Doomed heavy metal outfit, Khemmis, will make their long-awaited return to touring this winter for a West Coast Tour in support of their new album, Deceiver, out November 19 via Nuclear Blast.

The excursion will begin with a hometown show in Denver, CO on January 8 and will culminate in Salt Lake City, UT on January 23. Tickets will go on sale at 10 AM, PST on Friday, October 16, here.

Commenting on the impending tour, guitarist/vocalist Ben Hutcherson states: “We are thrilled to announce a string of live performances in support of our upcoming album Deceiver. It has been far too long since we have seen all of your faces in the crowd, and we will be playing brand new songs and favorites from our entire catalog to celebrate the return of live shows. While the situation surrounding touring remains precarious, we will be taking every precaution to make sure that these shows are safe for everyone. Grab your tickets, practice your air guitar licks, and we will see you hellraisers out on the road soon!"

Tour dates:

December
11 - Brooklyn, NY - Saint Vitus Bar

January
8 - Denver, CO - Bluebird Theater
13 - Boise, ID - Neurolux
14 - Seattle, WA - The Crocodile
15 - Vancouver, BC - Fox Cabaret
16 - Portland, OR - Doug Fir Lounge
18 - Berkeley, CA - Cornerstone
19 - Los Angeles, CA - Lodge Room
21 - Phoenix, AZ - Nile Underground
23 - Salt Lake City, UT - Urban Lounge

Khemmis will release darkest album to date, Deceiver on November 19. Describing the thematic elements of the new record, vocalist/guitarist Phil Pendergast says: “Thematically, all of the songs are about the many ways that we are tricked into believing these stories about ourselves–that we are broken, that we are not good enough, that our genetics determine our fate. This title is the label that we put on our minds as a force that tricks us into believing these stories. The record’s lyrical trajectory is similar to Dante’s descent into an Inferno of his own making. It is our darkest album to date."

Hutcherson adds: "While our minds and hearts are responsible for this kind of deception, so too is the world around us. There is this dialectic between the two that produces suffering. Anyone who has struggled with mental health or suffered any sort of trauma will tell you that there were times that the mind is its own beast that has to be wrangled. In that sense, we become the deceivers ourselves; we believe we deserve to be the vessel for this pain and this suffering that is being inflicted on us both externally and internally.”

Pre-order Deceiver here

Tracklisting:

"Avernal Gate"
"House Of Cadmus"
"Living Pyre"
"Shroud Of Lethe"
"Obsidian Crown"
"The Astral Road"

"Living Pyre" video:

Restlessly awakening from the depths of a feverish slumber, doomed heavy metal masters Khemmis return to reveal their fourth full length studio album, Deceiver. Six tracks of desolate, soul-awakening heaviness encapsulate a project that has been nearly three years in the making. With a title that reflects the internal struggles that many of us battle in our daily lives, "Deceiver" is a ferociously honest and appetizingly raw piece of musical artistry.

While the lyrical themes of Deceiver, sorrow, pain, longing for hope, will no doubt be familiar to longtime fans, these six songs display a broader collection of musical influences than on any other Khemmis record to date. “It being our 4th album, especially after the transition between the last two albums, it felt really freeing. We felt that we could really do anything on this record,” explains drummer Zach Coleman. “There’s a lot here that we’ve never done before,” adds Pendergast. “In some areas it gets darkly psychedelic. I think we found a cool way to mutate things using transitions that feel really natural. There is a subtle symmetry between the first and last songs which is one of the things that makes listening to the full album a satisfying holistic experience. It builds from almost nothing, becomes very dark, and then you slowly crawl out of that lowest circle of hell.”

Khemmis’s Deceiver is a beautiful, musically ambitious journey from beginning to end drenched in impassioned melody and complex, unrestrained variations of sonic savagery adorned with chilling, intensely tragic cover art by frequent collaborator Sam Turner.

Khemmis is:

Ben Hutcherson (Guitar & Vocals)
Phil Pendergast (Vocals & Guitar)
Zach Coleman (Drums)

(Photo - Jason Sinn)