KHEMMIS, the Colorado three-piece return with an epic, fantastical and turbulent album. Six tracks of colossal sounds, intense emotion and melodic heaviness. This is a band that defies classification, parts Heavy and Doom metal, Blackened elements, Sludge, a high-quality level of production, instrumentation that can be both highly technical and simplistically sweet, all meshing together like a delicious Metal soup. Since their 2015 album Resolution, KHEMMIS have continuously offered high quality music and with Deceiver, show no signs of slowing down.

"Avernal Gate" begins the album with a romantic acoustic guitar movement that exists solely to provide contrast to the hard-hitting eruption of Metallic assault that follows it. The slow blast beat nicely follows the moving guitar riff, before the pace is switched up again and the song enters a heavy Doom section. The vocals are significantly melodious and add to the fantasy element of the music, its like listening to a medieval bard but with a Doom backing track as opposed to a lute. The Baritone voice mixes nicely with the deeper, dark guitar tone, with thanks to the treble of the drums, use of a twinkly Ride cymbal and a fairly light snare sound creates the perfect middle ground for the contrasting tones.

Starting slow, but soon becoming one of the best tracks on the album, "House of Cadmus" features some lower vocal tones, lending itself more to the voice of the guitar to stretch out. It soars through delicate light melody, and wades through murky aggressive riffs, demonstrating excellent proficiency in its solo sections. For the first time on the album, we hear non-clean vocals, a deep growl that's laced with powerful aggression.

Proving themselves, once again, to be absolute powerhouses of Heavy Doom, "Shroud of Lethe" is an impressive journey that takes us t0o the highest highs and lowest lows of the album, feeling like one big, evolving, living build up, the song opens to some classic Doomy drums and guitars, before dipping into a steady, tranquil, sparse tom beat. The vocals enter as clean and delicate, retaining this feeling even as the music picks up again. Throughout the song, the vocals continue to build till it feels like they're soaring through the sky on clouds of heavy hitting drums and sweeping guitar riffs, pulling you along for the ride, and just when you think it has reached its boiling point, the clouds disappear and the song descends into a dark attack, deep guttural screams that make way for barbaric vocals, the drums dropping in and out, a teasing effort that leaves you consistently waiting for them to balance out and normality to return to the song. The songs climax is a cinematic guitar solo accompanied by a perfect double bass drumbeat.

From its graphic novel inspired album cover, fantastical lyrics and epic sonic advances, KHEMMIS continue to craft their fantasy world of brilliant music with "Deceiver". Packed with great guitar solos, crushing heaviness and elating beauty, there's never a dull moment from beginning to end. It's the soundtrack to the best DnD game you've ever played, offering distinguished vocals and apt musicality, it passes through ever changing sections as it weaves its sonic story, a tale of aggression, beauty and reverie.