Review Summary: Pseudo-intellectual nonsense.
Philosophically, Hunter Hunt Hendrix is an idiot. Though supposedly achieving something transcendental with
The Ark Work, a self-styled masterpiece of bad taste and worser habits, Liturgy did little more than trivialize and question the self-appointed importance and seriousness of heavy metal tradition. It was not, as he tries to evidence in his comically unintelligible exegesis, '
...the reanimation ... of black metal with ... a soul full of chaos, frenzy and ecstasy.' It was an exceptional, though nonetheless farcical, exercise in musical madlibs.
The purpose of Liturgy is in indisputable; the methods to which heavy metal, a sanctified vehicle, can be bastardized with enough outside influences as so to leave it feeling unfamiliar if not unlistenable. Hendrix's solo side-project, Kel Valhaal, borrows a component of Hendrix's disastrous masterpiece
The Ark Work whilst stripping it of its black metal facade. No longer does he ape Michael Gira aping MC Ride to ridiculous effect; instead, he indulges trap and ambient whilst never grappling fully with the form. Of course, had he fully grappled with it and produced something digestible, it wouldn't be anywhere near as exciting. Instead, he wholeheartedly raps, expanding on
The Ark Work mythos without ever sounding as stilted as he did on "Vitriol". Lead single "Tense Stage" is as much an invitation to this absurdity as it is a wrecking ball to good taste. Hendrix raps, and he's surprisingly listenable doing so; not great, but solid Chief Keef impression. The overly critical might be inclined to call it humorless, but it's not hard to hear at the very least competence in Hendrix's abstract silliness. It can be heard in album centerpiece "Ontoligical Love", an overwrote, overcooked, over-the-top mess that brings most of these tropes to fruition in a 10-minute showing of unironic joy. What should be messy is completely listenable, and what should be ironic is completely sincere. Hendrix intoans the title phrase over his mangled, IDM beats, relenting only for the occasional hint of glitchiness. Though Hendrix might enjoy subverting form, he's more than delighted to express a genuine love of the music he mangles. Given the outlandishness with which "Ontological Love" and the rest of
New Introductory Lectures... toys with, it's worth arguing how great it sounds when the pseudo-intellectual nonsense is dropped in favor of something a bit more genuine.
Much of this is to argue that
New Introductory Lectures... is a frustrating, confusing, yet all the same admirable album that can never escape the spectre of its parent album. With Liturgy, it's a love of irony and mischief that brought the world tumbling down around MIDI trumpets and a shaman-esque moaned cadence. With Kel Valhaal, it seems the mischief has given way to a genuine love for affectations of hip-hop and electronica. Irony isn't a factor in Hendrix's expression. He just wants to rap and have you in on the jokes, too. Surprisingly, it's compelling all the same.
