Liturgy : " H.A,Q.Q"

Hunter is back with something closer to the kind of experimental black metal that you want from this project, even if it comes in practice burst that might owe as much to grind core ... think the Locust here. Greg Fox left some big shoes to fill but Leo Didkovsky, measure's up, Leo also plays with Kayo  Dot. If it was not for his greater use of double bass I might not have even checked to see if this was Greg or not.   This is a much heavier album than 'the Ark Work" . I would never say this band's stuff is dark, but this is aggressive. This is not to say that there are not so odd things like flute sounds that off set this, as there are . I do not think anyone would go into a Liturgy album looking for straight up metal .

The "Exaco" piano interludes are impressive piano playing, but not likely to make it over to my iPod. Weirdness such as harps crop up on the song "Virginity" . The kind of chanted sung vocals he referred to in the past as being influenced by trap rap are really low in the mix and off set by the more dominant screaming.  Their as also weird choral vocals. In short it's a lot to take in. The same could be said about the opener though it feel more familiar.  The first song that connects with me as a song normally would and not just throwing tons of weirdness and pyro at me, is "Pasaqalia". The stringed elements and the metallic syncopation all lock in at all the right places. There are more symphonic elements on this album, which goes to show if you compared this to Dimmu Borgir who could also be symphonic black metal how different those sounds would be. I am not sure I would even call this one a black metal album, avant garde and progressive yes.

"God of Love" finds the harp sounds returning. The screamed vocals are feral and haphazard. Blast beats patter on the chaos. There is a cool melodic section midway into the song. it might be the most melodic moment I have heard from the band , including their bout with trap singing . They also follow this up with plenty of pounding. The title track opens with very odd synths sounds. It gets back to a similar place as the more feral moments of the previous song though there is a tighter almost math rock precision. This album certainly has some strong moments, it is also more spastic than past releases. I will round it up to a 9.