siLLy puPPy Sometimes understanding where a band got their name will tell you a lot about the overall vibe their trying to instill with their music. In the case of KHANATE, a so called supergroup due to the fact that the four band members vocalist Alan Dubin (Old, Gnaw), guitarist Stephen O’Malley (Sunn O)))), bassist James Plotkin (Old, Scorn, Phantomsmasher) and drummer Tim Wyskida (Blind Idiot God) all got their feet wet in various doom and drone oriented metal bands that had an impact on the metal scene. The name KHANATE is a term for a political entity that appeared on the Eurasian Steppe and most synomous for the time of Genghis Khan and his massive Mongol Empire. This is music of conquest indeed, the type that administers its bombast at a snail’s pace and unleashes all the torturous apparatuses to fulfill its goal.

While drone metal was derived from doom metal, many of the bands that fit into that child sub somehow managed to separate themselves completely. I mean, does anyone associate bands like Earth, Sunn O)))) or Boris with doom? Maybe only superficially but they certainly evolved into a more post-metal realm that utilizes all that fuzzy drone sludgery in a world all its own. KHANATE’s self-titled debut on the other hand totally embraces the doom metal roots from whence the drone sub spawned. Therefore this album contains four long sprawling terrifying tracks (and a short dark ambient one in the middle) that utilize all the grating layers of feedback, insane asylum shrieking and fuzzed out bass in conjunct with heavy doom laden riffs that flow like Antarctic molasses only they also have hints of their doom metal roots from the likes of Black Sabbath and Pentagram.

While drone metal is mostly a miss in my books as it is usually repetitive and sprawling to infinity, KHANATE found the perfect formula to create elongated timespans filled with AAAALLLL the frightening possibilities. First of all, Alan Dubin’s vocals are absolutely terrifying. In fact the whole album makes me think of scary dude from the movie Scream inviting all his buddies over to make some music. They shoot up a little heroin and the party’s on. It’s fright night with all the amps turned to eleven, intent to scare at full capacity and experimentalism is set to high with only the tiniest trace of established doom metal orthodoxy allowed to provide a somewhat shaky canvas to paint upon. Slasher metal anyone? These guys are great at keeping the tracks distinct from one another despite operating on the same set of principles, namely scare the holy crap outa anyone who gets near.

KHANATE couldn’t have conquered new territories if not for the outstanding production that graces this album. While the plodding rhythms flow like cooling magma down a only slightly sloped terrain, the guitar, bass and drums all conspire to create just enough variation to keep one’s attention span from teetering off into elsewhere. These guys paid attention to every small detail and the result is an addicting feedback fuzz laced with sludge celebration of slow, miserable and lugubrious outbursts of pure dread. I’m not sure why this hasn’t been lumped into the funeral doom world because it certainly evokes the same desperate depths of despair. The middle piece “Torching Koroviev” takes this to even more extreme levels as it eschews the metal aspects and creates a dark ambient gut-wrenching experience.

Julian Cope described this album as an orchestrated root-canal and you know, that’s not too far off the cuff. This music has a fuzz back feed that does remind of the dentist’s drill only it’s like going to the dentist on LSD where every seemingly banal move becomes a torturous tale of misadventure and every sonic change is a new demon invited to the party where you are the victim of demented torturous abuse. The album is good all the way through but the final two tracks “Under Rotting Sky” and “No Joy” really delve deep into a dark and unforbearing underworld that resonates as an eternity of suffering where no souls escape in a true tesseract of impending hopelessness. This is some of the coolest drone doom metal around as KHANATE mastered the emotional depth to pull it off. This is very different than any of the band’s other projects and totally recommended for those looking for the most extreme examples of doom based metal on slo-mo.

Wilytank (Originally posted by me to Encyclopaedia Metallum: the Metal Archives; http://www.metal-archives.com/)

After my foray into funeral doom metal reviewing, I thought "hey, what about writing up some drone doom metal reviews?" I actually have been into drone doom longer than funeral doom, but I've found that it's harder to write a review for this genre due to it being more abstract than most other music in the metal genre. But it's still got a special place in my heart as an collection of dark art, much like funeral doom metal but taking a different approach. Here today we have Khanate's self-titled debut album. It's not the first album in the genre I've listened to nor is it one of my absolute favorites of it, but it's one of the biggest standouts and it's a little easier to review than bigger monoliths like Sunn O))) or Boris. So, let's give this a try.

The only immediately familiar name to me on the lineup here is Stephen O'Malley who plays in Sunn O))). His guitar work here is basically more of the same here with lots of droning, screeching, feedback, etc. Bass player James Plotkin plays the same way. Tim Wyskida is an interesting addition though since drums in drone doom music is quite uncommon, but the drums do give a heightened sense of musical movement. Vocalist Alan Dubin is the real star here though with his disturbed voice, and it's him that really is the key element that makes Khanate sound unique. Whenever he opens his mouth, I feel like I'm listening to a deranged murderer who's lost his connection to reality.

When quickly glancing over the lyrics, they may seem quite simple; but when partnered with the music and Dubin's voice, these lyrics are just as disturbing as the rest of the music. Again, Dubin's delivery helps here, but so do the instruments. Every song here feels like a different way a murder is carried out with "Pieces of Quiet" feeling like a hacksaw murder especially at the 9:26 mark where the metal strings really feel like the gnawing gnawing teeth of a hacksaw; then there's "Skin Coat", a song about skinning people and making the skins into a coat; "Under Rotting Sky", which seems to be about suffocation by toxic gas; and "No Joy" with really no easily determined method of murder, but with a title like that the death must have been particularly violent and painful with the killer having some sort of sick satisfaction based on Dubin saying "please don't breathe" repeatedly.

This album is conveniently divided into two sections with the first two songs showing more signs of movement and are much more accessible while the final two songs are darker and scarier. "Torching Koroviev" operates as the bridge between the two groups. In group one, we've got more signs of traditional song structure with "Pieces of Quiet"'s beginning passage in an easy to comprehend 4/4 meter structure, but that rhythm eventually gets distorted as the song goes on. Dubin's vocal tone changes a lot through the song starting with shrieking and eventually switching to a creepy spoken word ("Silence while I strip bones...dark and quiet we go now...") with echoing shrieking to be heard in the background. "Skin Coat" is a really sludgy song with obvious Melvins influence. There is still creepy shit to be heard though with some distorted electronics which might include Dubin's voice thrown in. Things get really fucked in the second half of the song with Dubin whispering "I wear a human shield" and the guitar tone becoming more calm.

On the second half of the album, we start with "Under Rotting Sky" which takes up a more traditional drone doom approach. Musically, it's probably the least interesting track here, but the minimalism here does provide some sense of desolation backed up with the muffled drum soloing in the beginning and Dubin's echoing voice throughout. "No Joy" is the darkest of the dark here and is thus the perfect way to end the album. It starts with Dubin's sick whispering voice to really freak the listener the fuck out. The guitar tone in this song is also a lot calmer as well but they turn out to be a lot darker this way to drive away the hope of regaining sanity. The instruments do go away at one point only leaving Alan Dubin's echoing voice wailing "NO JOY!" At certain points, the the guitar (or bass?) gets the volume turned down and an eerie echoing effect put on it while Dubin whispers disturbing things.

Khanate's 'Khanate' turns out to be a pretty solid album. I'm a little put off by the guitar/bass tone being reminiscent of Sunn O))), but "No Joy" saves the album from that tone really going to my head. It's not my favorite or preferred choice for the genre, but it's definitely worth listening to if you're into the very exclusive drone doom fan club especially in the dead of night in a dark room or forest.

(85/100)

Doomster (Originally written for the great ProgArchives.)

Khanate are a drone doom metal band from New York City, my home state. It involves members from Sunn O))), OLD, Atomsmasher, etc. Wether favorable or not, listeners of this band have often hailed this as the most disturbing slab of music ever created. I was heavily skeptical of this rumor, thinking it was just going to be another stupid goregrind band who relied mainly on shock appeal. When I finally decided to listen to one of their tracks ("No Joy") on YouTube, Khanate took my skepticism and tossed that salad out of the window.

The rumors were correct. This music is "depraved" in every sense of the word. The Swans and Neurosis have got nothing on this album. I'm not even exaggerating here - it really is one of the most disturbing things in music I have ever seen (yes, it's so disturbing you can see it...or something).

The music of Khanate relies heavily on the guitar and bass. The guitars alternate from booming drone riffs that are literally so loud and heavy it can rattle the listener's skull, to ear- splitting guitar feedback which can sometimes last for minutes on end. The bass, besides the vocals and lyrics, is definetely the most disturbing thing here. It sounds absolutely frikkin' enormous. The bass riffs are deep, gritty, and as one reviewer over at the metal archives said, it sounds like a gigantic oak creaking open.

I mentioned that the vocals sounded even more terrifying than the bass. They are loud, mentally inhumane sounding shrieks which could quite literally smash all windows in a room if played loud enough. The lyrics on here are almost so pessimistic it makes you never wish to see the light of another day. Vocalist Alan Dubin howls oh-so-pleasent lines like "METAL TEETH RED...RED TEETH GNAW...LEG...AND...SAW" ("Pieces of Quiet") or "NOW...I'M UNDER ROTTING SKY" ("Under Rotting Sky").

The drumming is also stellar. Lots of people say it is mediocre and does nothing more than helping the music keep stable, but I like it for what it is. It is incredibly heavy and crushing, and quite scary, too - the drummer sometimes teases you with almost painfully simple beats when suddenly all the music stops, when suddenly the music fades back in raw heaviness.

"Pieces of Quiet" is not a welcoming opener, crushing the listeners ears with painful guitar feedback and white noise. A minute later, the riffing and vocals lumber in, and any chance of you having an easy listening are completely stomped into the dirt. "NO MORE WHIIIIIIIIINE!"

"Skincoat" doesn't let up. It's essentially a monolithic beast that relies heavily on feedback, with Alan screaming a love song (/sarcasm) to his most ear-piercing. Surprisingly, the song picks up the pace a bit, but then slows down again, with utterly creepy whispers and a tribal drumming outro.

"Torching Koroviev" is a short filler track with some suggestive sounds. Not really creepy, but unpleasent.

The band launches themselves back into audial abyss with the 18 minute gargantuan, "Under Rotting Sky". The first 5 minutes of this song plod around with an agonizingly slow riff and teasing drums in the background. Finally, at the 5:42 mark, the vocals come in, and the madness begins, with the vocals becoming even more desperate and evil than before. "No...stars...out..."

Whatever happiness you have left by the end of "Under Rotting Sky" is stripped away with the closing track, "No Joy". This song merely consists of one massive (I know I keep using words similar to that, but they fit so well!) bass riff echoing itself from the 3:53 mark which grows more and more disturbing the more it is layered upon, with Alan Dubin's vocals pouring out negative emotion. The riff continues on forever and ever, and finally it fades out, ending the album, and leaving the listener with chills down his/her spine and a rumbling stomach, as well as an incredibly depraved feeling of misery.

This album is a pure masterpiece. It may sound like I dislike it, repeatedly calling it "miserable" and "depraved" - but that is the entire point of it - to sound so utterly sick and disturbing that even Freddy Krueger or Koromo Amae would shake back in forth in a dark corner, weeping for their mommies. If you are into sick, non-easy listening and creepy music, then this is for you. This is the only album to make me feel really bad and there for deserves nothing less than a solid four stars. Listen...if you dare!