The Ark Work

Background

Following the release of the band's second album, Aesthethica, Liturgy toured as a duo, only featuring the band leader Hunter Hunt-Hendrix and guitarist Bernard Gann. During this period, Hunt-Hendrix planned the album by himself for a couple of years and expressed a desire to move away from its standard “transcendental black metal” style, to incorporate more “electronic elements.”

In 2014, the former band members, bassist Tyler Dusenbury and drummer Greg Fox, rejoined the band to record the upcoming third studio album. The Ark Work was announced on January 20, 2015 and the press release of the album describes it as featuring "cross-fertilizing hardstyle beats, occult-oriented rap, and the glitched re-sampling of IDM."

Reception

The album received polarised receptions from critics and fans alike. Consequence of Sound gave the album a B- and said it was "triumphant and interesting enough to keep fans satisfied", though also noted the album will raise "the question the band has prompted before: Is this even black metal?" The A.V. Club, which awarded the album a B+, called the album "more progressive and polarizing than ever" and "a singular musical achievement". The New York Times suggested that the album found the band truly developing its own sound and, while not free of criticisms, observed, "The band knows its virtues and works them hard". NPR stated that with this album, Hunt-Hendrix "[has] come closer than ever to realizing" his goal of creating transcendental black metal. PopMatters shared this opinion; while they criticised the album's lyrics, they effusively praised other aspects of the album, saying, "it manages to capture Hunt-Hendrix’s aesthetic vision without feeling like it’s reaching to tack on a philosophy to its adventurous music. The record truly feels like Transcendental Black Metal". Pitchfork Media gave it a mixed review, rating the album at 6.4 out of 10 and praising Greg Fox' performance and the first five songs but criticising Hunt-Hendrix' vocals as monotonous and the album as overlong. Exclaim! shared this reaction, opening their 3/10 review with "Guys, Liturgy is fully trolling us." The album currently has a score of 63 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Personnel