Liturgy – Aesthethica
Imagine this scenario, if you will: a kid named Cody comes home from another crappy day at his crappy Christian high school. Today was especially bad. In addition to the usual awfulness, he had to have a two-hour meeting with the school spiritual healer” (aka the psychologist) because someone had anonymously accused him of being a homosexual (it was probably that bitch, Melanie Green, the vindictive busybody who is the president of the school’s Chastity Club). Cody simply wants to lock himself in his room, pop some pharmies, and veg out to his favorite black metal records.
Unfortunately, when Cody gets there he finds his psycho-religious mom sitting on his bed. Next to her is a trash can, filled with his prized possessions: Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974) 2-Disc Ultimate Edition DVD, his one-hitter (plus all his weed), and worst of all, his records. She had finally found his stash in the crawlspace inside his closet. All his expensive vinyl imports of every Marduk, Burzum, and Gorgoroth album - set to be taken away by the garbage men Tuesday morning. In his mother’s hand was Liturgy’s Aesthethica. Tell me why I shouldn’t throw this in the bin with the rest of the trash” she says in a tone brimming with moral superiority. Seeing an opportunity to salvage even a sliver of his collection, Cody begins.
OK, just look at the cover! There is totally a cross on it… I’m pretty sure I read somewhere that these guys are Christian,” Cody lied. But his mom would not be fooled that easily. There is also an upside down cross right next to it, Cody Matthew.”
Fine, well… ummm… there was an article about the band on NPR’s site,” stammered Cody. You mean ‘secular socialist radio?’” Mom replied bluntly. Cody felt beads of sweat bubbling on his forehead. He was getting desperate.
Why don’t you just… just… listen to it.” Surprising both his mother and himself, Cody snatched the record out of her hands and beelined towards his turntable. He removed the dust-covered copy of DC Talk’s Jesus Freak and put on the Liturgy LP.
Cody’s mother sat still and unflinchingly listened to the record in its entirety. Once it was over, Cody turned to his expressionless mom and nervously asked her: …well?”
She paused for a moment, seemingly collecting her thoughts, and began. I can appreciate the harmonious chants during tracks like True Will” and Glass Earth/Harmonia;” they’re not as good as our choir at St. Mark’s of course, but interesting regardless.” Solemn as a nun, she continued. The vocals on the album are outstanding. The singer sounds distant and removed, but desperate… like he is in danger and needs to be saved.” Cody knew what his mother really meant with that last word.
Does Helix Skull” remind you at all of the music in that dreadful game you would play on your father’s old Nintendo when you were younger? …’Wizards and Warriors‘ I think it was called?” This caught Cody completely off guard. His mother rarely spoke of her ex-husband since he had left when Cody was 14 years old. Following this event, his mother had found God” and he had found, well, Satan. Um, no… I dunno, kind of I guess.” Cody’s mother seemed to be thinking deeply about his response, but he knew better. As he saw her eyes swell with tears, he quickly changed the subject. What did you think of track 9? It’s one of my favorites.” You mean Veins of God?” I don’t know, I thought that was a weak spot on the record. The riff at the beginning is repetitive and, like the track itself, goes on for way too long. I kept thinking it was building up to something, but when it was over, I just felt disappointed.”
Overall though, I enjoyed the record for what it is; it’s nice to see black metal artists trying to push the genre forward with experimentation. The album consistently surprises and remains interesting throughout, while never sacrificing tightness or precision. And I couldn’t really tell if there was any swearing, so I guess you can keep this one.” Of course. The one vinyl that was not a pricey import (Liturgy hail from Brooklyn). She picked up the trash can and walked toward the door. I’m going to protest the abortion clinic on 9th street in 20 minutes with some other mothers from the church. Would you like to join me?” Though it went against every fiber of Cody’s being, he could hear the tremble in her voice; she was obviously still shaken by thoughts of her former husband. Sure, I’ll be right there.” He grabbed a hoodie and once his mother was out of sight, peeked behind his desk. He breathed a sigh of relief; she had not found his porn or his iPod with MP3s of all his records. He would cope.
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