Band: Liturgy Country: New York City, New York
Style: Black Metal/Noise Rock
Label: Thrill Jockey
With their 2009 debut full-length, "Renihilation," Liturgy really broke out of a tired old trend of blasting black metal. I'll admit that I never got around to listening to that album, I've been busy, sue me, but I really wanted to hear this one since I've heard some good things. This new one is supposedly even more enjoyable and, believe it or not, fun to listen to, from what I've heard.
Being that this is my first encounter with the band, the first twenty seconds had me wishing why I decided to press the play button, but once the music started, the band anyway, I totally understood. What I wound up hearing on opener High Gold was an amalgamation of melodic charged guitar playing and drums that just cut through the mix with how fierce they wind up being. Anyone who's listened to, or seen this band live for that matter, knows how intense this drummer is, and it's not hard to hear why, I know how small his kit is, and he's just making his parts sound as intense, if not more so than, more established black and death metal bands, just listen to tracks like Generation.
This is not a band you'll want to hear if you a "progressive" or "post" band, there aren't many highs and lows, peaks and valleys on here, it's pretty much full-throttle at all times. I'm actually surprised how much I like this, as I usually have a problem with bands that spend most of an album blasting away, but I found most of this to be very enjoyable. It can be a bit much at times, a track like Helix Skull feels like it could have been left out as it doesn't really add to the album, and things don't really show signs of slowing down until Veins of God. Having said that, if you want a record that has some great, aforementioned high-energy, songs with some killer riffs, definitely look for this, as this is some of the most consistent riffing I've heard all year, with almost every song having something memorable about it.
Overall, this is some great stuff, if a bit off putting occasionally for it's non-stop brutality approach. I really think I missed out by not checking out their debut back in 2009 and have finally seen the error of my ways in not doing so sooner. Definitely check this out if you want a melodic, but brutal, black metal record.
Overall Score: 8.5
Highlights: Generation, Sun of Light, Red Crown
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