Origin of the Alimonies - Liturgy

“This album has the emotion and vibrancy of orchestral composition while weaving in the rawness of black metal and the immersion of ambient music.”

From “Best of December-January 2021”

Dark ambient orchestral black metal opera. No one’s saying it’s easy to get into. But if you can breach the barriers that this esoteric genre inherently constructs around itself, the rewards are rich. Of course, the risk you run into is music elitists who create albums that are inaccessible simply for the clout of inaccessibility. But with Origin of the Alimonies, Liturgy does no such thing. This album has the emotion and vibrancy of orchestral composition while weaving in the rawness of black metal and the immersion of ambient music. But it’s not just a jigsaw puzzle of arbitrary genres, it’s its own cohesive exercise in passion, aggression, and theology.

First grabbing public attention with 2011’s Aesthetica, Liturgy is far from a conventional black metal band. Their eclectic sound, which has been dubbed “transcendental black metal” is owed almost entirely to the brilliant mind of frontwoman Hunter Hunt-Hendrix. Her writing style makes good use of her degrees in jazz studies, classical composition, and philosophy; and with each successive album they’ve released, listeners have gotten to explore the intricacies of her personal theological beliefs more and more. The band’s marriage of black metal with sacramental worship music has been criticized by some as pretentious, and has indeed infuriated black metal purists everywhere. But Liturgy has always been fiercely individualistic, and it is this uniqueness that has earned them both praise and vitriol over the years. After H.A.Q.Q. (widely considered the band’s master work) dropped in 2019, fans were eager for another dose of Hunt-Hendrix’s complex philosophy. With Origin of the Alimonies, they got it in the form of a functional three-act opera. 

Before we start, quick disclaimer: because this album is so deeply rooted in classical composition, a subject that I studied for years, I’ll sometimes use this part of my background to better articulate my feelings about the album. Apologies in advance, as this review is gonna end up sounding pretentious and condescending as hell. But don’t you worry your pretty little head about it – this is for your own good. 

“...Liturgy has always been fiercely individualistic, and it is this uniqueness that has earned them both praise and vitriol over the years.”

The opera begins subtly, with a lone flute theme that is so dissonant it’s almost atonal, yet bold enough to latch on to the ear. Classical music fans will note right away that this piece is a Theme and Variations, with each successive iteration of the main motif introducing new instrumentation or melodic movement. This theme that makes up “The Separation of HAQQ from HAEL” is so fluid and immersive that the sudden cacophony of black metal riffage near the end is all the more jarring. However, as quickly as it arrived, the wall of sound dissipates into the Baroque dissonance of “OIOION’s Birth.” Another Theme and Variations piece, the first movement of Act I is entirely orchestral ambience, punctuated by unexpected audio glitches, as though the music is rebelling against itself. This nerve-racking exercise keeps you on your toes, building tension until the album’s first true black metal song, “Lonely OIOION.” This song is classic Liturgy, featuring searing guitars interlaid with angelic harp melodies, vocals distorted to hell and back, and drums as chaotic as anything from the “true kvlt” era of black metal. This unrelenting barrage coupled with the ceremonial organ conjures the image of a demon in a cathedral, truly illustrating the reverential power of the song’s subject. As sweeping, regal-sounding strings close OIOION’s story, Act I is finished.

“This song is classic Liturgy, featuring searing guitars interlaid with angelic harp melodies, vocals distorted to hell and back, and drums as chaotic as anything from the ‘true kvlt’ era of black metal.”

Act II begins with “The Fall of SIHEYMN,” which announces itself with a forlorn horn solo, mirroring the understatement of “OIOION’s Birth.” However, unlike Act I’s first movement, this track is not satisfied with being confined to the orchestra. At around the halfway mark, the drum and guitarwork go absolutely berserk, creating a menacing atmosphere reminiscent of Imperial Triumphant. Easily one of my favorites, this song is a hair’s breadth away from unbound chaos, but it still manages to be enrapturing from start to finish. 

If things weren’t weird enough, the main course of Act II is a trap song. If nothing else, this album sticks it to black metal “true kvlt” elitists, and that’s more apparent on “SIHEYMN’s Lament” than anywhere else. This song begins with a catchy piano theme accompanied by some danceable horn and harp lines that wouldn’t sound all that out of place on the Hamilton soundtrack. The accompanying trap beats are jarring, yes, but Hunt-Hendrix’s vocal effects honestly tie it all together. The beats alone would have been enough to permanently brand this song into the minds of all who heard it, but this track also includes some of the most conventional and downright badass orchestral sections of the whole album – eat your heart out, John Williams. This march-like fanfare transitions seamlessly into yet another unexpected stylistic change – djent. Act II ends on this note, much more brazenly than Act I, giving the listener at least a little bit of prep time before for the bombastic album interlude.

“If nothing else, this album sticks it to black metal ‘true kvlt’ elitists”

Enter “Apparition of the Eternal Church.” This track’s nail-biter of a piano intro lets you know you’re in for something big, and damn does it deliver. On this song, Hunt-Hendrix takes the “wall of sound” trope that has become a staple of black metal and builds it up like the Tower of Babylon. She yet again displays her expertise at keeping a song as deconstructed and abstract as possible while still giving it a clear direction. We also see the return of the Theme and Variations compositional style, this one stretched over fifteen awe-inspiring minutes. It’s interesting to note that the glitchiness that occurs on the rest of the album doesn’t appear once in this song, perhaps indicating that those glitches are storytelling elements in the chronicle of Hunt-Hendrix’s theology. Liturgy pulls out all the stops on this ritualistic interlude, creating a sonic landscape that is blindingly bright, impossibly intricate, and as ornate as La Sagrada Familia. 

The final act of this opera takes place during “The Armistice.” Hunt-Hendrix’s screams here are certainly brutal, but coupled with the Edvard Grieg-esque string melodies, they take on a contemplative, almost prayerful character. This liturgical temperament remains in the strings through the rest of the album, giving the lead violin lines a strong sense of finality. As the cymbal crashes get bigger and faster while the choir sings higher and higher, you can visualize the image of a conductor cueing the orchestra, sweat dripping from their brow as they passionately lead the orchestra to the end of a magnificent symphony. And as the ethereal harp melody closes out the album, you can feel a sense of light and purity descend on you, peacefully. 

Which, and I can’t stress this enough, is really fucking weird for a black metal album. But such is the life of a Liturgy fan.

“As the cymbal crashes get bigger and faster while the choir sings higher and higher, you can visualize the image of a conductor cueing the orchestra, sweat dripping from their brow as they passionately lead the orchestra to the end of a magnificent symphony. ”

This album sets itself apart from overdone black metal tropes in many ways, but it also successfully diverges from the trite elements of orchestral metal. Devin Townsend, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Nightwish – they all come from the same basic formula as Liturgy, but the difference is that they produce the hell out of their music until it sounds cold and impersonal. In contrast, Liturgy’s tone is warm and bright, and the mix on Origins is so intimate that you can hear the horn players breathing and keys being played. These little details let the listener know that Hunt-Hendrix’s philosophy isn’t meant to be overtly divine in nature, because that would render it inaccessible. It is meant to be profoundly human, and thus it is critical that the flaws of life on Earth be represented in the album’s mix.

Either that, or someone forgot to pay the mix engineer.

All in all, this album is a trip of celestial proportions, engaging mind, body, and spirit all at the same time. It blends together a cluster of seemingly unrelated genres and ideas, but through the chaos, a searing light emerges. To sum it all up, Hunter Hunt-Hendrix’s hodgepodge of harrowing haunted house hysteria is horrifyingly hostile, but maintains a hypnotic habitat of holiness – truly a hailstorm of head-spinning hullaballoo. 

(sorry)

For Fans Of: Deafheaven, Imperial Triumphant, Oranssi Pazuzu

Listen to: “The Fall of SIHEYMN,” “SIHEYMN’s Lament,” and “Apparition of the Eternal Church”