''H.A.Q.Q.'' is the fourth studio album by the American band
Liturgy. It was released on November 12, 2019 as a surprise digital release, and physically in February 2020 through main artist
Hunter 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 an attitude that something is the case, or that some proposition is true. In epistemology, philosophers use the term "belief" to refer to attitudes about the world which can be either true or false. To believe something is to tak ...
, 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 (also a hay fork) is an agricultural tool with a long handle and two to five tines used to lift and pitch or throw loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves.
The term is also applied colloquially, but inaccurately, to ...
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 collaborative database 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 feat ...
, and
Kerrang
''Kerrang!'' is a British weekly magazine devoted to rock, punk and heavy metal music, currently published by Wasted Talent (the same company that owns electronic music publication ''Mixmag''). It was first published on 6 June 1981 as a one ...
called it one of the ten best surprise-released rock albums of all time.
Track listing
* All track titles are stylized in
all uppercase.
Personnel
;Liturgy
*
Hunter 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
{{DEFAULTSORT:H.A.Q.Q.
2019 albums
Liturgy (band) albums