There are many adjectives that can be used to describe
Khanate's
Things Viral -- adjectives that include tortured, twisted, dark, morbid, despairing, ominous, and pessimistic. But one thing that this
doom metal CD will never be called is fast. While
grindcore,
death metal,
black metal, and
thrash metal are all known for their insanely fast tempos,
Things Viral is the exact opposite --
Khanate's
Black Sabbath-influenced riffs crawl along at an amazingly slow tempo. But then,
Sabbath's albums were never as consistently slow as
Things Viral -- and
Sabbath never had a lead vocalist who sounded like
AC/DC's
Bon Scott.
Alan Dubin,
Khanate's lead singer, does have a very
Scott-like voice -- although what he does with it isn't very
AC/DC-ish.
AC/DC has always been a party band;
Things Viral, however, is far from party music. This is
doom metal at its most depressing, and no rays of sunlight enter the world of despair that
Dubin describes in a most painful, tortured way. Both musically and lyrically, this CD has an extremely dark cloud hovering over its head. And while some
doom metal is melodic and musical,
Khanate's ultra-slow brutality is dissonant, noisy, distorted, and abrasive.
Things Viral has a lot in common with the equally unforgiving
Grief; like
Grief,
Khanate epitomizes
doom metal's lunatic fringe. Of course,
metal as extreme as
Things Viral isn't everyone's cup of tea -- like
grindcore,
death metal,
free jazz, and
techno/
rave music, this type of
doom metal is very much an acquired taste. But that doesn't mean that the members of
Khanate aren't good at what they do -- actually, they're great at what they do. And for those who have a taste for
Grief and similar
doom bands,
Things Viral offers considerable rewards. ~ Alex Henderson