Khemmis (Self-Titled Fifth Album)
Khemmis · Doom Metal / Heavy Metal
Reviewed 2026-06-14
The Roast
“ Oh, kako hrabro od tebe, Khemmis. Pet albuma duboka i konačno ste se pogledali u oči i rekli, "Kako bismo ovo trebali nazvati?" i zajednički dignuli ramenima. Samotitularni album na poziciji broj pet je ili duboka umetnička rebirta ili bend koji stoji u parking lotу studija i govori, "Ponestalo nam je ideja pre nego što smo stigli do stranice sa naslovom." Proveo si pet godina praveći nastavak za Deceiver, uvukao si novog basiste imena David Small u tvoj ritualni krug, i najbolji branding potez koji si mogao da pronađeš je svoje vlastito ime. Hrabro. Lenjivo. Moguće i jedno i drugo.\n\nSad, da ti dam kreditе, framing "ritual of heavy metal" je zaista pametan na papiru. Početi sa "Invocation of the Dreamer" i završiti sa "Benediction Tones" daje osmotračnoj dužini sadržaja zadovoljavajući ceremonijalni luk, kao da si stvarno planirao ovo umesto da se samo nadam da će se tracklist sam sortirati. Ali Ben Hutcherson koji javno kaže da je cilj bio "čvrst, energičan album" koji воплоћava "radost heavy metala" zaista rad puno PR teško dizanja za doom metal bend. Radost? U doom žanru? Sviraš žanr koji je izumeo marš na sahranu i ti želiš radost? Brate, tvoji amp postavke pišu potpuno drugu poruku.\n\nSnimljen ponovno u Flatline Audio sa Dave Otero u Westminster, Colorado, ovaj album je udoban na najsumnjiviiji mogući način. Ista studija, ista država, isti producent, novi basista, isti rezultat: kritičari koji ga zovu tvojom "najiskrenijom i najenergetskijom formom." To je prekrasnа pohvala umotnuta u tihu optužbu da su prethodna četiri albuma bila ti u najmanje iskrenijoj i najzamornijej formi. Naziv "Forsake the Light" evropske turneje je zaista najmetalnog što postoji u ovom čitavom ciklusu izdanja, a to uopšte nije naslov pesme. Pustio si logistički odeljak da bude vise metal od samog muzičkog odeljenja. To je situacija gde imaš dokaze.”
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The Bright Side
Ali evo stvari: koncept rituela stvarno drži vodu. Početi sa "Invocation of the Dreamer" i sleteti na "Benediction Tones" je strukturna odluka koja poštuje slušaoca dovoljno da mu da početak i kraj, celu ceremoniju umesto samo playliste. Uvođenje David Small kao novog basiste bez narušavanja identiteta benda sugeriše da postoji prava muzička sigurnost, ne krhkost. I "Beneath the Scythe" kao naslov pre-release singla je tačno ona vrsta pretenciozne, srpskom-susedne doom poezije koja te podseti zašto Khemmis uopšte postoji. Christopher Remmers koji upravlja artworkom čuva vizuelni jezik dosledan i razmišljen. Ovo je bend koji očigledno voli ono što radi, i ta ljubav, dosadno je, dolazi do izražaja.
Hardest Sneer
“Nazvao si svoj peti album sam po sebi, što je ili majstorski primer samopouzdanja ili dokaz da je ritual konzumirao deo tvog mozga odgovoran za naslove.”
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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.