Khemmis - Desolation

Khemmis have been quickly making waves within the doom metal sphere, and for good reason. Though their self-titled debut EP in 2013 fell more along common doom metal lines, it was still a prototypic effort for the band, who very soon after honed their sound toward the more emotive side of doom with their first full-length in 2015, Absolution. It was the next year, however, that saw them really take the genre by storm with their sophomore release, Hunted, a truly genre-defining album that took the modern doom stylings of Pallbearer and occasionally the sludge of bands like Baroness and turned the sorrow and regret up to eleven. Hunted was an unprecedented and powerful statement from the young band, delivering a masterclass on all things doom and sludge, with an emphasis on beautiful melodies, especially in the guitar department. Not to take away from the strength of the melancholic, yet impassioned vocal melodies and performances. Hunted was one of my favorite albums of 2016 and it’s one of my favorite albums in the merged vein of doom and sludge, period. Needless to say, with two stellar albums in the genre that could immediately rival classics from older bands and acclaimed albums from publication favorites like Mastodon and Electric Wizard, Khemmis are one of metal’s most exciting new faces and a much-needed kick to the doom subgenre’s ass. It’s not that Khemmis approach the sound with more metallic oomph than their contemporaries or any wild twist on the sound’s traditions; their sound isn’t particularly more or less heavy than the likes of Pallbearer or Mournful Congregation. And I’m also happy that Khemmis in general doesn’t constantly beat me over the head with an obsession with Black Sabbath like so many other doom bands do. But where Khemmis excell is conscious, meticulous songwriting, and their consistent display of their compositional chops across Hunted is what made it such a compelling listen. The question that has loomed for the past almost-two-years since (not that long really) has been I’d they could do it a third time, on Desolation.

And Goddamn, do they! I can’t say I’m surprised. In a year that has seen Germany, Spain, Argentina, Portugal, and Poland all crash out of the World Cup in humiliating fashion, I’m glad to have something so highly anticipated to deliver actually do so in the music sphere. Not only am I so thrill to hear them deliver, I’m happy they were able to capture the same brilliance and doomy catharsis without simply rehashing what Hunted did. Though they’ve done a few things similarly, Khemmis introduce a few noticeably new elements to their sound, which sprawls from doom’s most primitive form to the most pummeling crush and howl of sludge’s blackened variations, one namely being a distinctly more grunge-esque vocal harmony technique that reminds me of Alice in Chains in so many places.

The band makes a greater use of the dynamic between their more classically-oriented side and their sludgier, heavier side (which shows up less) than on Hunted, but makes itself known arguably more dramatically.

With just six songs spanning a succint 41 minutes with enough to separate them each stylistically, it’s probably best to just go through each of them individually and in order. The album opens with the classically crunchy yet inventively sorrowful “Bloodletting”, which is drenched in sweet, sorrowful guitar lines and harmonies and painful vocal melodies with beautifully sung lyrics like, “take my hand and twist the knife, we’re depraved and reviled, welcoming eternal life”. It’s a fantastic track full of visceral emotion and even a climactically heavy section near its end and vicious black metal vocals to close out the monstrously cathartic introduction to the album.

The second song, “Isolation”, is shortest track the band have ever released and one that leans hard on the mournful vocal harmony, delivering such heart-wrenching lines as “How could I pray for salvation, when I’m the only mourner left to grieve” and with such conviction. It feels weird to compare Khemmis to alternative metal heavyweights like Breaking Benjamin in these moments, but they really do capture that raw, emotional catharsis that so many of those groups try to (which so few succeed at). It feels like a blend between Pallbearer at their most emotive and classic Maiden.

The third track, “Flesh to Nothing” sounds like something that could have fit in with Hunted with the heavy use of the sludgy guitars throughout the track. This is where the Alice in Chains harmonies show up a few times in their most clear forms. It’s a more stoic track than the previous two with Ben Hutcherson using his lower register in a more somber tone, reserving his high vocal notes and black metal growls for the end, but it’s a good moment for the band to play to this more reserved type of grief and demonstrate their versatility.

The second side of the album starts off with “The Seer”, a six-minute cut riding low-tuned guitars and fittingly ominous vocal melodies that warn of unseen danger through the fog. It’s probably one of the most emotionally out of place tracks on the album, playing on fear and tension more than tangible, vivid sadness.

“Maw of Time” is a rather unique track as well for its being so heavily black metal inspired. It finds the band blending their pensive doom and gorgeous vocal harmonies with more overtly blackened death metal growls. The band does it so smoothly it doesn’t feel like either polar opposite undoes the work of the other; rather the two styles are woven together to strengthen the song’s duality of mood. It’s a compositionally interesting piece too, as a false ending brings on a slow, darkened dirge with all façades of emotional composure forgone as booming drum crashes signal the loss of control amid guitar wails reminiscent of those on the title track of Leviathan’s depressive black metal masterpiece, Scar Sighted.

“From Ruin” wraps up the album on a note of powerful solidarity in the face of all the grief preceding it on the album with the triumphant declaration “I’ve found the strength to carry on” near the end. Despite being the longest track on the album, it doesn’t bring much new musically to tracklist, but the lyrical shift it provides is an important one, and its use of the band’s classic metal-esque doom/sludge to now deliver a triumph of emotional fortitude in just as captivating and cathartic of a fashion does add to the album’s experience.

I certianly went into this album with high expectations, but I was still prepared for the probability of it being overshadowed by Hunted. Desolation doesn’t try so hard to outdo Hunted at its own game, rather expanding even more on what Hunted could have done and making a wholly unique experience through the variety of focuses it takes. I really like to trajectory the songs on this album take, from raw and gripping sorrow, to more composed grief, to uneasy fears of the unknown, to the uninhibited breakdown of mourning that gives way to closure and the ability to come to terms with moving on with the knowledge of the ever-present burden of that grief. It’s actually not all too different from the journey of strong feelings Hunted takes, but I would say that Desolation’s emotional highs and lows are more dramatic thanks to the distillation and concentration of various aspects of the band’s sound from song to song. The answer to whether or not it lives up to Hunted is undoubtedly yes. As for if it’s the better album, I imagine it’ll take most fans of the band, myself included, a while to decide. Three albums in though, Khemmis is on a great run and in only three years since Absolution they have made a tremendous claim for the doom metal throne. It’s already been such a pleasure seeing their meteoric rise as this early in their career, and I’m excited for what the future holds for Khemmis.