Article By: Pat ‘Riot’ Whitaker ‡ Edited By: Leanne Ridgeway
The U.K.’s DYGORA has independently released their debut EP, ‘Chambers Of Reflection‘, a mere handful of weeks ago.
The quintet at the heart of DYGORA – vocalist Omar Swaby, guitarists Reece Beasley and Mark Cross, drummer Kieran Heraghty, and bassist Archie Farrer – have, despite their youthful physical ages, created a timeless work of heaviness here. By the band’s own admittance, it is one that has been shaped by the loss of family members, as well as the chaos of inner-family struggles and turmoil.
In the span of four songs, ones firmly rooted in the realm of progressive death metal, but branching into areas of black metal, thrash, and metalcore, DYGORA delivers a powerhouse short player. They quickly establish that fact with the amazing, able-bodied starter, “Aurora“, where they pummel you with massive riffery, crushing rhythms, and dizzying double bass drumming for well over eight minutes.
That formula serves them well, so why mess with greatness? If ain’t broke, don’t fix (fuck with) it, ya know? Sure, they explore varying degrees of timing, tempos, and other intensities in the follow-up assaults, title track “Chambers Of Reflection“, “Lucy“, and “Black Man“. They are seemingly more than adept at what they do, and what they do is subject listeners to an incendiary inferno of manic metallic manipulations.
I must mention the incredible vocal deliveries of Omar Swaby, the man is an inhuman vocalizer and what he expels is nothing short of amazing. Yes, he does so from within the lower, guttural end of his range, of course, but said vocals are totally legible and his words easy to fathom… for the most part, anyway. I say that because his utterances on parts within “Chambers Of Reflections” reach such a furious fluidity that they achieve a timing and rhyming ratio that will simply astound you.
DYGORA as a whole is astound worthy, though, especially if you are a fan of extreme metal with a melodically savage bent to it. That is what you get here and it makes for a fine first recorded outing from these Londoners. Check it out for yourself via the Dygora ‘Chambers Of Reflection‘ stream in this review or head over to Bandcamp for streaming and purchase options HERE.
You can catch DYGORA live at these upcoming events:
Sept. 24 – @ Wild Side, Tokyo, Japan – EVERLOUD Festival Japan 2 [Info]
Oct. 5 – 6th – @ Temple Of Boom, Leeds, UK – U.K. SLAM Fest 2018 [Info]
Dec. 15 – The Unicorn,, London, UK w/ Bodyharvest & Deathcrush [Info]
