REVIEW: Soara – ‘Moksha’

Some records are built to impress; others are built to release. The debut album from Soara, ‘Moksha’, sits firmly in the latter camp, unleashing a sprawling, wordless voyage through memory, emotion, and transformation that feels like a purification ritual in sound. Conceived by composer and guitarist Akhilesh Rao, the record gathers fragments of a decade’s worth of writing and refines them into something cohesive, thunderous, and strangely meditative.

Though rooted in the ferocity of post-metal and deathgaze, ‘Moksha’ defies easy classification. It’s as much about texture and atmosphere as it is about aggression; unveiling an album that breathes between moments of blistering heaviness and delicate reflection. The presence of Hannes Grossmann (Necrophagist, Alkaloid, Blotted Science) on drums injects a staggering rhythmic complexity, but even at its most technically demanding, ‘Moksha’ feels guided by emotion rather than virtuosity.

The record unfolds like a series of meditations, each track named after the state of mind that inspired it. ‘Ksema’ opens with acoustic serenity, a deceptively gentle introduction that hints at the introspection to come. ‘Chint – Part I’ drifts through ambient haze, while ‘Chint – Part II’ surprises with jazz-inflected phrasing and rhythmic elasticity. The album closes with ‘Tez’, a polyrhythmic maelstrom of progressive metal precision that is equal parts chaos and control.

Rao’s compositions carry the emotional heft of Alcest’s dreamlike intensity, the cosmic reach of Devin Townsend, and the cerebral weight of Fallujah, yet they remain distinctly his own, deeply personal and almost spiritual in intent.

In all, ‘Moksha’ is an act of letting go of everything unnecessary to find what’s real beneath the noise. In the silence that follows its final note, you can almost hear that liberation.