Khemmis – Desolation album review

Denver’s doom-weighted heavy metallers Khemmis move up another level with Desolation

Khemmis – Desolation album cover

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Desolation

Khemmis Desolation album cover

1. Bloodletting
2. Isolation
3. Flesh To Nothing
4. The Seer
5. Maw Of Time
6. From Ruin

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This third album from Denver’s “doomed heavy metal” outfit Khemmis shows the band moving further away from doomy leanings and heading towards the lively realms of straight-up classic heavy metal. 

Treading the same path as labelmates Grand Magus, Khemmis have striven for new levels of musical maturity and since 2016’s Hunted they’ve gradually evolved into a more vibrant and capable unit, playing a satisfyingly anthemic 70s/80s metal melodicism that transcends any former doom and stoner metal languor. 

Desolation’s six anthems of stadium-striving power is an uplifting collection of soaring vocals, lead guitar showmanship and grooving gallop that’ll surely propel the band out of regional obscurity. Moving from relatively underground label 20 Buck Spin to German heavyweights Nuclear Blast, Khemmis’s classic mixture of Maiden, Priest, and Trouble will undoubtedly appeal to a wider audience.