Khemmis (Self-Titled Fifth Album)
Khemmis · Doom Metal / Heavy Metal
Reviewed 2026-06-14
The Roast
“Oh, betapa beraninynya kamu, Khemmis. Lima album dalam dan akhirnya kalian saling tatap mata dan bilang, "Apa nama yang cocok untuk ini?" lalu semuanya melongo. Album dengan nama diri sendiri di nomor lima adalah kelahiran kembali seni yang mendalam atau sebuah band berdiri di halaman parkir studio bilang, "Ide kami habis sebelum kami sampai ke halaman judul." Kamu habiskan lima tahun masak follow-up untuk Deceiver, tarik bassist baru bernama David Small ke lingkaran ritual kamu, dan gerakan branding terbaik yang bisa kamu kumpulkan adalah nama kamu sendiri. Berani. Malas. Mungkin dua duanya.\n\nSekarang, jadi adil sama kamu, framing "ritual heavy metal" itu sungguh-sungguh jenius di atas kertas. Membuka dengan "Invocation of the Dreamer" dan menutup dengan "Benediction Tones" memberi runtime delapan lagu lengkungan upacara yang memuaskan, seperti kamu benar benar merencanakan ini daripada hanya berharap tracklist beres sendiri. Tapi Ben Hutcherson ngomong official kalau tujuannya adalah album "tight, high-energy" yang personifikasi "kegembiraan heavy metal" melakukan pekerjaan PR berat untuk sebuah band doom metal. Kegembiraan? Di doom? Kamu main genre yang menciptakan funeral march dan kamu mau kegembiraan? Pak, setelan amplifier kamu nulis memo berbeda sama sekali.\n\nDirekam lagi di Flatline Audio dengan Dave Otero di Westminster, Colorado, album ini nyaman dengan cara yang mencurigakan. Studio sama, negara bagian sama, produser sama, bassist baru, hasil sama: kritikus bilang ini kamu di form "tertulis dan paling penuh energi." Yang mana pujian bagus dibungkus tuduhan diam diam kalau empat record sebelumnya adalah kamu di form paling tidak jujur dan paling lelah. Nama tour "Forsake the Light" Eropa adalah hal paling metal dari seluruh siklus rilis ini, dan itu pengumuman tour, bahkan bukan judul lagu. Kamu biarkan departemen logistik itu out-metal departemen musik. Itu situasi receipts.”
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The Bright Side
Ini dia masalahnya: konsep ritual itu benar benar bertahan. Membuka dengan "Invocation of the Dreamer" dan mendarat di "Benediction Tones" adalah pilihan struktur yang respect cukup ke pendengar untuk beri mereka permulaan dan akhiran, upacara lengkap daripada hanya playlist. Bawa David Small masuk sebagai bassist baru tanpa goyahkan identitas band menunjukkan kepercayaan musik yang genuine, bukan kerapuhan. Dan "Beneath the Scythe" sebagai judul single pre-release adalah persis jenis puisi doom yang mengancam dan berbau sabit yang ngingatkan kamu kenapa Khemmis itu ada di tempat pertama. Christopher Remmers tangani artwork simpan bahasa visual konsisten dan dipertimbangkan. Ini band yang jelas cinta apa yang mereka lakukan, dan cinta itu, menjengkelkan, muncul.
Hardest Sneer
“Kamu nama album kelima kamu sesama diri, yang mana ini masterclass dalam percaya diri atau bukti kalau ritual konsumsi bagian brain kamu yang responsible untuk judul.”
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Issues (4)
The Self-Title Cop-Out
Receipt
This is Khemmis's FIFTH studio album. Self-titled debuts are a tradition. Self-titled fifth albums are a white flag with a pentagram on it. Nuclear Blast's own announcement frames it as a 'follow-up to their 2021 album Deceiver,' a record with a perfectly evocative one-word title. Going from 'Deceiver' to literally just 'Khemmis' is a creative regression dressed up as a statement.
Fix
If the album is genuinely a ritual and a rebirth, lean into the ceremony. A title like 'The Rite' or 'Invocation' drawn directly from your own track listing would have communicated the same rebirth narrative without making it look like you forgot to finish the packaging.
Joy in a Doom Band: Investigate
Receipt
Hutcherson stated the goal was writing a 'tight, high-energy album' that 'embodied the joy of heavy metal.' Khemmis plays doom metal. The genre's entire emotional palette is grief, dread, and the slow collapse of everything. Promising 'joy' from a band whose tour is literally called 'Forsake the Light' is a brand identity crisis wearing a leather jacket.
Fix
Own the tension instead of resolving it in press quotes. 'We wanted to capture the catharsis and power of doom' tells a more honest story than 'joy,' and it does not accidentally make your fanbase wonder if you have gone soft.
Same Studio, Fifth Time: Comfort Zone Alert
Receipt
Flatline Audio with Dave Otero in Westminster, Colorado has now produced multiple Khemmis records. Early critics are calling this album Khemmis 'in their truest and most energized form,' which implies the previous records produced in the same room were somehow less true and less energized. If your own comfort zone was quietly limiting you for years, that is a problem your producer should have flagged, not critics on album five.
Fix
A single session outside Flatline Audio, even a writing retreat or a guest collaboration tracked elsewhere, would inject genuine sonic disruption into the next cycle. Familiarity is the enemy of reinvention, and you cannot call something a rebirth if it was born in the exact same hospital.
Eight Tracks and No Announced Runtime: Suspicious Ambiguity
Receipt
The Nuclear Blast announcement confirms eight tracks and a June 12, 2026 release date but provides no total runtime. For a doom metal record where track length is a core part of the experience, leaving fans to guess whether they are getting 38 minutes of tight heavy metal or 74 minutes of ritual endurance is a marketing gap that creates the wrong kind of mystery.
Fix
Lead with the runtime in your press materials. Doom fans do not fear long albums, they celebrate them. If this record runs long, that is a feature, not a spoiler. If it runs short, own the 'tight' angle Hutcherson already telegraphed and make it a selling point.