Survival is the latest project from Hunter Hunt-Hendrix, along with long time collaborators Greg Smith and Jeff Bobula. It's an aggressive, boastful debut record that blends hard rock and metal tropes and elements of folk. Shedding the blast beat acrobatics that made Liturgy's black metal such a prominent force has done nothing to deter Hendrix's songwriting capabilities, or make the music he plays any less exhilarating. In fact, Survival argues to name Hendrix and crew as some of the most talented metal polyglots around today.
Survival's a record not about strenuous paces and technical prowess like Liturgy was—relatively speaking, anyway, since it is bound to draw those comparisons. It is an angry, complex metal record full of fast changes and meticulously organized syncopation. But it's a terrestrial one, almost mellifluous at times. First song "Tragedy Of The Mind" captures perfectly the way the record plays out, a pleading insistent barrage of minor key guitar motifs interrupted with sadder, droning vocal harmonies and just enough prog elements to maintain uncertainty.
In Survival's darker moments, like the melancholy chorus of "Original Pain" or the somber folk spirituality of the incredible "Since Sun Revised," there is a genuine loss being felt, and likewise a true joy in "Triumph Of The Good," its powerful crescendos suggesting the success of corporeal virtues like the Olympian art might correlate to.
The album plays only in fully bright moments and utterly dark ones with no half measures. Even on its three song pseudo-suite, the "Freedom" songs, this is either a biblical or a blockbuster kind of freedom, with songs rolling along at breakneck speeds in focused polyrhythms, asking for no less than total compassion for Survival's goals. What they are aren't exactly clear, but they're very convincing.
Hendrix is in the midst of recording another album as Liturgy—whatever the current incarnation might be—and both Smith and Bobula have their hands in a number of side projects, so it's completely possible this might be a one-off recording from the group. Even so, as it stands this is a strong homage to great hard rock and metal, and it's a testimony to the power of never second-guessing your strengths.
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