Aghora
Aghora

THE REVIEW

Sean Malone is a genius and surrounds himself exclusively with geniuses. The year 2000 marks the birth of the new group of the fantastic bassist of the "Cynic," who, accompanied by the talented Danishta Rivero on vocals, Santiago Dobles on lead guitar, Charlie Ekendahl on rhythm guitar, and Sean Reinert on drums and percussion, offers us a true masterpiece of hyper-technical progressive metal.
What is offered to us in this fantastic album is something as diverse as has ever been played by those many consider the greats of modern prog: equipped with extraordinary technique, Aghora offers us in this wonderful debut album "Aghora" 55 minutes of instrumental evolutions experienced so far only in bands such as: Rush, Cynic, and Spiral Architect. The genre played, although referable to hyper-technical prog, is full of inserts from American trash and death and also jazz. The track-list consists of 9 medium-long duration songs that will, however, never tire you.

The album opens with "Immortal Bliss," a song with strong trash overtones, showcasing all the talent of the group, foregrounding the bass and the splendid voice of mezzo-soprano Danishta; the song turns out to be very fast and complex, with tight and fast rhythms and endless solos following each other in a blend of 4 minutes and 38 seconds. "Satya," the second track on the album, presents itself as a very fast prog-song entirely based on bass solos designed by a magnificent Malone who accompanies the voice, composing a song with vaguely oriental flavors. The guitars are present and powerful, the hyper-fast and complex drums. The guitar solo in the middle of the song is splendid and will make you realize how little technical prowess the two most acclaimed prog groups, Dream Theater and Symphony X, actually have.
We thus move on to the third song on the album: "Transfiguration": transfiguration of perfection into musical notes, what was said for the previous two songs applies in this case too: what is offered to us cannot but be considered an absolute masterpiece. We come to the fourth track: "Frames," the most beautiful song on the album that can ideally be divided into two parts, the first of which is more trash and the second absolutely jazz: it is precisely in this context that the band's skill is seen, offering us a torrent of solos played with fearsome class. The other songs move more or less along the coordinates of the previous four, with the exception of the seventh track, which presents itself as an instrumental piece as particular as it is beautiful, although decidedly long.

In conclusion, this "Aghora" should be counted among the ultimate masterpieces of the most extreme prog along with the albums of Cynic, Rush, Spiral Architect, and Gordian Knot.
Oh, a final advice, read the lyrics... they are absolutely fantastic and profound.