REVIEW & EXCLUSIVE TRAILER: Khemmis, “Desolation” & Phil Pendergast on Hendrix, Fahey & Sonny Boy

By: Richard Maw

Album Type: Full Length

Date Released: 22/06/2018

Label: Nuclear Blast |

20 Buck Spin

Six tracks, all uniformly of a high standard and with a production that suits the record perfectly. This is a fine modern American doom album and will feature on many year end lists. This is doom for the doomed!

“Desolation” CD//DD//LP

1). Bloodletting

2). Isolation

3). Flesh to Nothing

4). The Seer

5). Maw of Time

6). From Ruin

The Review

Colorado's Khemmis return with this, their third full length and follow up to the very well received “Hunted” from 2016. This is doom metal, for sure- proper doom; with real singing, melodies, dark sounds and tempo changes in the vein of Sabbath.

It is not a million miles away from Sabbath or Dawn of Winter but perhaps closer to Apostle of Solitude  in that it is modern in sound and scope but with a firm grip on the genre's past. It is also distinctly American in approach- no way would you mistake this for Witchsorrow or Serpent Venom. With “Bloodletting”s slow slog to open, the listener is in no doubt that this is traditional doom. “Isolation” may be a few steps quicker, but these Denver cowboys know how to ride a groove: not too quick and they are able to make these songs swing a little rather than just plod. There is dark fare on offer here- “Flesh To Nothing”, for instance is as black as the title suggests.


The rumbling of “The Seer” is impressive and the band plays wonderfully through the changes. My personal favourite, “Maw of Time” (for obvious reasons) is a monolithic slab of sorrow and dark doom with death growls. The nine and a half minute closer “From Ruin” finishes the album off before it outstays its welcome.

Six tracks, all uniformly of a high standard and with a production that suits the record perfectly. This is a fine modern American doom album and will feature on many year end lists. This is doom for the doomed!

“Desolation” is available here

Band info: bandcamp || facebook