KHANATE - Khanate
October 11, 2001, 22 years ago
(Southern Lord)
Man, after listening to probably the most painful exercise in extreme doom metal that I've heard since the now disbanded Burning Witch (Burning Witch guitarist Stephen O' Malley is the creative drive of Khanate), you wonder if there is ever such a thing as hope. More painful, rawer and excruciating than Burning Witch, if you'd ever thought that would happen, the slow, dirge-like, ambient, grim, suicidal vengeful character of Khanate is one that goes deep within the introverted heart and soul and decides to torment it even further. Beginning with the 13+ minute opener, 'Pieces Of Quiet', through to the terrifying aura of the 18 minute 'Under Rotting Sky', let's see you try and get through this one. And by the end of the final track, the aptly titled 'No Joy', this five track monster (clocking in at close to an hour), which drones, screeches and cries, is a merciful undertaking not for the faint of heart. By the end of it, it's like you'll want to throw yourself out of a window. But quite surprisingly, it is ever so evil and so much darker and devastating than an army of pencil-necked, club-spiked corpse-painted wankers.
