Interview: LITURGY

Liturgy’s 2009 album Renihilation was one of the more interesting takes on black metal to come across my desk in a long time. Combining an extremely harsh, abrasive audial assault with a penchant for harnessing torrents of distortion into ethereal, transcendent song-structures, the band is spearheading a burgeoning NYC-area black metal scene that also includes the likes of Krallice and Malkuth. I got in touch with band leader Hunter Hunt-Hendrix via e-mail to discuss the band’s unique aesthetic and sound within the ranks of the black metal legions.

Sonic Frontiers: For readers who might not be familiar with the band, can you talk a bit about how Liturgy got started?

Hunter Hunt-Hendrix: It began as my solo project. Bedroom black metal sounding similar to Mutiilation. I made a cassette called The Paranoiac Miracle, then a 12” EP called Immortal Life. After that Tyler, Greg and Bernard joined the band and we started playing the songs live.

SF: Unfortunately, my copy of Renihilation does not include lyrics. What are some of the themes/concepts running throughout the album?

HHH: Most of the songs are about either being, knowing or becoming. Also about not knowing. For example, Pagan Dawn is about the primordial, spontaneous and inextinguishable life force at the root of all things. Renihilation is about refusing the apocalypse.

SF: More specifically, what are the songs “Ecstatic Rite” and “Beyond the Magic Forest” about?

HHH: Ecstatic rite is about restraint and desire, and also about individuation. There’s a dialectic between the law or social control and the urge to be free – the urge gets stronger the stronger its suppression is. So ecstatic rite is about the urge to break free, but it is tinged by an awareness that complete freedom is basically nothingness. Beyond the Magic Forest is about nostalgia.

SF: You recorded Renihilation with Colin Marston of Krallice. Please describe the recording process and what Colin’s presence brought to the sessions.

HHH: It took a mere four days to record, mix and master the record. Basically we all came in and recorded a take or two of each song on the first day. Then I worked with Colin to edit certain things and mix it. I wanted the production to sound like a cross between Nattens Madrigal and Jane Doe; I think that’s how it came out.

SF: The album has a very raw, chaotic sound. What inspired this sonic approach? Is a raw production scheme a necessary component of Liturgy?

HHH: I don’t think it’s as raw as most kvlt black metal. Colin has a relatively professional setup, with good mics etc. Maybe it’s piercing, but I also like that the individual instruments can each be heard pretty easily – a lot of times that gets lost with raw black metal recordings.

SF: As harsh and abrasive as the music can be, there is also an ethereal, psychedelic quality to the album. Was this an intentional aspect of Liturgy’s musical approach or a byproduct of what transpired during the writing/recording process?

HHH: Yes I wanted it to be ethereal and inspirational. Recently I’ve been thinking about it in terms of imitating film scores. I wanted to make black metal that sounded like Chariots of Fire or something like that.

SF: The cover art for Renihilation is a photo of a solar eclipse. What does the eclipse symbolize and how it fit into the overall concept of Liturgy?

HHH: The eclipse is a symbol of what I call “renihilation” which is a negation of a negation. For us that amounts to a particular vision for a way of playing black metal which I am coming more and more to identify as American somehow.

SF: It seems that Liturgy forgoes much if not all the typical imagery traditionally associated with black metal (ie Satanism, corpsepaint, black and white photos, etc), and could even be described as the polar opposite of such trappings. Are you looking to create a new aesthetic for the genre or is your imagery simply borne out of a lack interest in the traditional visual presentation of black metal?

HHH: I wouldn’t call it a new aesthetic for the genre – I’d expect grim black metal bands to keep on being grim – but I do think of it as a distinctive aesthetic within the genre. And I might even suggest that there’s a progression from the grim aesthetic to the transcendental one that mirrors Nietzsche’s vision of the passage from the priest to Zarathustra.

SF: I’ve read several pieces comparing Liturgy’s sound to that of early Ulver. Is that band really in any way an influence? What other artists/music, black metal or otherwise, inspires Liturgy?

HHH: I like the production on Nattens Madrigal, and I like the way they ride on high notes for a long time – I think that might be an influence. The black legions, like Mutiilation and Vlad Tepes, were a big inspiration for a long time. But I’m also pretty into film score writers like Vangelis and Angelo Badalamenti, as well as Minimalist composers like Terry Riley. That’s the music I’ve been most excited about recently, and I think it rubs off on our sounds more than one might expect.

SF: Your myspace page utilizes the descriptor “Pure transcendental black metal”. Can you please elaborate on this?

HHH: Transcendentalism was the first distinctively American cultural movement. Led by figures like Whitman and Emerson. Their interest in the Universal Self and in mystical ecstasy, and with creation, is really interesting to me. So I had the idea of connecting black metal to that tradition.

SF: Black metal is often just as much about ideology and a way of life as it is music. Does Liturgy subscribe to any specific beliefs/ideologies?

HHH: Not really. That’s a pretty hard question.

SF: Furthermore, the word “liturgy” has a very strong Christian connotation. The fact that black metal as we have come to know it was essentially borne out of disdain for this particular religion begs the question, what is Liturgy’s stance on Christianity?

HHH: I don’t think Christianity is really such a powerful force in the world – at least not where I live. So I’m not very interested in anti-Christian rhetoric. But I do think Christianity is ultimately an unsatisfactory form of spirituality because it creates too much hatred and guilt.

SF: It seems that a very interesting black metal scene is starting to spring up in the New York area. What do you think it is about the area that is conducive to black metal?

HHH: That’s an interesting question. I’m not sure. There doesn’t seem to be anything conducive; and actually there aren’t very many bands, and we’re not organized into a scene at all. It seems unlikely to me that there’d be black metal in New York. I’m surprised that I even make it, actually.

SF: Furthermore, it seems like American black metal in general has really started to thrive and diversify over the past few years. To what do you attribute the rise of USBM?

HHH: Well, I think it has to do with the strength of the original second wave stuff. Burzum, Darkthrone, Mayhem. Those bands are really special. It takes time for genres to spread to different continents, but I think once those bands gained notoriety it was only a matter of time before their influence would spread across the globe.

SF: I noticed when checking out your myspace page that Liturgy has quite a few live dates lined up. Do you enjoy playing live? How would you describe the Liturgy live experience?

HHH: Yes, we love to play live. It is total ecstasy.

SF: Beyond touring and generally promoting Renihilation, what’s next for Liturgy? Do you have any new material already in the works?

HHH: We are working on a new record right now. I’m very excited by it. I think we’re exploring in depth some of the territory that was only just barely staked out on the first album.

http://www.myspace.com/liturgynybm