Aghora - 3 track demo

Year of Release: 2003
Label: Independent
Catalog Number: n/a
Format: CD
Total Time: 13:19:00

I welcome you to meet another original and extremely talented band. This is the latest signing to the Laser's Edge label Sensory. Aghora is in good company as Sensory also hold talented bands such as Spiral Architect, Clockwork, Divided Multitude, etc.

While attending Berklee School of Music, guitarist Santiago Dobles met bassist Andy Deluca (did the 98 tour with Symphony X as replacement for Thomas Miller) and they started working together. In 1997 both Andy and Santiago left Berklee to pursue Aghora. They joined up with Santiago's sister, vocalist Danishta Rivero, and guitarist Charlie Ekendahl in Miami Florida. During this time Santiago contacted his close friend Sean Reinert (Cynic, Gordian Knot, Death, Anomaly) and completed the line up for the band.

As you might understand, this is one hell of a combination of musicians. And the music speaks for itself. This is a three track demo, clocking in at about 13 minutes. What we are offered here is complex jazzy prog rock/metal/fusion. Although the music is very technical and complex, filled with surprising time changes, they still maintain to keep extremely beautiful and good melody lines to the songs, coming off more accessible than first expected. Having a female singer for this kind of music is not common, but the beautiful soaring vocals of Danishta suits these songs perfectly and it's easy to hear she's a pro. The technique, variation and beauty of her of voice sends shivers down my spine.

The music is filled with variation, switching between beautiful acoustic parts and more bombastic heavy parts, With technique that's just amazing and seemingly effortless. The guitars are very complex and tasty, without overdoing it. The drums of Sean Reinert are, as always, very interesting and impeccable. And the bass lines of Deluca is just mindblowing. It's unbelievable this guy started playing bass at the age of 18 and at the age of 20 he enrolled at Berklee School of Music majoring in Performance. His treatment of the bass and the Chapman stick is simply stunning. I can say this much, there is a lot of tapping going on in these songs but it's the overall combination of these musicians and what they play that in the end make this music complete. The combination of the instruments and the vocals melted together is resulting in music beyond all bounds, something utterly special and unique. Sure, you will find traces of Cynic, etc., but not that much, this is more jazz-influenced.

As always it will take a few spins before you get into the songs but once you do, you're hooked, and the music keeps getting better. With each listen you'll discover new elements. If you're into complex, slightly jazzy prog rock/metal/fusion with melody this is indispensable. Personally I can't wait until the debut is recorded and released and with a killer producer like Neil Kernon and with guest musicians such as Paul Masvidal (Cynic), Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah) and Sean Malone (Cynic, Gordian Knot) the debut is destined to be a definite winner. This, together with the new Braindance material, is the most original, intelligent and exciting material I have heard so far this year. Hopefully, their debut will be released within this year.

PS: After writing this review the deal with Laser's Edge is not going to happen, so the band is once again open for all interested labels!

[This review originally appeared at the ProgPower Online review site -ed.]

Tracklisting:


Musicians:
Santiago Dobles - guitar
Andy Deluca - bass
Danishta Rivero - vocals
Charlie Ekendahl - guitar
Sean Reinert - drums

Discography:
3 track demo
Aghora (2003)

Genre: Progressive/Power Metal

Origin US

Added: May 1st 2003
Reviewer: Bjørnar Bevolden
Score:
Artist website: www.aghora.org
Hits: 3022
Language: english