Clean Hands Go Foul-Khanate, Hydra Head, 2009

10/10

How long has it been now since Things Viral landed on my desk and spun my fookin’ world totally around? Don’t recall now but I have to say that 15 listens into Clean Hands Go Foul I’ve got that heavy metal honeymoon feeling again. There’s a fine line between tooling around the mazes of your mind with Khanate and unraveling a dark night of the soul with some highfalutin book and some sort of spiritual guidebook. No matter which side of the cross you’re on and no matter which side of start or finish you land the whole thing winds up in catharsis. Clean Hands Go Foul has taken this listener on a different quest, a different journey, a different tour of the psyche and soul with each listen and it seems unlikely that any of that will change in the future. What does this have to do with you, dear reader? If you are wise you will come to treasure this and the entire Khanate catalogue as you might your vital organs. Indispensable. For this scribe, Khanate is a recent friend and, potentially, a lifelong companion.Jedd Beaudoin