Denver metal/doom quartet KHEMMIS has issued the details and lead single for their anxiously-anticipated third album, »Desolation«. Confirmed for late June, the band's third full-length album will see release through Nuclear Blast (excluding North America, where the album will appear via 20 Buck Spin).
The cover artwork for »Desolation« designed by Sam Turner (BLACK BREATH, 3 INCHES OF BLOOD), the track listing, and more on the album has been issued alongside its first single, 'Isolation,' delivered through an epic video directed by Italo Ganni.
See KHEMMIS‘ 'Isolation' music video now at this location: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xZd2liHm8P8
»Desolation« will see release on digipak CD, two different LP colours (black and orange) and digital on June 22nd. Pre-order the album now at: http://nblast.de/KhemmisDesolation
»Desolation« is an album that fans of PARADISE LOST, CANDLEMASS, JUDAS PRIEST, THIN LIZZY, IRON MAIDEN, SPIRIT ADRIFT, PALLBEARER, METALLICA and CORROSION OF CONFORMITY should not miss.
Desolation Track Listing:
1. Bloodletting
2. Isolation
3. Flesh To Nothing
4. The Seer
5. Maw Of Time
6. From Ruin
Anticipation was high for the release of »Hunted« in 2016, the sophomore album from Denver‘s KHEMMIS, and follow-up to acclaimed debut, »Absolution«. Rather than the all-too-common sophomore slump, KHEMMIS raised the stakes and blew everyone away with their rapidly progressing songwriting and production quality, culminating in »Hunted« being named Album Of The Year for 2016 by Decibel Magazine.
Now, in 2018, after wrapping up the Decibel Magazine Tour with ENSLAVED, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, and MYRKUR, the excitement for KHEMMIS‘ third album, »Desolation«, is palpable across the metal spectrum. Fortunately, when you hail from a place known as the Mile High City, lofty expectations come with the territory and the band has created what will come to be known as the definitive KHEMMIS classic.
From the stadium-sized opening notes of 'Bloodletting' it is immediately evident that KHEMMIS is again putting distance between themselves and their earlier influences to inform a sound that is singularly their own. 'Isolation' – which the band recently aired live on the Decibel Tour – is the album‘s lead single and most immediate track, with the classic metal melodies the band have become revered for shining throughout. On epic closer 'From Ruin' and throughout the entirety of the album, the lead vocals and melodies of Phil Pendergast are the clearest, most powerful and best arranged that the band has achieved. Working for the third time with Dave Otero at Flatline Audio in Denver, the band and producer now have the familiarity and mutual experience to arrive at the perfect symbiosis of songwriting, arrangement and production value.
While KHEMMIS is undeniably influenced by doom and classic metal, to tag them with those labels doesn‘t do justice to what‘s accomplished on »Desolation«; a perfect representation of modern heavy metal in 2018 that integrates the past in a way only possible in the present. »Desolation« is not just the best KHEMMIS record to date but a testament to the quality that heavy metal is still capable of.
