Khanate

Khanate is a drone/doom metal supergroup that includes members of Burning Witch, Thorr's Hammer, Sunn O)))), OLD, and Blind Idiot God. Their material is marked by dissonant, heavily downtuned guitar/bass figures, plodding tempos, swarms of high-pitched feedback, and painfully shrieked vocals, making for a genuinely anguished and challenging listening experience. Khanate issued multiple twisted and misanthropic long-players, including 2005's brooding, two-song opus Capture & Release, before breaking up in 2006. They re-formed in 2017 and released the caustic and discordant To Be Cruel in 2023. Khanate (pronounced "khan-eight") formed in New York City in 2000, featuring guitarist Stephen O'Malley (Burning Witch, Thorr's Hammer, Sunn O)))), bassist James Plotkin (OLD, Phantomsmasher), drummer Tim Wyskida (Blind Idiot God), and vocalist Alan Dubin (OLD). They released their misanthropic self-titled debut in October 2001 on Southern Lord Records, with the twisted and ominous Things Viral appearing in 2003. They made a lateral move to extreme metal indie Hydra Head for their third long-player, the two-song 2005 outing Capture & Release. The band called it quits shortly after its release but returned in 2009 with the typically caustic and uncompromising Clean Hands Go Foul, a set of songs recorded in 2005 before their dissolution the next year. They briefly reunited in 2009, but then, in 2017, came back in earnest, going on to release their first album back, 2023's To Be Cruel. The album was a mammoth three-track, 67-minute set, spilling over with discord, strife, and dark ambient textures.
© James Christopher Monger /TiVo