancholy ritornello ('Truth Is Alien') to the point of exaltation as it is about vertigo and grace when the ancestral harmonies of the Babylonian era appear in 'Tree Of Answers' or the ambiences of shamanic ceremonies of deep Mesopotamia during the hallucinatory 'Portal' and 'The Marduk Prophecy'. Metal is mixed with all kinds of ethnic sounds and jazz effusions as in the frenetic 'Tree of Answers', not so far from the crossbreeding practised by Jonas Hellborg and the late Shawn Lane, especially as the clear sounds and the ultra fast touch of Santiago reinforce this affinity with the game of the giant who disappeared too soon ('Cave').

"Entheogenic Frequencies' is one of those albums that should not be listened to with a distracted ear at the risk of being overwhelmed by a flood of inaudible and quickly tiring notes. Its exigency and its complexity require many readings to decipher all its nuances and grasp its soul. But one should not be discouraged by this monument because the self-sacrifice invested will be rewarded by new magical moments gleaned with each listening.
- Official website

TRACK LISTING:
01. Path - 6:34
02. Arrival - 10:09
03. Kingdom of Ea - 6:16
04. Cave - 6:38
05. Portal - 6:36
06. Tree of Answers - 8:32
07. The Marduk Prophecy - 8:58
08. Truth Is Alien - 10:09

LINEUP:
Alan Goldstein: Basse
Gustavo Dobles: Claviers
Matt Thompson: Batterie
Santiago Dobles: Guitares / Claviers
   
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NEWF
24/01/2020
  0
Un album de très haut niveau, malheureusement plombé par une production brouillonne qui privilégie la section rythmique. La guitare et les claviers de l’excellent Santiago Dobles sont trop souvent noyés dans le mix et étouffés par la basse, ce qui rend l’écoute fatigante à la longue… Dommage parce que les compos sont intéressantes.
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