Liturgy - Renihilation [Reissue]

Everybody hates Hunter Hunt-Hendrix. The head honcho and mouth-piece of Liturgy has dug such a deep hole for his band that they will forever be derided as ‘hipsters’ because of his bogus opinions and contradictory statements. He is of the opinion that the kind of music Liturgy play is ‘Transcendental Black Metal’ (a classless term that personifies the arrogance contained within the Hendrix-penned manifesto from which the name is drawn) and that they are thus the pioneers and figureheads of said genre. It’s aggravating because they make such good music: From the disorientating chanting that makes up the first, untitled track of the album to the final, vicious sprawl of the title track, the album is glorious.

The second track “Pagan Dawn” is the first indication that something drastic is happening in your ears – the hyperspeed drumming and manic Lee Ranaldo-ian guitar meltdown seem to be demanding both a guttural and intellectual response from the listener, as though they were listening to Sonic Youth and Burzum. The classically obnoxious methodology of black metal is at once intertwined with the conscious virtuosity of noise-rock and shoegaze to gratifying effect throughout Renihilation, not least on “Mysterium”.

“Mysterium”, which follows “Pagan Dawn”, is probably the strongest cut on the record. The relentless dynamics and all-consuming maximalist bent of the track cause the listener to toe the line between a kind of cathartic heavy metal ecstasy and a psychedelic, cerebral stimulation that annihilates any of the ill-will felt towards the helmsman of the project. HHH fades into the background when you’re listening to Renihilation – his tortured howls and bilious growls are only part of the majestic widescreen sound of his music.

“Behind the Void” feels climactic in its grandness, as though it were conjured up to soundtrack a closing scene from a particularly harrowing dystopian film. The utterly furious “Arctica” doesn’t come across as being as chilly as, say, “The Frozen Winter” or “Naar Himmelen Klarner” – but it’s a harrowing, introspective piece nonetheless. Deafheaven and Liturgy have both succeeded in completely amputating any cultural merit left in black metal and replacing it with arty-back-slapping-self-congratulatory cool cred that makes them both despicable and downright necessary for the advancement and mass consumption of extreme heavy metal. You can’t imagine Kanye West listening to Carpathian Forest but you could realistically imagine Scott Walker rocking out to Renihilation. And what’s more pretentious than disliking a band for being hip anyhow? Just track down a copy of Renihilation and let the music do the talking, not Hunter Hunt-Hendrix.