Ex-Agalloch and Giant Squid Members Team Up for New Band Khôrada

When Agalloch band leader John Haughm split with the other three members of the group this past spring the tension was palpable: Haughm initially claimed he was breaking up the band, but then back-tracked and said he was the sole remaining member (just on hiatus), while the rest of the members were clearly unhappy but for the most part held their tongues and were gentlemen about it.

Then in June the three members who had been dismissed — guitarist Don Anderson, bassist Jason Walton and drummer Aesop Dekker — announced they were working together on a new project, with a fourth member whose identity would soon be revealed. And today we learn via Metal Injection that the fourth member is vocalist Aaron John Gregory, formerly of Giant Squid (who broke up last year). The new outfit will be called Khôrada.

Khôrada released a statement about their formation on their Facebook page, which you can read below. The tl;dr version: the three ex-Agalloch members already had Gregory in mind, having toured together over the years, and while Giant Squid and Agalloch influences may creep into the new outfit’s music, they intend it to be a completely new entity with a different sound.

We were big fans of Giant Squid here at MetalSucks — and Agalloch, too, of course — so we’re very much looking forward to hearing new music from Khôrada! We are not looking forward to having to remember how to type that “o” with the triangular thingy over it each time we write about them.