Kindred spirits: Krallice, Lightning Bolt, Glenn BrancaLiturgyhas carved out an odd niche for itself. The Brooklyn quartet plays avery specialized brand of music - black metal - yet has managed tobecome largely reviled within that small community. Some say that'sbecause the band doesn't strictly adhere to the genre's classicsound. Others see Liturgy frontman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix as apretentious brat. But those squabbles are best left to Internetmessage boards. Liturgy's new album, "Aesthetica," is best simplyplayed very loud.
The full-bodied assault within "True Will" and "Glory Bronze" -all bursting rhythms, hyperspeed guitars and incomprehensible, ear-piercing shrieks - sounds mighty sinister on first listen, but thesongs soon reveal themselves to be uniquely uplifting. The result isboth bone-crushing and spine-tingling. Whether the band members areracing against themselves to create the speediest thrash possible(spoiler alert: it's a race that drummer Greg Fox always wins) orare settling into thundering, riff-based monsters, there's alightness to the extremely heavy proceedings.
Near the end of the album comes "Glass Earth," an unexpected 3 1/2 minutes of only vocal intonations. As more layers are added to themix it becomes a meditative, almost hymnal chant. It leads directlyinto the closing track, "Harmonia," which returns to ear-splittingmayhem, but without losing the sense of tranquillity.
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