Aaron Lewis – Give My Country Back Review (2.5/10)

Doom and gloom? More like doom and... waiting.

Khemmis are an American doom metal band from Denver, Colorado, formed in 2012, and their self-titled debut gives you an early look at the sound they would eventually develop. Drawing from traditional heavy metal, doom, sludge, stoner metal, and touches of death and black metal, the band clearly wanted to create something enormous, dark, and atmospheric. There are some genuinely strong ideas scattered throughout Khemmis, particularly in the guitar tones, bass work, and heavier sections, but listening back to the record, I found myself appreciating what the band was attempting more than I actually enjoyed the execution.

The album's biggest strength is unquestionably its weight. The guitars are thick and dense, the bass has a deep rumble, and the overall production gives the record a substantial low-end presence. When Khemmis slow things down and fully embrace their doom influences, the music can become genuinely imposing. “Invocation of the Dreamer,” “Grief’s Reverie,” and “Benediction Tones” all contain sections where the band creates that slow-burning, oppressive atmosphere doom metal is supposed to deliver.

The bass is particularly impressive. Rather than simply disappearing beneath the guitars, it frequently provides its own movement and character. There is a chunky, rumbling quality to the low end that helps prevent the slower passages from becoming completely lifeless. Unfortunately, the same can't always be said about the drums.

The drumming is probably my biggest instrumental complaint. There are fills, rolls, and moments of variation, but much of the performance feels extremely straightforward. Khemmis often settle into basic rhythmic patterns and remain there for long stretches, and eventually that starts making the slower sections feel less hypnotic and more stagnant. Doom absolutely benefits from repetition, but repetition needs tension, atmosphere, or some kind of development behind it. Too often, I found myself waiting for the song to actually go somewhere.

That's why tracks like “Beneath the Scythe” and “Gilded Chambers” stand out so much. The introduction of faster, galloping riffs gives the album an immediate jolt of energy. The drums suddenly feel more alive, the guitars have more bite, and the bass starts pushing the songs forward instead of simply reinforcing the weight. “Gilded Chambers” in particular demonstrates how much more interesting Khemmis can become when they stop sitting inside the same slow groove.

“Carrion King” pushes that idea even further with faster guitar work, more aggressive drumming, and deeper guttural vocals. The extreme-metal influence gives the song considerably more personality, and the contrast makes the return to the slower material more effective. These moments made me wish the band had experimented more throughout the rest of the record.

The vocals are a mixed bag. The clean singing is technically solid and generally well performed, but there are times when it feels disconnected from the music. Khemmis can surround the vocals with enormous, crushing riffs, yet the clean delivery sometimes feels almost too polished and melodic for the instrumentation underneath it. When that contrast works, it creates an epic quality. When it doesn't, it sounds like two different bands occupying the same song.

The deeper growls occasionally solve that problem. When the riffs become more aggressive, the guttural vocals make much more sense, particularly on “Gilded Chambers” and “Carrion King.” The problem is that they don't always feel completely natural elsewhere. Rather than becoming an essential part of the band's identity, the harsh vocals sometimes come across as an additional texture the band hasn't completely figured out how to integrate.

“Tomb of Roses” demonstrates where the clean vocals work best. The softer guitars and layered vocal arrangements create a much more expansive atmosphere, allowing the melodic side of the band to breathe. This is also where Khemmis' traditional heavy-metal influence becomes more appealing. Instead of simply relying on distortion and low tuning to sound massive, the band starts creating actual emotional space.

That atmosphere is one of the more interesting aspects of the album. There are acoustic guitars, slow builds, dense distortion, and occasional solos that suggest Khemmis have ambitions beyond simply writing slow metal songs. The problem is that the underlying songwriting doesn't always match the scale of the production.

Strip away the enormous guitar tones and thick bass, and some of these riffs are surprisingly basic. They aren't necessarily bad riffs, but they don't always leave much of an impression. The guitar solos are competent without being particularly memorable, and the drums don't consistently provide enough variation to make the different sections feel dramatically different.

This becomes especially noticeable when the album spends too much time in its slower territory. “Invocation of the Dreamer” has some great atmospheric moments, but the pacing can become sluggish. “Grief’s Reverie” similarly contains some excellent heavy sections but occasionally feels like it's relying on tone and repetition rather than developing the songwriting.

“Benediction Tones” works better when the band allows the atmosphere to take control. There is a genuine sense of heaviness here, but again, the record sometimes confuses being heavy with being engaging.

That's ultimately the biggest issue with Khemmis. This album absolutely sounds heavy. The guitars are huge, the bass is thick, and the slower sections have plenty of weight. But heaviness by itself isn't enough to make a record memorable. You need riffs that stick, rhythmic changes that create excitement, vocal performances that connect emotionally, and arrangements that make you want to hear what comes next.

Khemmis don't consistently provide those things yet.

There is definitely potential here. The band's combination of doom, traditional heavy metal, sludge, stoner metal, and extreme-metal influences gives them plenty of material to work with. The moments where those styles collide are much more interesting than the sections where the band settles into one predictable groove.

The faster passages are more exciting. The heavier breakdown-like sections have more impact. The atmospheric material has more personality. And when the clean vocals and extreme vocals are used in the right context, they create a compelling contrast.

Unfortunately, those moments aren't frequent enough.

Ultimately, Khemmis feels like the work of a talented band that hadn't completely figured out how to turn its influences and atmosphere into consistently great songs. “Invocation of the Dreamer,” “Corpsebloom Garden,” “Grief’s Reverie,” “Beneath the Scythe,” “Gilded Chambers,” “Tomb of Roses,” “Carrion King,” and “Benediction Tones” all contain worthwhile ideas, but too many of those ideas feel underdeveloped.

The potential is obvious, especially when Khemmis get faster, heavier, or more atmospheric. But the record spends too much time sitting inside predictable rhythmic patterns, and the songwriting doesn't always provide enough reason to stay engaged.

For fans of doom and traditional heavy metal, there is definitely something to dig into here. The riffs are heavy, the bass sounds great, and there are flashes of the much stronger band Khemmis would eventually become. But as a complete listening experience, the self-titled record is more interesting than it is exciting.

Khemmis has the weight. They have the atmosphere. What they hadn't completely figured out yet was how to make that weight consistently matter.