Album Review: Liturgy - Aesthethica

There's something about Liturgy, my friends. There has to be, because there's a whole bunch of non-metal fans (including, of course, yours truly) that love this band to bits. I'd dare any scoffing black metal purist to give Liturgy's second LP Aesthethica a taste, because you can't not come away impressed with it.

Brutal is a good way to begin to describe Aesthethica. 91.4% of the time, Liturgy is unleashing sheer savagery upon us all, with vocals that beg to raise the dead and a wall of noise that bursts eardrums, melts faces, and pretty probably peels paint. How they manage to make that so damned enjoyable is the mystery. Perhaps owing much to the band's obvious talent, the songs exhibit a deftness with composition and layering; intricate riffs are to be found in abundance and the battery of the drums can't fail to impress.

I love Aesthethica in its entirety, but I must give a nod to the sublime "Generation." It has a tendency to seep into my skin, that seven minute monster, a seemingly endless barrage of pandemonium. It lacks the howls of Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, but "Generation" still manages to steal the show for me. "Tragic Laurel," the song immediately on its heels, is another noteworthy noisefest. The scathing guitars and almost hypnotic quality to the intro give way to a flat out axe-led bloodbath, complete with the almost animalistic hollering from the mouth of Hunt-Hendrix.

Perhaps the magic of Liturgy is that they managed to grab hold of a genre that is usually not exactly what would be considered indie fodder and somehow made it accessible. Well, more accessible, anyway.

mp3: Generation (Liturgy from Aesthethica)