Phil Pendergast has a voice that will break your beating heart – his vibrating voice reaches beneath the surface of despair and awakens the senses. But without the synth talent and weather vulnerability of guitarist Ben Hutcherson and drummer Zach Coleman, Khemmis wouldn’t have sounded so intense. From Deceiver, “Avernal Gate” opens with a nodding acoustic guitar duet with the Master of Puppets, a Metallica comparison that’s not light, as the seven-minute track intricately interwes doom-metal longing with riffing. Classic heavy metal and soul-ripping feedback. The “Avernal Gate”, self-aware yet powerful, meditates on your darkest reflection, with a resounding bang that screams oblivion to impending oblivion: “Beneath the tides of the jars, I accept this as my fate.”