Khemmis – Self Titled

by Mark 'Yeti' Richard · July 9, 2026

Khemmis is a heavy metal/ doom band from Denver, Colorado. Formed in 2012, they consist of Zach Coleman on drums, Phil Pendergast on guitar and vocals, Ben Hutcherson on guitar and vocals, and David Small on bass. The four-piece have released 2015’s Absolution, 2016’s Hunted, 2018’s Desolation, 2020’s Doomed Heavy Metal, 2020’s More Songs About Death Vol. 1 EP, 2021’s Deceiver, 2023’s Where The Cold Wind Blows EP, and their latest, 2026’s Self Titled. They have also released a bunch of singles and some splits also. Khemmis was released on June 12th 2026 on Nuclear Blast Records. It contains eight tracks at forty two minutes long.

“Invocation Of The Dreamer” opens with a barrage of hard driving riffs and soaring melodies. The heavy metal assault of Khemmis is adjoined by great songwriting, fuzzy and dense riffs, scorching leads, and powerful, harmonized vocals. The musical dynamics are excellent, flawlessly circling between hard driving rhythms and more tuneful melodies. The song has a blackened doom metal sound at the beginning and even incorporate some brief and staggered blast beat drumming before settling on the more traditional metal onslaught. The second track called “Corpsebloom Garden” has such excellent vocal harmonies that sets this record apart from many others. Khemmis has a clever way of transitioning from a low guttural approach (akin to death metal), to a beautiful dual enhancement of powerful harmonized singing.

The voice of Phil Pendergast really works its magic on these songs with its divine intensity and striking melodies. I believe Ben Hutcherson provides the more aggressive low and high register vocals that coalesce perfectly with Pendergast’s singing prowess. The combination of both vocal styles carry on with “Grief’s Reverie” and “Gilded Chambers”. Another great song is the galloping Maiden-esc driving force of “Beneath The Scythe”. Khemmis stay within the four to six minute range on all of the tracks on this Self Titled album. It allows every track to articulate different sonically charged elements to shine at particular moments of any given song.

“Tomb Of Roses” and “Carrion King” are both fantastic numbers! The biggest draw with Khemmis is just how damn talented they all are. Every instrument sounds amazing on this album! Between the great songs themselves and the remarkable sound quality of this recording, Khemmis prove why they are a well established and headlining worthy band. The experience of the quartet should be considered because they have been at their craft for over fourteen years now. The last track, “Benediction Tones” closes out this excellent release with another killer song. This is the band’s first new album in five years and I’m finally just getting to listening to them. They are terrific and I can’t wait to see them live at this year’s Ripplefest Texas.