Khamyel: Denver Metal Band Poised to Release Debut Album
Playing together since 2018, Khamyel, which consists of vocalist TJ Yeager, lead guitarist Matt Beza, rhythm guitarist Quintin Cohn, bassist Ryan Reneau and drummer Frank Woronoff, are poised to release their debut album this summer.
The name Khamyel comes from the archangel of war and courage, knowledge that will help the average metal listener identify the main themes of the Denver band’s music.
“A buddy of mine from high school always mentioned to me that Khamyel would be a cool metal band name,” Beza said. “He went to a Catholic high school and that’s where he heard it.”
After releasing three singles so far this year, ‘Loser With a Crown, Pt 1’, ‘Temporary’ and the latest ‘Buckeye’, Khamyel are preparing to play shows around Colorado and are looking forward to possibly taking their music on tour around the United States.
The hardcore metal band mingle siren sounding guitars, chugging guitars and incessant pounding drums, as well as Yeager’s demonic sounding vocals, to create a picture of a bleak reality.
“I wait for those sad moods. As soon as I get sad is when I want to start writing,” Yeager said of his writing process. “I’m mostly inspired by my own personal experiences and stories that can be looked up.”
“Most of the time an instrumental is brought to me for lyrics. Typically someone will have either a guitar riff or drum beat and I’ll write lyrics for it and that will change a hundred times before the song’s finished.”
A song that wasn’t meant to be on the 2020 debut EP, ‘The Sciolist: Then Sentient’, was supposed to be a kind of hidden track. ‘Blackout’ is a standout amongst the tracklisting for its melodic flourishes and cleaner vocals that play alongside Yeager’s signature almost demon-possessed sounding vocals.
‘Loser with a Crown Pt 1’ showcases melodic guitars swimming through Woronoff’s heavy pounding drums and Yeager’s fiendish vocals until the song ends with cleaner vocals, “How long will I justify actions that cause my demise, acting as if I am right, asking for my own dark psyche.”
‘The Killing Ones’ is speed metal at its finest. The song begins as steadfast as a runaway train and doesn’t let up with all the necessary accoutrement – chugging guitars, double bass drum pounding, and the darkness of Yeager’s vocals. As one of the first songs the band wrote, it presents the band as already having a fully formed identity that sets them apart from their peers.
Khamyel will be playing the local Denver dive bar, Herman’s Hideaway, for a charity event on May 19th and will release their first full-length album this summer.
by Tessa Byrns (Music Writer)
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