Tonight while scouring the web for information on the fascinating “transcendental black metal” band Liturgy, I found a brief interview with the band’s front man Hunter Hunt-Hendrix in which he mentions his recent viewing of a 1984 documentary by contemporary artist and critic Dan Graham called Rock My Religion (viewable at the link in its entirety). Hunt-Hendrix sums up the thesis of the documentary as the idea “that punk is part of an American tradition of ecstatic communal activity that began with the Shakers,” in other words that rock itself constitutes religious practice in continuity with American forms of “radical” Christianity.

The notion of rock as religion probably would not strike readers of Rock and Theology as a terribly deep insight. The documentary does make a few interesting connections between countercultural forms of Christianity and rock music, especially punk rock — connections I have been attempting to explore in my own work. But what is most fascinating about the film is its “lo-fi” visuals and production, its heavy use of footage of Patti Smith discussing the religious character of rock music and culture, and what one blogger refers to as its “mash up” juxtapositions of footage of 1950s religious revivals and music from Smith, Sonic Youth, Minor Threat, and Black Flag. If anything, the film is an interesting artifact, reflection and reference point for those inhabiting the worlds of rock and theology.

The current band Liturgy is an interesting phenomenon in its own right. Hunt-Hendrix is one thoughtful metal musician. He presented a lecture on “Transcendental Black Metal” at the “Hideous Gnosis” Black Metal Theory Symposium that Tom Beaudoin mentioned here recently, and in interviews he frequently discusses the need for a distinctly “American” form of black metal that moves beyond the cliches of burning churches and crucified women (which Beaudoin rightly questions). It’s an intratraditional critique to which I can relate, having been part of a (“non-black”) metal band that attempted to ditch the cliches as well, albeit through a completely different angle on the genre. But here again, Hunt-Hendrix’s criticism of black metal’s now almost cartoonish anti-religious and anti-Christian lyrics and imagery does not then equal a call for a new wave of “Christian metal” or anything of that sort. While obviously channeling various mystical traditions, Liturgy’s “religiosity” is much much harder to pin down. From a recent interview:

Religious connotations are also something that goes along with the band: from song titles to album covers… How come that black-metal and religion can be connected? Are you guys religious in some way?

Yes, religious in some way. It’s hard to say what way that is. It’s more of an artistic spirituality, a belief in transcendence through music. The Romantic composer Scriabin wanted to write a symphonic work that would spark the apocalypse. He died while working on it. The title was ‘Mysterium’, which is also the title of one of our songs. There’s something like that; it’s hard to express.

I’m interested in thoughtful metal bands like Liturgy as it looks like life is bringing me back to this genre through a new musical project with a group of people who are also interested in experimental forms of metal (post-metal?). This upcoming band will mark the first new rock project that I’ll start after getting involved with the Rock and Theology project. It will be interesting to see the kinds of intentionality, attentiveness, and reflection that this new interaction of rock and theology is likely to generate. But at its most basic, it will simply be fun to plug into the Orange half-stack again and create a few “ecstatic rites” of our own.

Michael Iafrate
Morgantown, West Virginia

2 Comments »

1. 

   Could someone please explain to me why the necessity in “contemporary” “Christian” lyrics for endless repetitions Yesterday in church one chorus repeated, at least 100x ‘My Redeemer Lives’ I think this verges on mindless chanting of a mantra. I cannot do that and “worship” at the same time, as I feel I am somehow insulting the intelligence of The One I am supposedly ‘worshipping’

   Comment by george — May 18, 2010 @ 12:34 am

2. 

   I love hearing rock and theology mixed together. This is probably why Creed and Alterbridge are my favorite bands.

   Comment by Bible Study — December 19, 2010 @ 1:32 pm

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