SPOTLIGHT: "Origin of the Alimonies" by Liturgy
BLACK SUMMER rages on with this exhaustive SPOTLIGHT episode focusing on musician Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix's Transcendental Black Metal band Liturgy, more specifically their fifth full-length album, 2020's epic Origin of the Alimonies. This is a deep dive, everybody. A lot of seemingly disparate topics are covered here, but it all makes some semblance of sense in the end. I think. Maybe this whole episode just sounds like the ramblings of crazy people grasping at straws while trying to connect a whole bunch of dangling threads after listening to some amazing music, but that's for you to figure out. It's BLACK SUMMER, dammit. We're allowed to takes things a bit too far. What kind of show would this be if we didn't? Certainly not TRAPPO, and if I'm pretty sure that's what this still is.
(one quick note before we move forward: this episode was recorded several months ago, and in the interim the artist in question has chosen to be identified as Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix. The episode refers to the artist as "Hunter" throughout, and moving forward, whenever the artist or her work is mentioned on the show we will use her chosen name)
The episode is below, or you can find us on Apple, Google, Pocket Casts, RadioPublic, Spotify, Screamify for BloodMasters and Amazon, so choose your own adventure and achieve transcendence...
Join the conversation! Leave a comment below telling us what you think of the latest episode, Liturgy, their music, Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix and her art and theology, or whatever else might be on your mind. We'd love to hear your thoughts. But if you leave a comment that contains any bigoted or hateful language it will be deleted. We won't tolerate intolerance here. So be a decent person if you decide to leave a comment. You can dislike the topics we discuss, and you can even dislike us. That's perfectly fine. But don't leave any bigoted or intolerant speech on this blog. If you're a racist, homophobic, transphobic sack of rotting garbage, we don't want your engagement. Anybody else is welcome. You can also send your thoughts in an email if you'd like. Our email address is trapposhow@gmail.com. It's a real email address. You can send us an email. People do it all the time, or so I'm told. Maybe one day somebody will send us an email. Do we dare to dream such an impossible dream?
That's it for now, dear listener. We'll be back next week to bring the exalted BLACK SUMMER to a close. Thanks for listening!
You probably shouldn’t have a big nude picture on the top of your post. It’s inappropriate.
ReplyDeleteThat's the album artwork. I'm not going to censor the album artwork. Don't be a prude.
DeleteI’m not a prude. But you could get in trouble with blogger for nudity, I think. People might click on a link to this page and they’re not prepared to be confronted with nudity.
DeleteConfronted with nudity? What's aggressive about a pair of breasts? If Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix's nudity is offensive to somebody, then that's really something they're going to have to deal with on their own time, and it's not my problem. She's not being exploited. It's her album. She had complete control over every aspect of its production, including the artwork. It's a deliberate choice on her part, an embracing of her femininity, and it's an incredibly brave thing for her to lay herself bare in such a fashion.
DeleteI'm not getting rid of it, and I'm not slapping little digital smears of color over her nipples because I'm not afraid of offending some poor sensitive soul who might happen upon this blog post and find themselves unable to handle bare breasts on the cover of a transcendental black metal record. Good art is meant to be confrontational.
Thanks for your input, but I don't really have anything else to say on the subject.
I wouldn’t call it brave to put your boobs on the cover of your album. It’s just a way to grab people’s attention, and maybe the wrong way. What kind of people do you attract with nudity on your cover? It’s not sending the proper message if your music claims to be “transcendental”.
DeleteThis is explained in the episode you didn't bother to listen to, but Hunt-Hendrix is a transgender woman who began her medical and social transition while this album was coming together in her mind. She chose to present herself on the album cover as the personification (or avatar) of 01010N, one of the primal forces of creation depicted in Origin of the Alimonies. This was an incredibly brave thing for her to do, this very public embracing of her true self.
DeleteThere is no aspect of simple titillation here. It's not a pinup. It's Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix telling the world that she's a woman and proud of it. And she's taken a lot of flack from transphobic black metal "purists" over the past several years who have used her transition as just another excuse to discredit her and her musical ethos, which is cowardly and narrow-minded. The music is transcendental. Hunt-Hendrix as depicted on the album cover is a transcendental figure, the embodiment of her musical philosophy. She is confronting audiences with her truth. If you can't handle that truth for whatever reason, you can just move on with your life.
If you can't grasp that because you've chosen to remain willfully ignorant, I have nothing else to say to you. And if you continue to pursue this path on my blog, I'll just start deleting your posts. This conversation is over.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
DeleteFUCK YOU TRANSPHOBE
DeleteYou’re really active on the blog lately. Did the black metal subject just attract a few bad guys?
DeleteThis is all transphobic garbage, probably from the same anonymous loser. I don't care if people leave comments complaining about the music or our lack of knowledge regarding black metal, but I won't tolerate this hateful bullshit.
DeletePersonally, I'm a big fan of bare breasts on album covers. The world would be a better place if there were, in fact, MORE bare breasts on album covers, musical content be damned. Did you know they still make "Now That's What I Call Music" compilations? You would if there were bare breasts on their album covers.
DeleteWhat the hell is going on with this music? Is the band crazy? I mean really, is the lead singer mentally ill? I don’t know how to process this information. It’s out there, man. The tunes are cool, I think. There’s real impact to the music. But I don’t think I’m on bored with this evolved religion nonsense.
ReplyDeleteYou don’t have to be onboard with the artist’s religious beliefs to groove to the music. I think you’re being unkind calling her mentally ill. Her ideas might be a little out there, but she’s not hurting anybody, and this music is fucking awesome.
DeleteI would argue that Hunt-Hendrix's religious beliefs are an intrinsic part of her music, and I have no desire to "separate the art from the artist" in this case. She's a fascinating figure, and her music is made more fascinating by its close association with her theology. She clearly takes inspiration from William Blake, another "out there" figure in history who was judged harshly for his somewhat revolutionary belief system by contemporaries, and that's pretty good company.
DeleteThank you gentle TRAPS so much for this long-winded episode, and thank you for introducing me to what I'm sure is going to become yet another of my unhealthy musical obsessions. I had no knowledge of this band or Hunt-Hendrix before I tuned in, because I have no real interest in black metal, but now I own digital copies of everything Liturgy has released to date, and I'm pretty much listening to their catalogue exclusively when I'm on the road. I'm also watching Hunt-Hendrix's YouTube videos, which provide a fascinating new context to her music, so thanks for mentioning that on the episode, as well. This episode is one of those really weird deep dives into a brand-new (to me) topic that I found genuinely captivating.
Now I need to check to see if any of the band's upcoming tour dates might coincide with my time on the road. Maybe I'll get lucky and find myself, a middle-aged trucker with a scraggly beard, attending a Liturgy concert in the near future. Here's hoping. Thanks for never disappointing me with your bizarre topic choices, and long live BLACK SUMMER.
Liturgy sucks. They’ve always sucked. Art school posers who tried to co-opt the BLACK METAL sound for their pretentious wankery. “Transcendental Black Metal” is such a bullshit term, offensive to real fans. Good BLACK METAL already is transcendental. Nobody should have to read a rambling “manifesto” to supposedly understand your amazing and challenging work of art. What a waste of time and energy.
ReplyDeleteI don't know what Liturgy is. I don't really care about "transcendental kabbalah" or any of that oddball religion stuff. But I listened to the origin of the alimony and it's really cool music. That's all I care about. It's awesome. I appreciate what the episode of this podcast is doing, and there's a lot of information here, maybe too much, but that's up for debate. There are a lot of technical issues here, and they make it difficult to listen to at times. A lot of scratchy micrphne stuff that can get annoying. And the guy who isn't talking all the time yawns a lot, which also doesn't make listening to the podcast any easier. But I listened to the whole hour. And I like Liturgy now, I guess. So thanks.
ReplyDeleteThis “theology” is complete gibberish. It’s deranged. I think the music of Liturgy is largely fine, and Origin of the Alimonies is definitely the high water mark, but Hunt-Hendrix is kind of loony. That’s fine, I guess. She’s not hurting anybody with her religious daydreams. But man it’s just out there.
ReplyDeleteIs Transcendental Qabala really more out there than any of the world’s major religions? Seriously, is it? I don’t think so. At least not what I know of it. I don’t think it’s any more inherently ludicrous than vanilla Christianity. I’m not a believer of any organized religion, but she’s not exactly throwing out a bunch of insurmountable ideas and concepts that would break the minds of devout believers. Plus, I think it’s interesting stuff to read about. She’s building her own detailed, personal religion, and that’s quite the undertaking. Good for her. Whatever works.
DeleteThe music’s also fucking amazing. Thanks for the ridiculously detailed episode, TRAPS.
I guess I’m not really a religious person, so maybe I’m being unfair. But I was raised Presbyterian and despite my lack of belief the system seemed pretty straightforward to me. What Hunt-Hendrix is presenting as theology is really broad and strange, at least the way I understand it right now. It just sounds weird to me, but I admit that it probably isn’t that much different from other, more established religions if you really break it down. And I guess she isn’t exactly proselytizing, is she? I don’t get the vibe that she’s necessarily trying to convert anybody as much as she’s just building a belief system that works for her, which is what they said in the episode. That’s cool. I can respect that. And the music’s still great.
DeleteA genuine work of art. Has Haela Ravenna Hunt-Hendrix had a revelation? Has she discovered our new covenant with the divine? I think she might be onto something. There are many pathways to enlightenment. Is The Origin of the Alimonies a creation myth? Or is it the Book of New Genesis? Liturgy is absolutely transcendent black metal. Thanks so much for going big with this spotlight episode, TRAPS. I ate it all up like a bowl of Count Chocula.
ReplyDeleteCan you just do an episode on William Blake and Christian mysticism now?
ReplyDeleteI don't know how your show could justify an episode dedicated to these topics, but I'd love to hear it too. Maybe another LITVRGY episode that incorporates these elements into a larger discussion? I'd definitely be into that.
Delete