Khemmis: A Rainbow In the Dark
Just like a lot of the rest of the world, guitarist Ben Hutcherson of Denver heavy metal quartet KHEMMIS is in lockdown. Unknown as to when life will return, if ever back to normality and unsure when the band will see each other to practice once again. “We’ve done a couple of these interviews for the press cycle as a group on Skype so we’ve seen each other virtually but the last time we were all together was around the first week of February. It’s weird because we’ve been used to seeing each other once a week for our practice sessions, which generally last around three-four hours so it’s a good chance to hang out, catch up and write music, so to go that long without it is a really unsettling feeling.” Luckily for the band, they already had the music recorded before the world started to implode.
Their doom mixed with traditional heavy metal sound has caused them to be a band to watch with not only their debut album Absolution reaching Decibel Magazine‘s Top 40 albums of the year but also their sophomore Hunted and follow up Desolation also seeing praise across the board along with topping multiple album of the year lists worldwide. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a shockwave through the music scene around the globe, halting gigs, studio recordings and writing sessions. This thankfully hasn’t stopped the release of KHEMMIS’ new EP Doomed Heavy Metal. It features two rare deep cuts from the band as well as three empowering live tracks from each of the band’s three studio albums. However, the main talking point of the EP would be the exceptional cover of the DIO classic Rainbow In The Dark.
Ben gives us an insight on how the inspiration for the EP came about and it could surprise a few people. “We had some material lying around as it were and we knew we wanted to do something special with it. We really found inspiration in ZZ TOP‘s Fandango, which is a special release in their catalogue, which consists of a bunch of live tracks and some studio rarities. Because we all love that album a lot and it’s a love letter to the band and to rock ‘n’ roll we liked the idea to try to do something similar within the KHEMMIS framework. In fact, the codename for the release was actually Khemdango.”
The in-between release isn’t something that is seen as much these days but with the modern age youth expecting on-demand entertainment all the time, Ben agrees that it’s important for an artist to keep up with the demand. “I think there are still a lot of people, especially those that collect vinyl that still want the fully realised album where it’s a collection of songs that all contribute to the same feeling or story. But I do feel it’s important to remind people that you exist as a band as there’s so much music being put out every moment of every day that you almost can’t afford to go years without some kind of release, whereas even like 10 years ago it wasn’t so much as a concern.”
The coronavirus has caused a few bands to delay the release of their music, which Ben can see, both a positive and negative side in doing this. “I mean, practically I can really understand the desire to postpone the release in the hopes to tour behind it properly. We are in a unique position as it’s not a normal full-length release. We did have a European tour lined up in conjunction with this but we weren’t planning on doing a full tour cycle as we’re currently writing for our next album. I like your point though that not only are people cooped and are really needing art now more than ever to remind them that we’re all in this together and to give them a sense of community but I think also from the creative side, being able to see your art put out into the world is an important part of creating art at least for me.”
The importance of art in any form is hugely underestimated within communities. It can give hope to so many people during difficult times and gives us strength when it feels like there is no hope. “I think the first part of any creative endeavour is doing the thing that you believe in, but music has an inherently communal aspect to it that for me, one of the most beautiful things about music is that it can bring people together,” Ben goes on to say passionately. He clearly believes in the power of community and togetherness that this music can bring to one another.
Rainbow In The Dark has become one of the most iconic and anthemic metal tracks of all time and reasons behind KHEMMIS‘ cover was twofold. “The first is the more practical one, which is; the song is really quite simple. There’s really only two parts to the whole song. There’s a phenomenal solo and a legendary vocal performance but musically there are two riffs in the entire song. So we knew that we had a fairly straight forward way in and that gave us a chance to play around with some of the parts of the song without trying to go really crazy with it or rewrite it. The other reason is that we love DIO and Ronnie James Dio as a person and as a concept is super meaningful to us and to a lot of people in Heavy Metal because of what he represented which was this unabashed love of people and of the community of heavy metal and the spirit of heavy metal. Also because it’s just a badass song man! I don’t know anyone that could put that song on and not get pumped up. Because it affects us like that we wanted to put it through the KHEMMIS machine as it were and maybe make it a little more overtly sad but still strike that balance between paying tribute to the power of the original while doing something that we feel is unique and worth hearing. We certainly didn’t anticipate the world catching on fire the way that it has but all those reasons we chose to cover it I think feel even more important now more than ever.”
The EP also features two rare tracks re-released for those who hadn’t heard them previously. This includes Empty Throne and A Conversation with Death, both of which possess a shorter runtime than most KHEMMIS tracks. When asked about why this was Ben replies, “we wrote those songs after we had recorded Hunted and we were just thinking about writing Desolation and one thing we wanted to do was to try and write shorter songs, not necessarily as a chance to ‘make it big’ or ‘sell-out’ but because the last song on Hunted was Hunted, which is 13 and a half minutes long, we knew that we could write long-form and we wanted to push ourselves to see what we could get done in under five minutes. So Empty Throne and A Conversation With Death were our first stabs at that.”
A Conversation With Death, while having been recorded a few years, found a new lease of life thanks to the video game Man Of Medan that saw the song featured during its opening sequence. Ben remembers the moments they discovered it was gaining popularity swiftly; “we didn’t think the game was going to be made at the time of talking to publishers and then out of nowhere we get all this press from these gamers that are streaming this game and our song is being played to hundreds of thousands of gamers on YouTube so that’s been pretty cool. It’s brought in some new fans that maybe didn’t know us or aren’t even that into heavy metal per se but have hopefully now found some more badass heavy metal because of hearing us.”
While live performances are a no go currently, KHEMMIS fans are lucky enough to feel that same energy emanating from the three live-recorded tracks on Side B of Doomed Heavy Metal. When asked why the band chose those particular three tracks Ben says, “well we knew we wanted to have something form each release. This mini-album/EP is really a capstone to our relationship with 20 Buck Spin. We’re now with a worldwide deal with Nuclear Blast and we wouldn’t be where we are without Dave at 20 Buck Spin who believed in us from the start and signed us with our debut Absolution when no one knew who we were. He took a big chance on us and we wanted to be able to catalogue the evolution of that relationship and the evolution of this band.” It seems that while KHEMMIS now have a worldwide deal with Nuclear Blast Records, the guys have not forgotten their roots and will look back on how far they’ve come and the people that gave them a chance.
Due to play their first show in London for Desertfest, KHEMMIS were obviously disappointed by the cancellation but have high hopes for future tours. “We’d certainly love to play Download Fest and all the others in the UK. Hopefully we can make Desertfest work again. We were really excited about that.” However he goes on to show his love and passion towards the smaller and more intimate shows. “Some of the most amazing experiences I’ve had as a musician are those experiences in those clubs shows and you see the fans singing along to every word and they come up to you to chat after the show and those moments really lived with me after the performances in a very compelling way.”
When pressed about album number four, Ben remains optimistic. “Before the Coronavius I would have said we’d be going into the studio at the end of the year. That’s still what our plan is, assuming we’re actually allowed to practice in the foreseeable future. We are all still writing independently and have a shared Dropbox. We’ve got a ton of raw ideas building up but the tentative plan is to hit the studio at the end of the year and record through the start of January with Dave Otero at Flatline Audio. Maybe a late Spring/early Summer release on Nuclear Blast Records? I’m really excited to share these songs with everyone and to see how they continue to develop and if you’ve been with us the last couple of albums, I can’t see why anyone would be disappointed.”
Doomed Heavy Metal is out now via Nuclear Blast Records.
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