Liturgy (NY-USA) - Aesthethica (2011)^{Release ID: 14081}

I hated New York avant-garde black metaller Liturgy's sophomore album back at the time of release. I simply wasn't ready for my black metal to reach this far or to draw upon more positive sounds at times. Given time & experience though, I've found that there's a deep artistic credibility to Liturgy's music that I can really relate to & the experiments with many disparate outside influences are generally well received. Admittedly the two best tracks have nothing to do with black metal whatsoever in the crushing sludge metal anthem "Veins of God" & the djenty progressive metal of "Generation" but it's really only the dull post-minimal electronics of "Helix Skull" that falls flat across the twelve tracks included. "Aesthethica" is really a pretty great album & one that I regard more highly than Liturgy's highly praised 2019 fourth full-length "H.A.Q.Q." these days but it does require a level of open-mindedness towards your black metal so if you can't stand the positivity of Deafheaven, the post-rock experimentation of Altar of Plagues or the chaotic mathcore infusion of Serpent Column because they take you too far from the original intent of the black metal model then you likely won't be open to this release which is unfairly lumped with the "hipster black metal" tag in my opinion.