Under a bed, a leg and a saw, red teeth gnaw
No more whine, no more whine, quiet time
No more whine
Khan*ate (), n.
1.Dominion or jurisdiction of a khan
2.Aural representation of wretchedness, sorrow, hate, depression, pain, anguish, ugliness, fear
I will limit myself to the second definition. Khanate is an extreme doom metal band hailing from New York. Probably most of you will now think...'Aha, My Dying Bride, Anathema...'. Well not quite. Khanate occupies a different sub-niche of the doom genre; a mix between drone and sludge.
Drone is difficult to explain, not in the least because there is no popular agreement as to what the definition should be. I tend use the following definition:
'If you play a drone record loud, bits of furniture in your house must vibrate visibly and the floor should shake'
To put it differently, drone must be extremely heavy and extremely slow. I may devote a node to a more accurate defintion some day provided I will actually settle on one myself. Sludge is a dirty sounding, crude and 'bulky' form of metal. Check out the likes of Acid Bath, Crowbar or Noothgrush to get a feeling.
So what does Khanate sound like? It is slow and extremely heavy, the notes are nearly disjointed and there seems to be no immediately obvious song structure. Combine this with massive feedback and truly sick vocals that are possibly matched by only a handful of Black Metal screechers in their wretchedness, hate and emotional anguish. Listening to Khanate is by no means easy or pleasant nor is it intended to be. It is practically impossible to have Khanate playing as background music while working unless you happen to be an undertaker and even then embalming the dead will seem like a pleasantry compared to the vileness of Khanate. No wonder that the band describe themselves as:
'Ultra gravitational hellish brooding black doom metal with inhuman vocal constructs.'
Khanate, incidentally pronounced Con-8 is the work of one Steven O’Malley whom doom lovers know to be one the driving forces behind Southern Lord records and James Plotkin of Old fame. The two got together in 2000 and decided to fill the void left in the Southern Lord roster after the demise of Burning Witch. They decided to call upon Alan Dubin with whom Plotkin collaborated earlier to provide Khanate with his sick vocal delivery. A drummer was found in the shape of Tim Wyskida and so the sick four came to be.
Steven O’Malley is a graphic artist, musician and concept artist who has played his crushing guitars in several bands prior to Khanate:
James Plotkin is a bassist most known for his work in Old, which is an experimental dirge unit that I can only describe by calling it
strange.
Alan Dubin did the vocals on Old releases. The drummer Wyskida currently beats the skins in
Blind Idiot God besides Khanate.
There is not likely to be a large market for an experimental band such as this. In fact the market is tiny but it is certainly one that is full of truly devoted listeners who are prepared to plunge themselves into an hour of intense suffering every now and again. If you like experimental music I certainly suggest checking the band out. Don’t blame if you hate it though! Actually...you’re supposed to hate it.
Khanate
Alan Dubin/Voice
Stephen O'Malley/Guitar
James Plotkin/Bass+Synth
Tim Wyskida/Drums
Discography
Websites
Steven O’Malley - http://www.ideologic.org
Southern Lord - http://www.southernlord.com/