Kel Valhall : " New Introductory Lectures On The System Of Transcendental Qabala"

Hunter Hunt Hendrix is putting the guitar down and stepping away from even the metal trapping that clung to the last Liturgy album "Ark Work" to release the first album from his electronic project. If you are a Liturgy fan there is two ways this will go. Either you like experimental music and appreciate Liturgy as more of an experimental project than a cvlt as fvck black metal band, if this is the case your were more than likely not really phased by their last album and can proceed into something stepping even further into left field. If you like the first couple of Liturgy albums, but feel more at home when they are blast beating and heard "the Ark Work" had "rap" on it and cringed away at the sheer mention of it. In this case you are wasting your time by even bothering to read this review and go check out the new Fistula or Nails. Ok, not that we are moving along into this album. It does take a few listens to absorb it so I'm going to dip my head into it a third time before I can really describe what I am listening to.

My first thought with "Tense Stage" was this is like a white light version of Skinny Puppy. By that I mean everything after "the Greater Wrong of the Right".As it has plenty of glitch to it. Things weave around both forwards and backward. The beats are more on the lo-fi side and... Yes, you read right in the title of this review that the album is called "New Introductory Lectures On The System Of Transcendental Qabala". I'm not sure what the sing song rap of the lyrics is really about, but I think I heard mention of Jesus. When it comes to actual songs, there are only three real ones, the second of the three being "Ontological Love" . This song takes the first five minutes to get started so some of the fat could have been trimmed for sure. At six minute mark trap styled rapping comes in and is quickly washed away by synths before the song builds back up into some more trap styled rap. Wouldn't say Brooklyn has the hardest dope traps so will not call it trap rap, as it seems likes it more of a commentary on the current state of affairs, he does chant something about the bees losing their honey. "Karios" which is Greek for the supreme moment, is more like an interlude than an actual song. "Bezel 2" is the third of the actual songs though the most disjointed and challenging of the three. The vocals are glitch riddled mumbles of metaphysics. The final minute of "Bezel 2" is just a bleeping and blipping bunch of crazy droning on. My wife asked for me to wear headphones when listening to this album, so it's not for everyone. I'll give this album an 8, which is a lower score than what Liturgy album's have traditionally gotten.