''H.A.Q.Q.'' is the fourth studio album by the American band
Liturgy
Liturgy is the customary public ritual of worship performed by a religious group. As a religious phenomenon, liturgy represents a communal response to and participation in the sacred through activities reflecting praise, thanksgiving, remembra ...
. It was released on November 12, 2019 as a surprise digital release, and physically in February 2020 through main artist
Haela Hunt-Hendrix's label YLYLCYN.
It was primarily recorded and produced in August 2019.
Background and concept
The press release for ''H.A.Q.Q.'' describes the record as "a consolidation of the band's sound to date," as well as "Liturgy’s most vulnerable record for Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, addressing anger and struggles around mental health, sexuality, and religion."
The album title is an acronym for ''"Haelegen above Quality and Quantity"''.
Haelegen is a function within Hunt-Hendrix's
belief system
A belief is a subjective attitude that something is true or a state of affairs is the case. A subjective attitude is a mental state of having some stance, take, or opinion about something. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" ...
, which she previously explored through the record ''
New Introductory Lectures on the System of Transcendental Qabala'' (2016); this belief system is expressed as a diagram on the cover of the album.
The album is tied to an ongoing series of philosophical lectures by Hunt-Hendrix on YouTube, which details the system of concepts portrayed by the diagram on its cover.
Critical reception
Pitchfork
A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials.
The term is also applie ...
gave the album a 7.6 out of 10, calling it "their most aggressive and radical album yet." ''H.A.Q.Q''. was ranked #30 of 2019 by fans on
Rate Your Music
Rate Your Music (often abbreviated to RYM) is an online encyclopedia of music releases and films. Users can catalog items from their personal collection, review them, and assign ratings in a five-star rating system. The site also features comm ...
, and ''
Kerrang!
''Kerrang!'' is a British music webzine and quarterly magazine that primarily covers rock, punk and heavy metal music. Since 2017, the magazine has been published by Wasted Talent Ltd (the same company that owns electronic music publication ...
'' called it one of the ten best surprise-released rock albums of all time.
Track listing
* All track titles are stylized in
all uppercase
In typography, text or font in all caps (short for "all capitals") contains capital letters without any lowercase letters. For example: All-caps text can be seen in legal documents, advertisements, newspaper headlines, and the titles on book co ...
.
Personnel
;Liturgy
*
Haela Hunt-Hendrix – guitar, vocals, electronics, piano , bells , production
* Bernard Gann – guitar
* Tia Vincent-Clark – bass
* Leo Didkovsky – drums, glockenspiel
;Additional personnel
* Marilu Donovan – harp
* Lucie Vítková – hichiriki
* Eric Wubbels – piano
* Adam Robinson – ryuteki
* Tadlow Ensemble – strings
* Cory Bracken – vibraphone
* Charlotte Mundy – voice
* Matt Colton – mastering
* Seth Manchester – mixing
References
{{Authority control
2019 albums
Liturgy (band) albums