Khôrada- Salt
Review by Marisa Kaye Janke
Like an aggregant to an open wound, Salt, the preliminary offering of Oakland super-group Khôrada, incites a burning sensation that is passionate, powerful, and far too intense to ignore. As if re-stitching our severed flesh from cherished Agalloch’s disbandment, persisting legends Don Anderson, Aesop Dekker, and Jason Walton have woven newfound explorations of both grief and splendor with the threads of Poseidon’s contemporary musical counterpart, Aaron John Gregory (Giant Squid, Squalus, Grayceon).
Glorified in this magnum opus of maritime worship, Gregory has more than solidified himself as an inexhaustible well of oceanic interpretation. With uniquely independent complexity, each track can be observed as a minor epoch with reflections to a few unifying factors: abrasive high pitch tremolo guitars with alternating, fondly recognizable clean tones and a filthy/sludgy bass derived only from the depths of the sea that harkens back most prevalently to Giant Squid’s 2009 release The Ichthyologist, translating ultimately full and triumphant but with intermittent reflections of clear and dry minimalism. Gregory’s vulnerable yet wistfully present stoic vocals, however, remind us of the woeful and experimental textures of Metridium Fields (2006) which may appeal to lovers of Cascadian saturated atmospheres, here presenting the feeling of drowning not simply from being washed out to sea, but by intricate entanglement from taunting riffs and tastefully powerful percussion that never fails to intrigue.
Though not to say that any former project of this cast of well seasoned composers hinted at immaturity, Salt strategically sounds well-aged, refined, intelligently preserved, and entrancing in a manner that is tactfully consuming… a grittiness that is unrelenting, yet laced in a soft fragility that is both sensual and impenetrable. Immediately captivating track two, “Seasons of Salt” provides masterful drumming ferocity while a later following eulogy, “Augustus” is a break of gentleness, shrouded painfully in a universally relatable (albeit particularly explicit) mournful loss. Overall genuine and bold, the exploration of deep sea treachery hereby aroused feels out of reverent curiosity rather than necessity that may be subsequent finding oneself lost at sea.
Impeccably satisfying and wonderfully brilliant, Salt is a absolute dream come true of a collaboration record, releasing today, July 20th, via Prophecy Productions.
http://us.prophecy.de/artists/khorada/
