Described as experimental doom, Khanate is back after a 14-year hiatus, sharing a full stream of a new album called To Be Cruel, which will officially release on June 30 via Sacred Bones Records.
With a stacked lineup featuring members of Sunn O))), OLD, and Blind Idiot God -- specially that means Alan Dubin, Stephen O'Malley, James Plotkin, and Tim Wyskida, To Be Cruel is their fifth album, with 3-tracks that total up to approximately 60 minutes. The group last released Clean Hands Go Foul in 2009.
To Be Cruel took shape prior to global shutdowns, with Khylst and Jodis teaming up to write and record the foundation of the record.
“Stephen [O’Malley] and I had an opportunity to record music together for a Drag City compilation in 2016, it was then that we recognised we wanted to do more together. We booked an incredible studio in Woburn, England to record the guitar and drum parts that would become the basis of To Be Cruel,” drummer Wyskida explains. “We shared those initial recordings with James [Plotkin] and Alan [Dubin], who were as motivated as we were to create new Khanate music. James began arranging the material and developing new ideas as soon as he heard the tracks, and Alan immediately started crafting the lyrics.”
