Emerging from the dissolution of the respected bands Agalloch and Giant Squid, a new group is born: Khôrada. Featuring former Agalloch members Don Anderson (guitar), Jason Walton (bass) and Aesop Dekker (drums) alongside ex-Giant Squid guitarist / vocalist Aaron John Gregory, Khôrada exists to create expansive, epic and passionate music. The quartet has announced that it has signed with the independent label Prophecy Productions and is currently writing and demoing material for its as-yet-untitled debut album.

"Khôrada members Don Anderson and Jason Walton have been fans of Prophecy Productions since their inception in 1996," comments the band. "We have always admired and respected their commitment to quality packaging and uncovering the most cutting-edge artists in the scene. We are honored and humbled to be a part of their family."

Immediately following the breakup of Agalloch in May of 2016, Walton, Anderson and Dekker remained committed to writing and playing together and unanimously agreed on working with Aaron John Gregory from the recently disbanded Giant Squid. Musically, Khôrada (an ancient Greek term for an empty space, or place of reflection) is dedicated to heavy, brooding and deeply emotional songs while lyrically, Gregory will write about the anxieties and fears of raising his daughters in a world that is both environmentally and politically in turmoil; where animal life and human life continue to be treated like property and assets to be exploited; the grind of living in an ever-competitive world with an ever-growing and unsustainable population and the fierce determination of nature to violently reset these terrifying imbalances.

Agalloch (1995-2016) was a dark metal band from Portland, OR. The group released five acclaimed albums including Pale Folklore (1999), The Mantle (2002), Ashes Against The Grain (2006), Marrow Of The Spirit (2010) and The Serpent & The Sphere (2014) and was hailed as "an American extreme metal institution." Giant Squid (2003-2015) was a progressive doom rock band from the California Bay Area. The avant-garde unit issued a string of celebrated releases including Metridium Field (2004), The Ichthyologist (2009), Cenotes (2011) and Minoans (2014) and was lauded for making "beautiful, strange, cinematic music that not only has no real peers, but belongs to no extant genre."

Khôrada features:

Don Anderson – former guitarist, original member and co-songwriter for Agalloch; guitarist and vocalist for technical death metal band Sculptured; collaborator with Sol Invictus.

Aaron John Gregory - guitarist, vocalist, lyricist, for Giant Squid (2003-2015), and bass and vocals in bay area sludge-wave band, Squalus. Gregory is also an internationally published scientific illustrator and cartoonist, professional aquarium biologist, and is married to renown metal cellist, Jackie Perez Gratz, (Grayceon, Giant Squid, Amber Asylum).

Jason Walton - bassist for Sculptured and doom band Celestiial; founder of experimental bands Snares Of Sixes and Self Spiller; solo experimental noise artist, sound engineer, former bassist, original member and co-songwriter for Agalloch.

Aesop Dekker – drummer for Vhol, Worm Ouroborus, Extremity, ex-Lucicra, ex-Agalloch.

(Photo - Cody Keto)