Sometimes an album comes along that so surprisingly good, everything else kind of loses it’s luster. Such a two edged sword has come to my attention with the newest album from Khemmis, Absolution. This album is a monster, find out why after this!
Absolution Track List:
Torn Asunder
Ash, Cinder, Smoke
Serpentine
Antediluvian
Burden of Sin
The Bereaved
Combining the absolute heaviness of pure doom with a delicious use of rock effects and playing, Khemmis brings a barn burner of an album to your ears on Absolution. The sounds on Absolution are second to absolutely none, including bands that have been around for ages, and has held it’s own since we have had it in hand. It’s got that massive grit inside the fuzz of the guitars, bass out the backdoor, searing guitar that just rocks faces, swapping back and forth between clean and a massive overdrive, and both cleanly sung and growled vocals that just call to the soul.
Sitting at the 42~ minute mark, the album is very well balanced, feels perfectly paced for length. It’s hard to pick the brightest spot, as the album is literally just that solid. Let’s start with what they have out on the 20 Buck Spin Bandcamp page: Torn Asunder.
Torn Asunder starts with a thunderously slow riff, then toss in a searingly clean lead to just rip through your sound holes, its almost perfect on it’s own. But. Throw in some delightfully beautiful singing (yes, not just vocalizations!), that recall Pete Stahl (Scream, Goatsnake) and other high, clear voiced vocalists, and you have a cake that everyone would want on their sonic plate! Mid-song, they throw on some of the best traditional shredding, without weird effects, overly complicated arrangement, or what sounds like 7 fingers; just some extremely bluesy licks sped up to make it heavy as hell.
From there, we have my favorite, Ash, Cinder, Smoke, simply because it makes me feel all warm inside. This is the quintessential doom/fuzz/stoner track, having a heavy blues rhythm, fuzzed of course, cranked out of its mind, as the singer croons over the top like a certain cosmic surfer, trading off with some beastly growled vocals, and that sweet lead comes back and threads the needle through my heart strings. It’s incredibly heavy, perfect for anything I am doing, as is the rest of the album. At no point, before or after this track, do I stop this record or skip. I can’t grow tired of Khemmis, and that makes this album very stand out at this point.
In a huge pool, deep and wide, full of bands that have built themselves like others that travailed before, where THE SOUND makes or breaks your band, Khemmis have made a new path for themselves. Yes it’s doom, yes its that downtuned heavy tone, but to the jaded ear, it’s mature for a band so young, so full of potential. It sounds like a band that’s been at it as long as Mos Generator, Fireball Ministry, High on Fire, it’s TIGHT. Denver should be proud as hell to have Khemmis hail from there, letting their voices peal from the gathered haze of their peaked city. Let’s hear more from these Doom AlKHEMMISts!
Absolution is going to drop July 7th, on 20 Buck SPin, and you can find 2 songs for streaming and download when you order the album: Torn Asunder and Antediluvian.
