The Denver-born doom metal masters have spent eleven years crafting towering epics built on grief, triumph, and existential dread. But on their new self-titled album and first with bassist David Small, the band discovers something that feels just as powerful as darkness. The pure joy of making heavy music together.

You can feel the renewed energy pulsing through every riff and scream on the record. Rather than serving as a simple continuation, Khemmis feels like a rebirth, a sign that the band remains as inspired and hungry as they were in the beginning. "When we started this band, we had no expectations," guitarist and vocalist Ben Hutcherson says. "We just wanted to play heavy metal." And play heavy metal they do!

Beginning with 2015's Absolution and continuing through the breakthrough success of Hunted, Desolation, and 2021's Deceiver, the group brewed a bubbling cauldron of doom and traditional metal that didn’t skimp on the huge hooks. Yet the circumstances surrounding how Khemmis was made are markedly different. Members are now spread across the country, with guitarist and vocalist Phil Pendergast living in Washington and drummer Zach Coleman based in North Carolina. Instead of weakening the band's chemistry, the miles between them strengthened it. When the group reunited at producer Dave Otero's Flatline Audio studio in Colorado, the sessions brought with them a new sense of urgency.

Framed as a spiritual celebration of heavy metal itself, Khemmis reveals itself like a ritual. The album opens with the booming "Invocation Of The Dreamer" and closes with the triumphant "Benediction Tones," charting a course through every corner of the metal universe along the way. "Corpsebloom Garden" and "Carrion King" charge forward with manic intensity, while "Grief's Reverie" and "Tomb Of Roses" showcase the band's ability to balance crushing heaviness with genuine feelings. Perhaps most striking is the album's embrace of metal's more extreme edges. From Hutcherson's savage growls to the explosive opening barrage of "Gilded Chambers," Khemmis sound energized by the simple thrill of pushing their music to its extremes. This is Khemmis, exactly as they were meant to be.