Guitarist Stephen O'Malley has played in a number of twistedsludge-metal bands — notably Thorr's Hammer, Blind Idiot God andBurning Witch — but his work in Sunn O))) is what has gained himnotoriety outside of the insular indie-metal scene. Sunn O)))'soppressive, effects-laden guitar drones have impressed devotees ofnoise and experimental music, as well as listeners of post-industrialand neo-psychedelia. Stephen O'Malley's new band Khanate shares much ofthe shattering doomcore of Sunn O))), without the strict musicalasceticism. The addition of James Plotkin on bass,singer Alan Dubin (of OLD) and drummer Tim Wyskida fills out the sound,bringing Khanate out of the depths of harsh, noisy minimalism and intothe realm of more-or-less traditional metal. Khanate's self-titleddebut for Southern Lord was a slow-motion tribute to the Nordic deathmetal of bands like Burzum, Dimmu Borgir and Borknagar. This new 12" onLoad Records, home to many terrifically bizarre post-metal bands,contains a remix of the song "No Joy" from the first album, and a newtrack "Dead" on the b-side. James Plotkin's added touches to thefrighteningly macabre "No Joy" turn the song into a brutal,mind-crushing dirge, a post-apocalyptic tribute to The Stooges' "NoFun." No fun, indeed, as the nine-minute track is warped and extendedfor maximum oppression and mental violence. O'Malley's guitar deliversthe painstakingly sluggish, catastrophic riffs that caused Julian Copeto exclaim that "slow is the new loud." The drums are also playedachingly slow, with monolithic forcefulness in every excruciating beat.Dubin's high-pitched shriek-singing shares the same terrifying,evocative morbidity as Tom Araya's Reign in Blood-era vocalsfor Slayer: "No joy/No fucking joy/Only hate." Plotkin's extraproduction touches intensify the song's darkness and brutality, addingelectronic stutters, time-stretching, creepy whispers and ghostlymetallic phasing. The b-side, "Dead," is a previously unreleased tracktaken from the same sessions as their upcoming full-length album onSouthern Lord. It is a similarly oppressive slab of queasy, ambientdoomcore, but this time Dubin's desolate vocals are more emphasized inthe mix: "I was visible/But not seen/Deserted/Alone." Plotkin addsunexpected digital smudges, squalls and glitches to this track,indicating a more experimental direction for the band. What I find soimpressive about Khanate is their exaggerated but ascetic musicalvocabulary: each element is carefully formulated to impart maximumdread, pathos and painful aggression. It's extremely theatrical,completely original, and ultimately very satisfying.Read More
