Albums with Ungentlemanly Intentions Towards Your Face In 2016: Khemmis, TBD

It’s January, and you know what that means — it’s time for MetalSucks’ seventh annual new year preview, Albums That Will #$@&%*! Your Face Off! As with previous years, we won’t be spotlighting all the great releases coming out this year, but, rather, concentrating on lesser-known bands whose new releases might otherwise escape your attention. Look for these posts by assorted MetalSucks staffers throughout the week. We hope you enjoy ‘em!

Khemmis
TBD
Release Date – Tentatively sometime this fall

While last year’s Denver Black Sky Fest featured some incredible performances by massive acts like Pig Destroyer and Skinless, my favorite set was that of local apocalyptic doom quartet Khemmis. The band played in the round on a stage in the middle of the club, bathed in green light, and that mixed with their gigantic sound and catchy riffs made the whole thing feel like they had risen out of the earth itself, like ghosts or old gods.

My excitement for this band’s 20 Buck Spin debut, Absolution, was palpable last year; the tracks I wrote up for this site, “Antediluvian” and “Torn Asunder,” both made me think that perhaps stoner doom wasn’t the dry well it seemed to have become now that every group of dudes in hoodies is doing some form of Sleep worship. Khemmis possess a level of believability — they don’t sound like a group of dudes trying to recapture that classic metal vibe, but rather a band pouring their hearts out in the name of the things they love about music. The yearning guitars, the lyrics about spiritual cataclysm, the world-beaten wizard on the cover of Absolution — I buy it.

So when I saw a recent Facebook update from the band saying they were in the process of writing their next record, I got stoked; while Absolution was awesome, it also showcased a band with tons of potential who it’d be exciting to see grow.

I reached out to the band, and frontman Ben Hutcherson got back to me with the following:

The album is slated for a release later in the year on 20 Buck Spin; while we haven’t set a date yet, our hope is to see it out sometime in the fall. We will again be recording with Dave Otero at Flatline Audio this summer. Dave knocked it out of the park on the last one, and is a fantastic engineer and producer, so working with him again was a no-brainer.

…The biggest difference with the new material is that we are pushing ourselves to write songs that reflect our influences in the most cohesive and interesting ways possible. We are emphasizing the rock ‘n’ roll elements quite a bit, in turn providing Phil more freedom with his vocal lines and harmonies. That said, there are a few surprises in the new material. We have some expansive, atmospheric sections in songs that are different than anything we did with Absolution. Both of us are utilizing a wider range of vocal styles than we have in the past. Our primary goal is to take our “doomed rock ‘n’ roll” (thanks for the tagline, Kim Kelly!) and wrangle it into the most compelling album that we possibly can.

Awesome. Good to hear the band is embracing their sound fully.

We’ll let you know further official details on the new Khemmis as they’re released. For now, check out Absolution on their Bandcamp, and try to catch the band if you’re ever in Denver and want to headbang until your n0se bleeds.