Liturgy Surprise-Released a New Album, H.A.Q.Q.

Experimental black metallers Liturgy unveiled word of their new album, H.A.Q.Q., earlier this fall, but scant details of its release date and contents were available. The band surprise-released the album on Tuesday, November 12 and, well… it sounds like a friggin’ Liturgy album.

If you stream H.A.Q.Q. on Bandcamp, the first song that will play is track four, “PASAQALIA,” a straight-forward number by Liturgy standards with a gorgeous orchestral arrangement, almost Meshuggah-like polyrhythmic drumming and some damn catchy melodies, all under Hunter Hunt-Hendrix’s trademark black metal howl, naturally. But if you take a dive back to the album’s opener, “HAJJ,” ah yes, this is the psycho freakout, borderline unlistenable Liturgy we know and love! My first time listening to the album is also your first time, so I don’t have any additional insight to offer on the rest of the album’s contents just yet, but I’d wager it contains a mix of both. And that, to me, is a win: I don’t think I’ve ever enjoyed a Liturgy song as much as I did “PASAQALIA.”

Stream the album in full below and order it via Bandcamp. The physical release will come out on February 21, 2020.

On top of H.A.Q.Q., Liturgy are involved with Triple H’s release of the soundtrack to Origin of the Alimonies, the “black metal/trap video opera” that debuted last year. That album “features Liturgy along with musicians Nate Wooley, Eve Essex, Josh Modney, Carrie Frey, Caleigh Drane, James Ilgenfritz, Marilu Donovan, and Eric Wubbels.” You can listen to the debut single from that release, “Apparition of the Eternal Church,” right here.