Liturgy: Classical Futurism
For a style supposedly committed to absolute individualism, black metal quickly exhausted its own radicalism to become bleakly uniform. It seems there was only so far one could go in the direction of musical and thematic oblivion, and so radical reform was beckoning. LITURGY are among the so-called third-wave of black metal bands. Led by Haela Hunt-Hendrix, whose work extends beyond music into philosophy and visual art, the band has attracted the scorn and vitriol black metal traditionalists which, ironically enough, those traditionalists have long courted from mainstream critics and the media.
Hunt-Hendrix‘s manifesto, ‘Transcendental Black Metal: A Vision of Apocalyptic Humanism’, proposed a radically different approach to the style, which was soon realised on LITURGY’s second full-length album Aesthetica in 2011. Characterised by the ecstatic power of the burst-beat, rather than the well-worn familiarity of the blast-beat, LITURGY’s sound eschewed hyperborean monotony and synthesised the technicality of math-rock with elements of classical grandeur to create an album which was at once experimental and coherent. The Ark Work and H.A.Q.Q. would elaborate on this nascent vision, while Origin Of The Alimonies would expand it even further into the domain of opera. The enigmatically titled 93696 was released last month, and we spoke to Hunt-Hendrix to talk about the new album and its philosophical dimensions.
“In a lot of ways with this new album, the composition process was an exact combination of H.A.Q.Q. and Origins Of The Alimonies,” recalls Hunt-Hendrix. “I wanted to write something as meticulous and thoroughly composed as fully classical music, but I also wanted this to be as driving as older LITURGY albums are.” That ambition has been fully realised in 93696: a sprawling, richly-textured double album which bears all the hallmarks of classical composition alongside extreme, experimental metal vigour.
“We recorded this to tape with Steve Albini, which was a divergence in the recording aspect from what we’ve done in the past. Recording to tape puts a lot of pressure on the band to perform correctly and to get a good live performance, which isn’t something people seem to value in recording anymore. That challenge was a lot of fun.”
“The numbers in the title refer to civilization’s modern spiritual horizon,” explains Hunt-Hendrix. “The potential for salvation through self-realisation and working together, or something like that.” ‘93696’ is a numerological portmanteau: blending the teachings of Thelema and Christianity into one. “The album is about a vision of the kingdom of heaven,” she continues. “A heaven that is created by humanity, created through world history, and with no end, in coordination with God.”
LITURGY‘s musical and lyrical themes are underwritten by Hunt-Hendrix’s extensive philosophical work in ‘Transcendental Qabala’, which combines critical theory with theology. “My conception was that music is meant to kind of sound like heaven,” Haela explains. There is conceptual work that I do in other areas […] where I attempt to articulate eschatological concepts. So the album is really more about the musical spirit of heaven.” Those eschatological concepts are manifested on 93696: four ideals, each written into a side of an LP.
“[Those four ideals are] Sovereignty, Hierarchy, Emancipation and Individuation. You could compare them to the ideals of freedom, equality, fraternity within the current cultural horizon. They’re not clear concepts,” she cautions. “Social concepts have this openness to them: the world-spirit produces them, and society organises around them without knowing exactly what they mean.”
“Individuation is the pursuit of creative self realisation based on one’s unique drives. In an ideal world that would be the goal, in a way: that would be what everything culminates towards. There’s a satisfaction in that type of pursuit that makes life better, and makes the world better too,” she smiles.
“Emancipation is the idea that there are new modes of freedom to be realised, or recognised and respected,” continues Hunt-Hendrix. “The emergence of new subjectivities: that’s something that has been going on throughout human history, especially during modernity. There will be more, and that’s an ongoing negotiation.”
“Hierarchy is more about the logistics of all this, in a way,” she considers. “It’s about the world being structured so that people actually get what they need, and you could make that sound very left wing or more like techno-fascism,” she laughs, “but there’s something in between those ideas: basically, the world could be organised better, and technological logistics could be improved. There’s a futurism to the vision, for sure.”
“Sovereignty is the right to grow towards autonomy and away from heteronomy: to more and more have the light of the individual and civilisation be motivated intrinsically and powered intrinsically. These are vague ideas to be sure,” she concludes, “but those are some thoughts to keep in mind as our world evolves into whatever crazy form it’s going to evolve into.”
As well as Hunt-Hendrix’s philosophical work, LITURGY is also informed by her ventures in sculpture and visual art. “The three dimensions of the project are related to each other, but no one of them is primary. Why three aspects? Intellect, imagination and will: the three dimensions of the soul, or the three persons of the holy trinity. It makes sense to produce along those three lines, and not have any one be the primary one.”
As LITURGY approaches becoming a total work of art, a project continuous over multiple artforms, Hunt-Hendrix muses on her next steps. “Perhaps game design? In the past two years I’ve been teaching myself how to use the Unreal engine and I’m getting pretty good, but not close to the point where I can creatively use it,” she adds. “I’d love to synthesise all this in a single ongoing work, and it probably would be a game.”
93696 is out now via Thrill Jockey.
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