Live Review: Khemmis with Celestial Sanctuary at The Underworld, Camden (15/10/2026)

On 15th October, Denver doom metal band Khemmis bring their Forsake The Light tour to The Underworld in Camden, with UK death metal band Celestial Sanctuary joining them as support.

Formed in 2012, Khemmis have built a strong reputation for their blend of doom metal and traditional heavy metal, combining crushing riffs with soaring melodies and powerful vocals. Their self-titled fifth album was released in June 2026 via Nuclear Blast, marking their first full-length since 2021’s Deceiver. Featuring eight tracks, the album sees the band embracing the sound that has made them such a recognised name in modern doom metal, while celebrating the joy of creating and playing heavy music together.

This tour marks Khemmis’ first UK headline shows, giving fans the chance to hear material from the new album live as well as plenty of classics from across their remarkable catalogue. Joining them are British death metal band Celestial Sanctuary, who hail from Suffolk and have made a name for themselves with their blend of old-school death metal, groove and technicality. With three full-length albums under their belt, including 2024’s Insatiable Thirst for Torment, they bring plenty of their own experience to the bill.

I’m a big fan of both bands, but this is my first chance to see Khemmis live making this a bucket list moment for me and I cannot wait.

Now I must admit to this show falling on the worst day possible for me. My daughter’s away on a school trip and had to be dropped off at 02:00 am, so I have had 3 hours sleep, a long day and now a gig. By the time this is over, I will have been up for 23 hours straight. What I need is a band to shake the tiredness off of me. Enter Celestial Sanctuary.

Celestial Sanctuary certainly kept me awake and energised with some seriously heavy music. The drums were pounding, the riffs and guitars blazing, and the vocalist was incredible. His range and power echoed around the room, making for a seriously impressive vocal performance. They might have seemed an odd fit with Khemmis, operating in two different genres really, but the crowd were definitely into Celestial Sanctuary. There were plenty of heads banging, and a nice little circle pit got going as the singer looked for some movement in the pit.

Moving through their catalogue, we got older songs like Swivel Eyed and Gurning in the Shadows from Insatiable Thirst for Torment, but also a few from their 2027 release, Cradle of the Rotten, Shrine to Those Most Foul. The single Lashed By Chains was absolutely awesome live, and we also got to hear Where The Blood Flows and They Worm Their Way In from the upcoming album. A nice sneak peek at two unreleased songs, both of which are absolute bangers.

The sound was great, the band looked like they were enjoying themselves, and they re-energised this tired old man, leaving me ready for the main event.

Now, to say I was excited to see Khemmis is an understatement. I love this band and have followed them for years. Living in London, I am blessed with bands coming to town, and Khemmis were one of a very select few bands on my bucket list of bands I need to see live and hadn’t yet. I’m buzzing to tick that off tonight and have very high expectations. Expectations that they surpassed with ease. This was awesome. A proper, fun heavy metal gig.

From the start, with Avernal Gate’s intro playing before we jumped into Isolation from the album Desolation, it was very clear to see that the band were into it, the crowd were into it, and this was going to be special. Musically, there were never going to be any issues with the songs. The only problem was that I could happily have had another ten tracks and still wouldn’t have heard every song of theirs that I love. There were occasional sound issues with the lead guitars, though, with Ben Hutchinson’s solos occasionally sounding too quiet and buried under the power and weight of the drums and riffs. It was intermittent and didn’t take away anything from my enjoyment, but it was something the sound guys at The Underworld should have been able to notice and resolve pretty easily.

Moving through the superb Gilded Chambers from their self-titled album, Khemmis, which came out earlier this year, I was in my element. They sound so good, and I don’t know if I was more impressed by lead vocalist Phil Pendergast’s energy or his amazing vocal performance. Khemmis, playing in London for the first time, treated this as more of a best-of tour instead of just touring the new album, so we got treated to songs from across their catalogue, including Above the Water and Three Gates from 2016’s Hunted and Torn Asunder from 2015’s Absolution. Even their EP, Doomed Heavy Metal, got an airing, with their cover of Lloyd Chandler’s A Conversation With Death going down a storm.

Song of the night for me, though, was back to this year’s self-titled album and the absolute banger that is Invocation of the Dreamer. What a song that is! To hear them perform it live, where they arguably sounded even meatier and heavier, was an experience I won’t forget any time soon. The band left the stage, and the crowd, all of us, stayed and chanted for “one more song”. Khemmis duly obliged, making it feel like those old-school encores where we brought the band back on stage. Khemmis returned and closed the night out by going back to Absolution again, with The Bereaved bringing the curtain down on a wonderful and emotional night.

They looked like they had a blast. I know the crowd did; you could tell just by looking around at the grateful faces in every direction. For my personal taste and love of this band, this was near perfection. The minor issues with the lead guitar volume had minimal impact. I would really have liked them to show some love to 2021’s Deceiver, though. Aside from the intro to Avernal Gate, every album got a few tracks except this one, and it is one of their best. House of Cadmus, Living Pyre, The Astral Road. That was a personal taste thing, but a bit of a shame.

The thing is, when you love a band, you are always going to come out with the songs you wished they had played. But I wouldn’t change the set list; I just wanted more. I really hope they are back again soon. They fully lived up to my expectations and delivered one of, if not my favourite gig of the year. Brilliant!