Det er svært at få helt styr på Liturgy. De bliver hypet, som bandet man SKAL se i hjembyen, de ligner en flok hipsters, de har spillet sammen med Dirty Projectors, Dan Deacon, og Gang Gang Dance, men … de spiller BLACK METAL. Den er god nok. Guitarerne hvæser derudaf, trommerne hamrer af sted, og den forpinte vokal kæmper for at trænge igennem støjen – altså de spiller black metal, men så har de bare et eller andet udefinerbart ekstra, der gør, at de også appellerer til alle mulig andre, der normalt ikke hører black metal. Måske er det fordi sangskriver, guitarist og sanger i bandet hedder Hunter Hunt-Hendrix. Muligvis det sejeste navn, der nogensinde har optrådt på 1000Fryd.
Til at sætte løjerne i gang har vi inviteret det københavnske powerviolence band Shitcomet, der har indgået en alliance med ligeledes københavnske Skip Tooth. Resultatet: Der er skruet gevaldigt ned for tempoet og kraftigt op for støjen, i bogstaveligste forstand. Skip Tooth gør sig normalt i harsh noise/power electronics og tilfører Shitcomet en syrlig, ondskabsfuld kant. I den forbindelse er de superhurtige superkorte sange skrottet til fordel for de lange og tunge, der til gengæld er gjort endnu længere, således at koncerten nu er 20-30 minutters veritabelt støjhelvede i knusende tungt tempo.
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Liturgys debutplade, Renihilation, skabte en del røre sidste år, så vi lader lige pressen få ordet:
NY Times – Pagan Dawn – Top Songs of 2009 (Ben Ratliff)
Brooklyn Vegan – Honorable Mention (”BBG”)
Stereogum – Honorable Mention (Brandon Stousy)
Popmatters – Best of 2009 (#16)
Village Voice – Best Local Music of 2009
Impose – Best of 2009 (#10)
Metalsucks – Best of 2009 (#17) (”Satan Rosenbloom”)
Scratch The Surface – Best of 2009 (#1) (David Alexandre)
Chronic Youth – Best of 2009 (David Castillo)
SpeedGlueAndMusic – Best of 2009 (#2)
Skeletons & Candy – Best of 2009 (#2)
Crustcake – Best of 2009 (#9) (”Crustcake Gerf”)
“Liturgy are the first black metal band that truly embodies the ghosts of New York. They play metal like it’s a minimalist downtown art/life/religion project in the tradition of dronemasters Glenn Branca, Rhys Chatham and La Monte Young’s Dream Syndicate. Through their own brand of growling, gnarling, lightning-fast black grind, Liturgy try to find euphoria through dissonance, repetition and volume–turning metal nightmares into something ready for the Dream House.” – Chris Weingarten, Village Voice (online YIMBY column)
“In all, [Renihilation] is an incredibly intense and interesting record, which rewards re-visits and regularly leaps, triumphant, from whatever box you were about to deposit it in. It’s broken, desolate, storming and ferocious, whilst at the same time coming across as knowing, and cunning as a fox. The composition will fascinate you, the drumming will absolutely floor you, and the listening experience will be one you are keen to repeat and share – this is one of my favourite releases from across the Atlantic this year.” – 89/100, Ellen Simpson, Hierophant Nox
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Liturgy is a transcendental black metal band from Brooklyn, NY. Their music is an ecstatic affirmation of becoming and an assault on the floating malaise of contemporary information-age life. The ebb and flow of their churning, swarming rhythms and melodies both models and fosters the eternal flux. Appearing on countless "best of" lists in 2009 (NY Times, Impose, Popmatters etc.), Liturgy have gained a reputation of being one of the most innovative underground acts coming out of New York right now.
They draw influence from, and comparison to, products from many ages and disciplines – the solemn 11th century chants of Perotin, the allegorical prophecies of Blake, the apocalyptic vision of Scriabin, the mass-media spirituality of Jodorowsky, the cataclysmic transcendence of Glenn Branca’s post-minimalist collective no-wave drones. But there is nothing eclectic about Liturgy’s music. They dig to the core of black metal to drink from its purest essence, only to create it anew, reinventing it as what it truly is by connecting it to a broader transcendental tradition.