Khemmis are back with their fifth album, the self-titled Khemmis, a sonic belter of an album, and their first release in five years. For a band that just wanted to make heavy metal music and have a little fun, they sure have come a long way.
After releasing their first album, Absolution, in 2015, they followed it up in 2016 with Hunted, which was highly acclaimed and actually won Decibel’s Album of the Year! Not bad for your sophomore album.
Desolation banged heads in 2018 and then the hot as fuck Deceiver in 2021. Now, Khemmis have struck gold again, stampeding like a bull in a china shop with their self-titled album, Khemmis.
Charging out of the gates with a strengthened trust in the music, with added zeal and motivation within the band, inspired by the very music they were making, Khemmis have delivered a reinvigorated, rigorous revival five years in the making.
The gregarious guitar grooves, grinding and gritty, delivered by guitarist/vocalist Ben Hutcherson and fellow vocalist/guitarist Phil Pendergast, feel like a new day has dawned.
Drummer Zack Coleman takes to the skins like never before, capturing the hell the world has been through since their last album, striking out in anger for the world to hear.
Teaming up with Coleman in the rhythm section is new bassist, since 2022, David Small. Between Coleman and Small, it’s like a tag team in wrestling, working together to smash the shit out of anything in their way with a trusted partnership between not only them, but the entire band as well.
Their refreshed and renewed passion for metal is powered by a world that has gone to the fucking dogs in the last five years since their last album. We all know the world was a boiling bowl of shit long before then, but it lent a certain power to the band. It gave them the visceral vision that is the heart and soul of Khemmis.
The joy of making music again in a world gone mad.
Let’s face it, sometimes when things look fucked on the outside, it’s better to stay inside with your family where it is safe, and that is how this album comes across to me. One written by a tight and honourable family.
The riffs, solos and songwriting on this self-titled album are as energetic as the Hulk on a bad day. Hooks so deep and groovy it’s like they came from the Mariana Trench. Catchy, balanced beautifully, and spiritual in a way.
The merciless drumming of Coleman is as severe as it’s ever been, recharged after a five year break in recording. Check out the beginning of “Gilded Chambers” for a perfect example of how to open a song with pounding proficiency.
This time away gave Khemmis the unshakable unity they needed to really hone in on what kind of album they wanted to make, and with so much source material to write about, they were never short on subject selection.
The galloping grip of “Carrion King”, the sincere emotion of “Tomb Of Roses”, the acclamation of “Benediction Tones” and, of course, the opening tone setter, “Invocation Of The Dreamer”, all lend to the flex of this album.
Khemmis have brought us an album worth diving into headfirst.
In a world filled with daily chaos and a news cycle that gets more fucked up by the hour, Khemmis are here to save the day. It’s time to get pumped up, people! This global madness has the world we know breathing its final shallow breaths, spiralling into oblivion.
Khemmis share with us a spiritual celebration, where metal is the sword that slices the jugular of tyranny and autocracy.
We will rise again.
Only in metal will you find such hope.
In Khemmis we trust!
Stream / Purchase Khemmis
https://khemmis.bfan.link/khemmis-album
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Khemmis Track List
- Invocation Of The Dreamer
- Corpsebloom Garden
- Grief’s Reverie
- Beneath The Scythe
- Gilded Chambers
- Tomb Of Roses
- Carrion King
- Benediction Tones
