H.A.Q.Q.
# H.A.Q.Q.

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 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, 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

Professional ratings :

| Review scores ||
| - | - |
| Source | Rating |
| Metal Storm | 8.6/10 |
| Pitchfork | 7.6/10 |

Pitchfork 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, and Kerrang! called it one of the ten best surprise-released rock albums of all time.

## Track listing

All tracks are written by Haela Hunt-Hendrix.

* All track titles are stylized in all uppercase.

## Personnel

### Liturgy

* Haela Hunt-Hendrix – guitar, vocals, electronics, piano (track 5, 7, 9), bells (track 5, 6), production
* Bernard Gann – guitar
* Tia Vincent-Clark – bass
* Leo Didkovsky – drums, glockenspiel (track 4, 6)

### Additional personnel

* Marilu Donovan – harp (track 1, 3, 6, 8)
* Lucie Vítková – hichiriki (track 1)
* Eric Wubbels – piano (track 2)
* Adam Robinson – ryuteki (track 1)
* Tadlow Ensemble – strings (track 4, 6)
* Cory Bracken – vibraphone (track 4, 6)
* Charlotte Mundy – voice (track 1, 3)
* Matt Colton – mastering
* Seth Manchester – mixing
