Anchor ads are not supported on this page.

4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs

Liturgy’s Transcendental Black Metal

If hell has a jukebox, it plays black metal. Taken as a whole, the genre’s anti-Christian, pro-Satan polemic — with distorted guitars, bursts of drumming, and vocals that resemble the howling of a tormented beast — are custom-made for a picnic at the lake of fire. Not to be confused with death, thrash, speed, groove, stoner, industrial, traditional, power, doom, metal core, or goth metal, black metal is a disturbing underground subgenre.

A lot of it, oddly enough, comes from Norway, where in the 1990s fans of Norse black metal took to setting neighborhood churches on fire. The band Venom gets the credit for inventing black metal, but they only gave it a name. In truth, all roads lead back to Black Sabbath, first among heavy-metal bands to claim unholy alliance with the dark angel and take it to the bank (Led Zeppelin only dabbled in Satanism).

Sponsored
Sponsored

Metal has come a long way since the 1960s. In comparison to today’s bands, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden sound downright wholesome. So where do four nice boys from Brooklyn calling themselves Liturgy fit in? At the head of the black-metal line, it turns out.

Liturgy began as the solo project of singer/guitarist Hunter Hunt-Hendrix. By 2008, it had become a four-piece with a 12-inch called Immortal Life, a sampler of what would be on their debut CD Renihilation. Their second disc, Aesthethica, was released in May. Liturgy took heat when they began calling themselves transcendental black metal, enough so that Hunt-Hendrix was moved to publish an essay in which he said the first stage of the genre is to establish rules, and the second is auto-destruction, whereby “the initial rules, having been fully digested and satisfied, are thereby mutilated.” This brings me to my main issue with the different species of modern-day heavy metal. Technical skills aside, I don’t know whether to take any of them seriously.

Chelsea Wolfe and the Long and Short of It also perform.

LITURGY: The Casbah, Monday, July 25, 8:30 p.m. 619-232-4355. $8.

Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Will L.A. Times crowd out San Diego U-T at Riverside printing plant?

Will Toni Atkins stand back from anti-SDG&E initiative?
Next Article

Gonzo Report: Stinkfoot Orchestra conjures Zappa at Winstons

His music is a blend of technical excellence and not-so-subtle humor

If hell has a jukebox, it plays black metal. Taken as a whole, the genre’s anti-Christian, pro-Satan polemic — with distorted guitars, bursts of drumming, and vocals that resemble the howling of a tormented beast — are custom-made for a picnic at the lake of fire. Not to be confused with death, thrash, speed, groove, stoner, industrial, traditional, power, doom, metal core, or goth metal, black metal is a disturbing underground subgenre.

A lot of it, oddly enough, comes from Norway, where in the 1990s fans of Norse black metal took to setting neighborhood churches on fire. The band Venom gets the credit for inventing black metal, but they only gave it a name. In truth, all roads lead back to Black Sabbath, first among heavy-metal bands to claim unholy alliance with the dark angel and take it to the bank (Led Zeppelin only dabbled in Satanism).

Sponsored
Sponsored

Metal has come a long way since the 1960s. In comparison to today’s bands, Judas Priest and Iron Maiden sound downright wholesome. So where do four nice boys from Brooklyn calling themselves Liturgy fit in? At the head of the black-metal line, it turns out.

Liturgy began as the solo project of singer/guitarist Hunter Hunt-Hendrix. By 2008, it had become a four-piece with a 12-inch called Immortal Life, a sampler of what would be on their debut CD Renihilation. Their second disc, Aesthethica, was released in May. Liturgy took heat when they began calling themselves transcendental black metal, enough so that Hunt-Hendrix was moved to publish an essay in which he said the first stage of the genre is to establish rules, and the second is auto-destruction, whereby “the initial rules, having been fully digested and satisfied, are thereby mutilated.” This brings me to my main issue with the different species of modern-day heavy metal. Technical skills aside, I don’t know whether to take any of them seriously.

Chelsea Wolfe and the Long and Short of It also perform.

LITURGY: The Casbah, Monday, July 25, 8:30 p.m. 619-232-4355. $8.

Comments
Sponsored
Here's something you might be interested in.
Submit a free classified
or view all
Previous article

Coyote tracks in frail San Diego avocado grove

Second place winner in Reader neighborhood writing contest
Next Article

India Hawthorne is common in coastal gardens, Citrus trees are in full bloom

The vernal equinox is on March 19
Comments
Ask a Hipster — Advice you didn't know you needed Big Screen — Movie commentary Blurt — Music's inside track Booze News — San Diego spirits Classical Music — Immortal beauty Classifieds — Free and easy Cover Stories — Front-page features Drinks All Around — Bartenders' drink recipes Excerpts — Literary and spiritual excerpts Feast! — Food & drink reviews Feature Stories — Local news & stories Fishing Report — What’s getting hooked from ship and shore From the Archives — Spotlight on the past Golden Dreams — Talk of the town The Gonzo Report — Making the musical scene, or at least reporting from it Letters — Our inbox Movies@Home — Local movie buffs share favorites Movie Reviews — Our critics' picks and pans Musician Interviews — Up close with local artists Neighborhood News from Stringers — Hyperlocal news News Ticker — News & politics Obermeyer — San Diego politics illustrated Outdoors — Weekly changes in flora and fauna Overheard in San Diego — Eavesdropping illustrated Poetry — The old and the new Reader Travel — Travel section built by travelers Reading — The hunt for intellectuals Roam-O-Rama — SoCal's best hiking/biking trails San Diego Beer — Inside San Diego suds SD on the QT — Almost factual news Sheep and Goats — Places of worship Special Issues — The best of Street Style — San Diego streets have style Surf Diego — Real stories from those braving the waves Theater — On stage in San Diego this week Tin Fork — Silver spoon alternative Under the Radar — Matt Potter's undercover work Unforgettable — Long-ago San Diego Unreal Estate — San Diego's priciest pads Your Week — Daily event picks
4S Ranch Allied Gardens Alpine Baja Balboa Park Bankers Hill Barrio Logan Bay Ho Bay Park Black Mountain Ranch Blossom Valley Bonita Bonsall Borrego Springs Boulevard Campo Cardiff-by-the-Sea Carlsbad Carmel Mountain Carmel Valley Chollas View Chula Vista City College City Heights Clairemont College Area Coronado CSU San Marcos Cuyamaca College Del Cerro Del Mar Descanso Downtown San Diego Eastlake East Village El Cajon Emerald Hills Encanto Encinitas Escondido Fallbrook Fletcher Hills Golden Hill Grant Hill Grantville Grossmont College Guatay Harbor Island Hillcrest Imperial Beach Imperial Valley Jacumba Jamacha-Lomita Jamul Julian Kearny Mesa Kensington La Jolla Lakeside La Mesa Lemon Grove Leucadia Liberty Station Lincoln Acres Lincoln Park Linda Vista Little Italy Logan Heights Mesa College Midway District MiraCosta College Miramar Miramar College Mira Mesa Mission Beach Mission Hills Mission Valley Mountain View Mount Hope Mount Laguna National City Nestor Normal Heights North Park Oak Park Ocean Beach Oceanside Old Town Otay Mesa Pacific Beach Pala Palomar College Palomar Mountain Paradise Hills Pauma Valley Pine Valley Point Loma Point Loma Nazarene Potrero Poway Rainbow Ramona Rancho Bernardo Rancho Penasquitos Rancho San Diego Rancho Santa Fe Rolando San Carlos San Marcos San Onofre Santa Ysabel Santee San Ysidro Scripps Ranch SDSU Serra Mesa Shelltown Shelter Island Sherman Heights Skyline Solana Beach Sorrento Valley Southcrest South Park Southwestern College Spring Valley Stockton Talmadge Temecula Tierrasanta Tijuana UCSD University City University Heights USD Valencia Park Valley Center Vista Warner Springs
Close

Anchor ads are not supported on this page.