Liturgy have announced the first-ever digital release of rare archival records stemming from 2004 to 2008, due out July 4th.
The records are 2005’s The Paranoic Miracle, 2007’s Immortal Life, and 2008’s Harmonium, demo albums recorded prior to Liturgy’s full-band debut Renihilation from 2009.
Liturgy’s Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix stated that the recordings “trace my creative and emotional passage from a straightforwardly black metal language inspired by Xasthur and the French Les Legiones Noires scene from the 1990s towards something more angelic, vitalist and affirmative drawing from totalism, sacred music, screamo and shoegaze. These are all bedroom (technically dorm room) recordings made by tracking guitars, drum machine and whisper vocals through an Ibanez guitar pedal directly into a four track (in the case of The Paranoiac Miracle / Eternal Void) or computer (in the case of Immortal Life and Harmonium).”
Hunt-Hendrix continued, “I was studying classical composition throughout this time and immersed in the aughts’ art-adjacent Brooklyn music scene as well as the art world, although I felt a strong sense of alienation from all of these contexts. Much of this music started out as harmony and counterpoint exercises before being translated to guitar, and there has been a lot of discussion of the philosophical influence behind transcendental black metal, especially that of Nietzsche and Deleuze. But what I want to foreground here is the emotional progression. I needed to make these albums and needed for the music to evolve in the way it did, there was an urgency to it that is simply impossible to put into words.”
Liturgy are wrapping up a Latin American tour, and will play a show in Brooklyn on July 6th before embarking on a European tour on July 18th. The outing includes solo shows and full band performances, as well as philosophical presentations. Pick up tickets here.
See the album art and select tracklists for the three releases below.
The Paranoic Miracle / Eternal Void Artwork:
The Paranoic Miracle / Eternal Void Track List:
01. Lechery and Decay
02. Celibacy and Empire
03. Interlude
04. Sacrosanct Longing
05. Angel of Lust
06. CODA: Hate, Void, Regret
07. The Vacant Light
08. Eternal Void
09. March of Nothingness
Immortal Life Artwork:
Immortal Life Track List:
01. Immortal Life
02. Life After Life
03. Everquest I
04. Everquest II
05. No More Sorry (My Bloody Valentine cover)
06. Vessel of Everthirst
Harmonium Artwork:
