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.

Survival -S/T

 I had almost forgotten this  new project from Liturgy's Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, was still waiting in the wings. The self titled album finds Greg Smith, and Jeff Bobula from the hardcore band Crushed team up with former band mate Hunter from when they were in a screamo band called Birthday Boyz. The album has been in the making for five years and was finally put to wax with  Colin Marston from Krallice and  Dysrhythmia  who recorded this at The Thousand Cave studio and the album sounds great  it is warm, full and organic, in some ways it reminds me of Aesthethica if it were mixed with Tool the clean sung and heavily harmonized are like Hunter's screams in Liturgy not the focal point of the songs which take some twists and turns .

From the opening you can feel a little of the Smashing Pumpkins groove that Hunter has eluded to in interviews prior to this albums release. The harmonies are a little Alice in Chains at times as well, but the album wouldn't be labeled as grunge due to it's angular nature and the guitar tone isn't fuzzed out and Sabbathy for the most part. Most of the time the guitar sounds like smoothed over Liturgy devoid of all the blasty mcnasty. 

The Tool comparison comes in with the mathy way the riffs bob and weave around one another. Unlike Tool they are not headed towards a big arena rock chorus. There is also something more organic and rock n roll to their sounds where Tool is darker and almost industrial. "Original Pain" takes the groove of the first song and boogie to it before winding away in a similar maze of dizzying turns. I takes the first three minutes before the ears here distinguishable traits in the the path way set out for the vocals . 

"Freedom 1" winds its way to life from the labyrinth the other songs were crafted from, but with a more shimmering jangle to it's chords. Like Liturgy, when it comes to writing songs they are not a afraid to just let the riff sit on its own to be fucked with and devoid of vocals. In some ways on this one there is a Mastodon thing happening. "Second Freedom" has a vocal chant to it that floats over the syncopated punches that are scattered under the song like a mine field.          

 The reprise of "tragedy" is under a minute so it seems more like an interlude rather than a free standing song, it mainly vocal harmonies swelling. "Since the Sun" breaks down into a slower acoustic ebb, that is haunting but minimal. They come blaring back into the tightly wound Tool like syncopations on "Our Way" and "Freedom 3", which are both similar in tone. Freedom 3 sets itself apart in tempo of the verse and goes into a more droning punch which is pretty cool.    

  I think fans of Liturgy will be able to appreciate this, though most black metal fans were either open minded enough to like them or got caught up in the hipster element and never gave the band a fair shake. Hunter has said in interview he sees Liturgy moving away from black metal, as he doesn't want to repeat himself, so this album makes a lot of sense. 

I will give this one an 8.5 as it's a fun listen and still growing on me, though most of the songs have a very similar feel to them and sounds like variations on a theme, just set to different tempos, rather than building dynamically.