Khemmis (Self-Titled Fifth Album)
Khemmis · Doom Metal / Heavy Metal
Reviewed 2026-06-14
The Roast
“Oh, qanchalik jasurat, Khemmis! Beshta albomdan keyin oxirida bir-biringizga ko'z tutib deydingiz, "Buni nima deb atay?" va birga vai. Beshinchi albomda o'z nomingizni berish bu yoki chuqur baytiy qayta tug'ilish yoki guruhning studiya boshida turib "Sarlavha sahifasiga yetish oldin fikrlar tugab qoldi" degan qatlamga dusha kelganini ko'rsatadi. Besh yil Deceiver'ga javob tayyorlab, David Small ismli yangi basbist ritualingizga olib kirib, siz qila oladigan eng yaxshi brending harakati shu sizning nomingizdir. Dadaqillik. Dangasalik. Balki ikkalasi ham.\n\nSotning kredit qisgani, "heavy metalning rituali" orqa fonda haqiqatan aqlliroq. "Invocation of the Dreamer" bilan boshlash va "Benediction Tones" bilan yaksh etish sakkizta trek vaqti qanoatlanarli marosim yoyi beradi, siz bu ishni haqiqatan rejalashtirgandek, faqat treklistning o'zi tartiblanishini umid qilmagandek. Ben Hutcherson umumiy ko'rsatishda maqsad "qattiq, yuqori energiyali albom" bo'lish va "heavy metalning shoshqaligi" aks ettirish ekanini aytganda, u doom metal guruhiga katta PR yuki ko'tarmoqda. Shoshqal? Doom'da? Siz dafn marshi ixtiroga kirgan janrni o'ynayapmaniz va siz shoshqal istaysiz? Ser, sizning amplifikator sozlashlari boshqa bir memo yozmoqda.\n\nYangi bilan Flatline Audio'da Westminster, Colorado'da Flatline Audio'da Dave Otero bilan qayd etilgan, bu albom eng shubhali tarzda qulaydir. Bir xil studio, bir xil davlat, bir xil prodyuser, yangi basbist, bir xil natija: tanqidchilar uni sizning "haqiqiy va eng energik shakli" deb chaqirayapti. Bu oldingi to'rtta rekord eng kamida halol va eng charcab ekaniga nisbatan shirin kompliment atrofida sariq ittiham. "Forsake the Light" Yevropa turnesi nomi bu butun reliz tsikli bo'yicha eng metall narsa, va bu hatto qo'shiq sarlavhasi emas, turnee e'lon. Siz logistika bo'limi musiqa bo'limini metall qilib tashladingiz. Bu qabul qilish vaziyatidir.”
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The Bright Side
Ammo shundan keyin: ritual tushunchasi haqiqatan ushlanib qoladi. "Invocation of the Dreamer" bilan boshlash va "Benediction Tones" bilan qo'nish tinglagan uchun yetarli darajada hurmatli strukturaviy tanlovdir, faqat pleylist emas, to'liq marosim beradi. David Small yangi basbist sifatida olib kirish, guruhning shaxsiyatini buzmasdan, haqiqiy musiqiy ishonch qo'lga kiritadi, fragillik emas. Va "Beneath the Scythe" oldindan chiqariladigan bitta sarlavhasi to'lq miqdori, makota tutash doom she'riyati bugun Khemmis nima uchun mavjudligini esgatib turadi. Christopher Remmers basmalni boshqarish vizual tilni izchil va o'ylangan holda saqlaydi. Bu ularning qilagan ishlarni sevgan guruh va bu sevgi, bezovta bo'lsa-da, o'tib ketadi.
Hardest Sneer
“Siz beshinchi albomingizni o'zingiz nomiga beradingiz, bu yoki ishonchning ustaligi yoki ritual sizning sarlavha uchun mas'ul bo'lgan miyangizni iste'mol qilganiga ko'rsatuvchi.”
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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.