Khiis is a hardcore band—make no bones about it.
Primal, aggressive, raw, and dripping with just enough melody and hooks so that songs drill themselves in your brain.
A furious, high energy live band, as those of you lucky enough to see them on their recent tour of the East Coast can attest, its great to hear a recording that manages to capture their intense, passionate and dynamic attack.
I can hear hints of The Comes and maybe a smidge of Christ on a Crutch but in an era when many bands feel more like well-crafted re-enactments of prior eras of punk, Khiis takes the lessons and influences of the past and inject enough of themselves to manufacture sometime more unique, vital and instantly recognizable.
Lyrics partially sung in Farsi (the title translates to ‘Patience’) add another element separating this from that which came before. There have been numerous discussions on forums and podcasts like Axe to Grind around if hardcore has anything new to offer, anything that serves as a challenge to the mainstream anymore and to me its bands like this that are that challenge.
I would argue bands like Khiis and Haram represent more of a the fulfillment of the idea of making punk a threat than anything straight white dudes like me ever came up with.
I can’t even deal with how good Khiis is and its so great seeing band drop a mind-melting demo then progress to such a crucial EP and I can’t wait to see what comes next. Be sure to catch them at Toronto’s Not Dead Yet Fest in October.
The vinyl edition of Saboor is available via Distort Reality.
Tagged: khiis
