Aghora - Formless (2006)

Released sometime in 2006, Aghora's newest album entitled Formless came completely out of left field. I thought I had already decided on my album of the year for 2006, but now I have to seriously reconsider. This album has not left Windows Media Player for the past week and a half, and I'll explain why.

Aghora is an American progressive metal band that conspicuously lacks keyboards. Initially, that might put some people off because they can't get into anything that's not completely muddled with symphonic wankery. On a side note, symphonic prog/power metal is getting on my nerves. We seriously don't need another Time Requiem. These bands need to get more creative.

Another thing that might turn away some of Aghora's listeners is the fact that they're fronted by a woman. Yes, a woman. In metal. If you're a fan of death metal, you might want to stop reading now, because you're likely to become infuriated by this concept. Now, women aren't all that uncommon in metal nowadays. Hell, Ayreon's been doing it for quite some time and there are hundreds of gothic metal bands that are female fronted. However, there are very few straight up progressive metal bands with females on vocals. That's where Aghora takes over.

This album isn't Spastic Ink. It's not going to blow your mind with technicality and it's not going to make you feel bad about your musical proficiency. It's sensible prog, and it's brilliant. Each track on Formless is a masterpiece in itself. I can't stress just how much I love this album. One of the more popular songs on the album, 'Atmas Heave', starts out extremely energetically after the rather simple and short 'Lotus'.

What follows is complete genius. Nearly every song on this album is flawless, with my favorite probably being 'Garuda' because of its extremely shred-influenced sound. Now, that will probably change within the coming days, as this album will get increasingly more listens. All I can say at this point is that I need more of this band's material. Immediately.