Liturgy - Renihilation

Black metal may be the the least understood avenue of rock n' roll. Mention the term to any avid music fan and the first images that come to mind are weirdo Norwegian dudes wearing all black with faces painted to look like some fucked-up hybrid of Eric Draven and Gene Simmons. It is a genre that is steeped in tales of church arsons, Satanism, personal despair, glorified suicide (i.e. Mayhem's first vocalist), and overall withdrawal from mainstream society. However, it is by these stigmas that black metal has, for the most part, been left to flourish and grow untouched. Far from Bergen and emanating from the hipster-saturated streets of Brooklyn, NY, exists Liturgy. The four-piece conjures tried-and-true black metal without all the laughable badges of authenticity (no corpse paint, a legibly-printed band name, or uncompromised recordings). Their recent release, Renihilation simultaneously pummels and mesmerizes. Songs like "Ecstatic Rite" and "Beyond The Magic Forest" deliver white-hot, repetitive riffs and blast beats that are played so lightning-fast that the effect is that of opening the lid of a washing machine during the spin cycle, and watching the clothes blur into a spinning, pulsating, polychromatic cylinder. Renihilation is a step forward for black metal and the name itself suggests a rebirth: annihilating nihilation or cancelling out nothingness. Liturgy strive to create music that uplifts and promotes cosmic unity while staying true to the genre by dishing out a fire storm of guitar, drums, and bass (yes — audible bass guitar!). Listening to this record is a mind-opening (and altering) experience and Liturgy stands to change the painted face of what might be the last frontier of music.