Khemmis — Khemmis (Full Album Stream)
Denver doom band's self-titled fifth album. Out 12 June on Nuclear Blast. Kerrang gave it 4/5 and called it 'an honourably cultured continuation' of the Candlemass tradition. Not European, which is supposed to disqualify the coverage, but Khemmis have earned the exception. Press play. Forty-eight minutes.
Self-titled fifth albums say something specific. You self-title the debut because nobody knows you. You self-title the fifth because this is the one you have decided is most you. Phil Pendergast and Ben Hutcherson have been writing together since 2012 and they have settled into a sound that Hunted hinted at and Deceiver refined. Khemmis is the version they want their name on.
The Sam Law review for Kerrang nails the read: an honourably cultured continuation, not a reinvention. Twin-guitar melodic doom in the Candlemass lineage, with the Pallbearer and YOB neighbourhood it has always shared. Hutcherson talked in the same interview about how rare it is to keep a band relationship intact long enough to make a record like this. You can hear that in the songwriting.
Yes, this is a US band on a Europe-first site. The rule bends when the music earns it. Khemmis is the case for bending it this month.