Khoma - The Second Wave (Roadrunner Records) By: Ken McGrath

It’s starting to rain outside. Inside the heat is dying slowly. It’s not cold yet but there’s the ghostly presence of a heat that was. The hushed tones of Khoma rattle gently from the speakers on the opposite side of the room and the sound couldn’t be more fitting. A melancholy, lifting voice sings notes over a barren, haunting piano and a reverb-laden guitar. The drums count out a steady yet bare beat, then it cascades into ‘Through Walls’ and that mood subsides. This is still cold but it’s more song based. Although signed to Roadrunner Records, the current home to hard-hitters Slipknot, Opeth and Everytime I Die, Khoma do not fit with that model. Sure parts of new album The Second Wave are awash with heaviness but this doesn’t qualify exclusively as metal. They’re going to have as much appeal to fans of bands Editors and Interpol as they are those who listen to Cult Of Luna or even Red Sparowes and very occasionally Isis.

Hailing from the Umea region of Sweden, which has previously given us such gloriously talented groups as Refused, International Noise Conspiracy and Meshuggah, along with the aforementioned Cult Of Luna, Khoma’s trick is to employ atmospheric, panoramic sounds on a grand scale (‘The Guillotine’) that then swings heavily into crushing guitars and bid threatening bass lines (‘1909.08.04’). They bring to mind the fullness of Muse without ever sounding like them. Formed in 2002 the stupidly named Khoma feature members of various bands including The Perishers, The Deportees and most notably Cult Of Luna are a weird beast. One line-up writes and records the music while another plays it live. You’d think that this would then result in a disjointed record but no The Second Wave is actually an extremely fluid and expertly composed album. ‘The Guillotine’ and ‘Stop Making Speeches’ are easily the best of what’s on offer, showing off their scope perfectly. It takes a bit of time to get into though, initial listens reveal the same mood to prevail throughout - that being an immense sense of despair, it doesn’t have the ability to suck you in as expertly as the likes of Sparowes or Isis though. Still a great listen, it just takes a while to open up and flower properly.

» khoma.net