Feature: KEYODIS Confronts Faith, Suffering and the Foundation of Christ on ‘Enemy Skulls’
Keyodis has released its new full-length album, Enemy Skulls, bringing together chaotic metalcore, mathcore unpredictability and an unusually direct exploration of Christian theology.
For Anthony Kroeker and Morgan Hochstetler, faith doesn’t sit somewhere outside the creative process. It forms the architecture underneath the entire project.
The duo writes, records and mixes its own music while also developing the videos, artwork, merchandise, lore and visual language surrounding Keyodis. With Enemy Skulls, that independent approach has produced a 14-track record concerned with suffering, spiritual formation, hypocrisy, depression, doubt, Christian unity and ultimately the person of Christ.
The album begins with “Open Hand Closed Hand,” built around the familiar Christian maxim, “In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity.”
That idea becomes an important lens for the rest of the record. Keyodis approaches conviction as something that still requires love, humility and discernment, particularly inside a culture where Christians frequently divide over secondary issues while claiming the language of absolute certainty.
From there, Enemy Skulls moves through several kinds of spiritual conflict.
“The Warrant – The Reboot” confronts hypocrisy hidden behind religious appearances. “Cultz Candy” examines manipulation and control. “Chasing Nothing – 34 44” looks at the emptiness of pursuing things that eventually disappear, while “Georgia’s Only Son” deals with depression and apathy in the claustrophobic atmosphere of small-town life.
Then the record turns explicitly toward the story at the center of Christianity.
“Incarnatio” enters the mystery of the Incarnation. “Crucifixio” faces the crucifixion directly. “Nativitas Ecclesia” draws from apocalyptic imagery surrounding the emergence of the Church, placing personal struggles inside a much larger theological story.
Even the band’s creative work becomes part of that conversation. “With All Its Teeth,” featuring Brotality, examines art, creation and glory, essentially asking what happens when creativity becomes an act of worship rather than an end in itself.
Hochstetler describes Enemy Skulls as both an artistic and theological undertaking.
“Our goal isn’t just to glorify God through everything we do, but to push ourselves artistically in the process. We want people to listen to our music and understand that they, too, are not alone in thinking deeply about who they are in their faith.”
He also points toward something increasingly visible among younger Christians: a renewed interest in tradition, structure and historical grounding.
“In a world longing for structure, tradition, and leadership, we believe people need to dive back into the true foundation of our faith: Christ.”
That statement provides a useful key to the album. Keyodis isn’t using Christianity merely as lyrical subject matter. Enemy Skulls wrestles with what Christian faith actually means once it moves beyond slogans and enters the places where people experience doubt, mental exhaustion, institutional failure, suffering and the persistent human desire to control one another.
The record keeps returning to Christ as its center of gravity.
Musically, Keyodis gives those questions an appropriately unstable setting. Metalcore, deathcore, post-hardcore and mathcore collide with cinematic passages and moments of almost hymn-like reverence. The violence and unpredictability make sense within the material. These songs deal with beliefs people build their lives around, along with the wounds they carry into those beliefs.
The final track, “Quiet Time,” brings the album toward silence. After 13 songs spent arguing, questioning, confronting and confessing, Keyodis leaves some room simply to sit with what remains. Sometimes theology begins there.
Enemy Skulls released August 14, 2026, on streaming platforms, CD, vinyl and digital download.
Enemy Skulls Track List
- Open Hand Closed Hand
- Incarnatio
- Chasing Nothing – 34 44
- Old Long Past
- The Warrant – The Reboot
- Nasty
- Nativitas Ecclesia
- 5/8
- Georgia’s Only Son
- Crucifixio
- Zeon
- Cultz Candy
- With All Its Teeth (feat. Brotality)
- Quiet Time
Follow Keyodis on Instagram at @thisiskeyodis.
Buy a digital copy or physical CD on Bandcamp.
Follow The Charon Collective.
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