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Are we at the point of acknowledging the genre “hipster black metal”? It seems the American take on BM has been maligned with the dreaded “hipster” put-down. Krallice, Xasthur, Nachtmystium, and Wolves in the Throne room receive derision from the black metaler-than-thou. Does mass acceptance (relatively speaking) of an underground band negate its validity?
RenihilationBeyond the Magic Forest
The worst thing any music fan can do is let semantics and internet shit talk get in the way of a great record. Brooklyn’s Liturgy receives praise from the indie rock sect and scorn from some metal quarters. Nevertheless, their debut is a potent and sometimes imaginative interpretation of classic black metal.
Any band attempting the speed of Transilvanian Hunger had better have a drummer who can blast, and Greg Fox delivers. He operates at superhuman velocities, as if a TR-909 were wired to his heart. His snare and kick patterns are nearly indistinguishable but unbelievably precise. Meanwhile guitarists Hunter Hunt-Hendrix and Bernard Gann incorporate swelling octaves and ringing arpeggios. At their finest, the guitars harmonize into a shimmering wall of dark beauty, as on the title track and “Beyond the Magic Forest.”
Liturgy adds considerable depth with stop/starts throughout the songs, and intermissions to break up the blitzes. The band’s daring isn’t flawless. A few choral chants come off like cheap Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan knock-offs. The untitled seventh track is a truncated though compelling guitar piece. Had Liturgy developed these experiments into songs, they’d have served a stronger purpose. Despite these missteps, this is a formidable record from a promising band.
Buy:
Amazon (CD)
Amazon (MP3)
eMusic (MP3)
20 Buck Spin (CD)
Liturgy are on tour until the end of this month. See dates here.
"The worst thing any music fan can do is let semantics and internet shit talk get in the way of a great record."
Add "terrible cover art" to that list, heh…
Glam better Death well in my onions skewer the metal arrangements of said. Alot Enslaved even latest effort!!!!!!!!!!!! ( * )
Also trippy is the twin axe attack of Walnut Grove's original lineup, with Wallace and Theodore pounding out the mayhem on killer track "Givin Beaver The Business". Many hailz check out fast! PPPPPPPPPP
As of late there's alot coming out with just 2 songs…WITTR,Habsyll,To Blacken The Pages,Persistence in Mourning, Avarus,Expo 70,Gnod,Dodsferd,Eternal Tapestry,Bones of Seabirds,Emeralds,Area C,Njiqahdda,Oaks of Bethel,Bardo Pond,Greg Davis,EA,Echtra,Lustre,Jon Mueller…is something going on?
Where, oh where is dear little Nellie?
Where, oh where is dear little Nellie?
Where, oh where is dear little Nellie?
Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch.
Pickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em in your pocket,
Pickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em in your pocket,
Pickin' up pawpaws, puttin' 'em in your pocket,
Way down yonder in the pawpaw patch.
Not sure if Andrew Aversion is talking about this album's cover art, but I love it. Thumbs up to any metal band who has the balls to use a sans-serif font over an unreadable logo.
The problem with the cover is not so much the font but how the record title is so big and destroys the gestalt effect by crossing over the contour of the solar eclipse.
This cover would look much better without an album title at all. Also better without the Liturgy band name on it, just put it on the side of the CD, guys. Generally the idea of putting your band's name and album title ON THE COVER ART, while traditional, is pretty bad. Especially the photo+purefont stuff. Check how Coroner dealt with the subject!
I love this album and I like the cover. And I agree 100 percent with joseph. When I saw it I thought of the new Defeatist cover which also has a sans serif typeface.
I'm scared that black metal is going to become a hipster thing. I've been seeing an increasing amount of BURZUM t-shirts on the train.
Black metal is already a hipster thing, for various reasons (sound is closer to rock than metal, '90s crime glamour). But why is this anything to fear? "True" bands and fans will continue being so. Peripheral bands and fans will come and go. If the subway were filled with Burzum shirt-wearing people, the world would be a better place. Well, maybe.
I'm not sure about this, also you'd get a hell of an argument from the dudes at left hand path that this shouldn't even be called black metal. also I saw these guys preform and they used a drum machine, this really sounds like a drum machine on the recording. without some quantizing I'd be really impressed to see a drummer who can play this metronomically…not saying it can't be done Im just saying this sounds drum machine like to me….
They play with a drum machine sometimes, when the drummer isn't available. But it is a drummer on the CD and I've seen him play with them, and the drums?and the rest of their performance?were remarkably similar to the cd.
I could be mistaking him for someone else but I'm pretty certain that friend of mine went to columbia with the main dude in the band, Hunter, where he studied music comp. Ivy League BM? Not that I'm saying this is a bad thing, its just a change of pace for a genre whose mythologized social origins seem impossible to sever from the music. As suggested in the write up, its easy to hate a hipster but hard to hate decent tvnes.
Thanks man, you've ruined the band for me before I even heard them. Now when I listen to the album i'm just going to be thinking "hipster hipster hipster" and I won't be able to appreciate the songs for what they are.
I guess I would've figured it out myself anyway. All metal bands from Brooklyn are hipster metal
Wow. Is that a joke?
to be fair, the cover looks a lot better in 3d than in 2d.
Here are some notes I made on the album.
Cheers,
Nicola
Thanks for the link, Nicola. It's interesting to see the various things people get from this record.
fyi, not a drum machine. they're a full band and it was recorded with a full band. drummer is fucking amazing.
You seriously can’t call these fags black metal, first off just look at them they’re hipsters through and through. Secondly, I don’t know why everyone thinks it’s a fucking drum machine clearly none of you listen to technical death metal. He’s not doing anything remotely complex. And honestly of that entire list of American bands that aren’t “true” the only ones which actually are black metal I would say are Xasthur and WITTR.