2023-09-26 10:16:55
It takes a certain amount of dedication to familiarize yourself with the world of Liturgy: The American metal band around front woman Haela Hunt-Hendrix not only deals with extreme sounds that oscillate between dissonance and beauty, but also sprinkles in numerological and religious cross-references approaches. “It’s about an explosion of beauty and intensity,” explained Hunt-Hendrix before the Vienna gig on Monday evening. She should be right.
Founded almost 20 years ago as a solo project (back then as Hunter Hunt-Hendrix), the musician has since earned a permanent place in the avant-garde black metal niche. For albums like the powerful “Aesthetica” (2011) or “The Ark Work” (2015), which already drifted into orchestral territory, there was a lot of critical praise, but also hostility from the camp of genre purists. “Transcendental black metal” is probably not for everyone, which Hunt-Hendrix is well aware of. “Not every band strives for this kind of otherworldly experience. A lot of times it’s just about having a good time – which is totally fine. But I love music that opens you up.”
Supported by her bandmates Mario Miron (guitar), Tia Vincent-Clark (bass) and Leo Didkovsky (drums), the singer and guitarist finally implemented the project impressively in the arena. While the set opener “Daily Bread” led people on the wrong track with looped voices, there was no stopping them with the more than eight-minute “Djennaration”. All shattering blast beats, infernal riffs and Hunt-Hendrix’s always-tuned organ made short work of it. However, this description of Liturgy is wrong in that the songs like to hit hooks and virtuosically play around the simple path to the goal.
Hunt-Hendrix’s classical training also comes into play here, having studied classical composition and music theory. Individual themes and motifs are introduced, only to reappear minutes later in a modified form. “I use things like this very often, although many people probably don’t even notice,” she said in the APA interview. “That doesn’t usually happen in metal.” On the current record “93696”, released in the spring, there is no escape from this if you listen to more than just one piece of this magnum opus, which brings together almost two decades of band history into a lavish, over 80-minute meal.
This ultimately also includes the philosophical background of Hunt-Hendrix, who deals intensively with numerology (the album title therefore stands for “Heaven”) and focuses on sublime moments in religious matters. “The album is also about heaven and that form of a state of mind.” The audience doesn’t necessarily have to read up on it, but those who have more time can immerse themselves in her world of thoughts on the artist’s YouTube channel. For the rest there remains the musical catharsis, which is made up of the different styles. “There’s just a hopeful force at this intersection. And that interests me much more than a particular genre.”
For a good 80 minutes, the devoted crowd of fans in the arena enjoyed pieces that were performed live, primarily as a massive wall of sound. Where the album versions feature a wide variety of instrumentation – from glockenspiel to various synths to string support – everything is there – intensity was given priority over beauty. It was a shame that the riff feat “Generation” was only presented in a stripped-down form due to the front woman’s guitar problems. But if you can pull off a 15-minute elemental force like “Antigone 2” for the finale, you don’t have to spend long with such obstacles. Liturgy have impressively underlined their special position in the genre and beyond.
(S E R V I C E –
#Heaven #Black #Metal #Liturgy #played #Vienna