….eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh eeeeh....
You know what? People are always on the lookout for new things to hate, so, without a new Radiohead or Metallica album in sight, other things have to fill in the void. One option is to find something completely cliché and incompetent, hand it over to Victory Records and call it Design The Skyline, while another is to find something inventive and competent in ways that will piss as many people off as humanly possible. Hunter Hunt-Hendrix alone could probably make a forest go up in flames just for existing, but he also wrote the infamous manifesto on transcendental black metal that he seems particularly proud of, and found three more guys to form a band to play transcendental black metal with. Oh, and they're hipsters. So yeah, Liturgy could be the definition of awful right from the start. That is, hadn't they written any music.
Now, I'm not one who knows his way around Black Metal, but when I like something, I can tell, and I really liked their debut Renihilation. It had this unusual atmosphere, with guitars weaving in and out of melodies and drums pulsating and vocals incomprehensibling. It was inconsistent and incoherent, but somehow that helped. I was expecting more of the same here, but this time around they have decided to experiment. Not only have they made an album over an hour long, as they have also fused their sound with everything that sticks out like a sore thumb in it. You have math rock passages, stoner-like passages, long songs where nothing happens, huge passages where nothing happens, a huge passage where literally nothing happens, an ear-piercing synth sound, amateurish singing... you name it. As if that weren't enough, they also decided to organize the tracks in the most lopsided way this side of their previous album.
The album is arranged into two halves and into four parts, so you have the three more direct and better constructed tracks to start with, then progress into experimental but nevertheless rewarding territory for the next four, then Liturgy give you a chance to wonder why they're being so boring and repetitive all of a sudden, and then pick things up again with the two final tracks, meanwhile having everything stop completely at the middle. They also seem to have put quite a lot of effort into improving their original sound, and that definitely shows on songs such as “High Gold” and “Sun Of Light”, and that is primarily what saves this album from being an absolute mess. I mean that there are better ways of incorporating experimentation than bashing it into place and hoping no one will notice, but these guys don't seem to have received that memo. For the most part, they seem to be more focused on ruining everything rather than writing good music.
Some of the experiments are actually quite interesting on their own, such as the way underrated “Glass Earth” or the way overrated “Generation”, but there's no denying that they're mostly filler and that they ruin the flow of the album with their too-long-for-their-own-goodity. All that I really wanted to hear was given away in the first three tracks: impressively structured and impressively written songs with a knack for atmosphere. Those three songs are probably some of the most inspired I've heard yet. A perfect balance between all the elements put in play on Aesthethica and on Liturgy's career so far in general. But then the rest of it sounds like something went wrong, like they're desperately trying to get that balance back without repeating themselves, and consistently fail. Still, it's a failure that is undoubtedly pleasant to hear, for the most part. It's just that the album is divided into fantastic and okay that gets me.
PS: The lyrics are unintelligible for a reason. DO NOT read them under any circumstance. They're that bad.
Standout tracks:
High Gold
Returner
Sun Of Light
Glass Earth
Harmonia
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