Sensing that defenses to their contagion were down, Things Viral (2003) withdrew from any familiar or friendly shapes. On their second o+ering, the band decelerated to its own tempo, freezing the decay of the debut in a shocking and powerful stasis. Pitchfork lauds, “Khanate have that skill for unfolding an action in such excruciating detail that you’re slowly edged o+ your seat… Things Viral is extreme enough to appeal to people who don’t have any interest in metal; the members cross metal pedigrees with noise-drone-art-damage bands– from Burning Witch and Old, to Sunn 0))), to Blind Idiot God’s Tim Wyskida on drums. It’s committed but not overbearing, too resolute and unyielding to resist; it’ll grab your skull and hold you achingly still as it thrashes through the depths, then totally, quietly wears itself out.”