Khemmis is a powerhouse of doom. Unlike the more oppressive side of the genre, the Denver, CO act take on a more triumphant tone – albeit one imbued with melancholy. Their sound offers the remarkable qualities of heavy doom, while also striding away from convention to provide more atmospheric variety. Though their debut 2015 LP Absolution is a solid record, their 2016 follow-up, Hunted, projected them into the heavy metal limelight.
The band’s music elicits a fantastical air, providing thrills through aggressive performance and exciting sounding melodies. The lyrics also play into this, conveying heartfelt and sorrowful passages that express the struggles and tribulations one may endure through life. It’s doom metal that feels like an epic adventure, and in the band’s new record, Deceiver (out now via Nuclear Blast), Khemmis deliver their most spectacular adventure yet.
“Avernal Gate” makes for a killer opening – the tranquil guitar plucking offering a calm before the storm. Blasting drums pummel forth, the guitar work giving off a wicked-sounding ferocity. The vocals exude bravado alongside booming guitar tones and distortion. Shifting between slower pacing and that of a more explosive performance, the track makes for a rollercoaster of heaviness. “House of Cadmus” also opens with a gentle start, though, the air comes across a tad more ominous. The vocals play beautifully into the melancholic guitar melodies, the emotional presence of the track expressing a grandiosity of doom flavor.
A fascinating quality to that of Khemmis’ music is how it has the potential to imbue listeners with so much emotion. A track can ride and buck with such delightful vibes – the guitars and drums speeding away – but then shift and take on a grim air. It’s a duality that one does not find much of within doom, making for an extraordinary outlier within the subgenre. Each track on Deceiver captures this appeal to various degrees, allowing for a musical experience with many twists and turns in emotional delivery.
Through gloomy distortion and the pounce of instrumentation heard on “Living Pyre”, Khemmis create this essence of perseverance and turmoil; feeling such energies may be a subjective experience, but with such heavy instrumentation comes a sonic physicality of sorts, and the band knows how to effectively leverage that. Their songwriting has only improved with each record, with Deceiver providing some of the tightest work the band has ever done when it comes to such tangibility. Concluding the record is “The Astral Road” – the most exhilarating track Khemmis has unleashed, making for a pure surge of adrenaline and heavy metal glory.
There is a loveliness to Khemmis’ music; in how the band displays heartache and triumph – through lyrics and instrumentation – their performances are nothing short of stunning. Deceiver is another superb chapter in the history of the band’s career. It not only offers remarkable technicality and grand atmospheres, but it also represents the greater technical and emotional range that doom is capable of offering.
