Top Bar
Musique Machine Logo Home ButtonReviews ButtonArticles ButtonBand Specials ButtonAbout Us Button
SearchGo Down
Search for  
With search mode in section(s)
And sort the results by
show articles written by  
 Review archive:  # a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Khanate - Things Viral [Southern Lord - 2003]

The tektonic doom-unit Khanate drops their second album and you can only stand in awe of the immense power that this quartet generates. As slow and destructive as drifting ice the album completely crushes everything on its way.

The quartet comes up with a version of doom that's extreme and unique. Where Steve O'Malley's other band Sunn 0))) has some cathartic and even soothing ambient quality, Khanate chokes the listener with grim emptiness. On Things Viral the sound is more open, with more room for Alan Dubin's vocal insanity and James Plotkin's sound processing. It seems (semi)-acoustic ambient project Lotus Eaters (which features Plotkin and O'Malley) left its marks on Khanate's sound. O'Malley told m[m] co-worker François that Alan Dubin actually scared the shit out of him with his performance and that doesn't surprise me at all. Dubin sounds possessed and desperate. He whispers and he screams his superb lyrics like mantra's or incantations. Plotkin distorts his vocals digitally which only makes them more terrifying. The slow tempo and the 'soundcontrol' makes every interference, every feedback, every detail part of the music. It's like a crossover of incredibly slow, almost abstract doom with glitch and microsound.

"Is there hope?" asks Dubin in Fields, the second track. If there ever was, it surely must be gone now. In about an hour Khanate drags you through a barren and desolate musical landscape, to leave you exhausted and at the end of your rope (or searching for one). No stoner grooves, no melancholic melodies. Just dark emptiness and desperation...

Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5Rating: 5 out of 5

Latest Reviews

Khanate - Things Viral
The tektonic doom-unit Khanate drops their second album and you can only stand in awe of the immense power that this quartet generates. As slow and destructi...
290923   Terror At The Red Wolf Inn - ...
290923   The Iron Prefect - The Iron P...
290923   Vomir - Pathos
290923   Worship - Focus
290923   Whore's Breath - Static Black
290923   Occlusion - 58- 3 Signaux
280923   Fossilization - Leprous Daylight
260923   Joe Gibbs And The Professiona...
260923   Stackridge - Extravaganza
260923   Stackridge - The Man In The ...
Latest Articles

Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Friendl...
New York-based Lucky Cerruti is one of the up-and-coming directors in the underground horror scene. Since 2019 the theatre actor turned director/ writer/prod...
210923   Lucky Cerruti - Of Not so Fri...
290823   The Residents - The Trouble W...
110723   Yotzeret Sheydim Interview - ...
250523   TenHornedBeast - Into The Dee...
050523   Bill Morroni - The Trials & ...
280323   Magnus Granberg - Finding Emo...
230223   Trou Aux Rats - The Funeral I...
020223   The Residents & Support - Liv...
300123   Worship - In Praise Of Walled...
201222   Blood Chalice - Into The Sin...
Go Up
(c) Musique Machine 2001 -2023. Twenty two years of true independence!! Mail Us at questions=at=musiquemachine=dot=comBottom