Music
All-Time High (And Low) Scores
Best Of 2009
Best Of 2008
Best Of 2007
Best Of 2006
Best Of 2005
Best Of 2004
Best Of 2003
Best Of 2002
Best Of 2001
Best Of 2000
Upcoming &
Recent Releases
62
50 Cent
70
AFI
65
Air
70
Alice In Chains
53
Kris Allen
78
Amerie
79
Annie
76
Anti-Pop Consortium
75
Arctic Monkeys
82
Atlas Sound
77
The Avett Brothers
67
Backstreet Boys
59
Bad Lieutenant
68
Devendra Banhart
71
Lou Barlow
88
Baroness
69
Basement Jaxx
81
David Bazan
72
Beak>
84
Biffy Clyro
72
The Big Pink
95
Big Star
46
Billy Talent
75
The Black Crowes
72
The Black Heart Procession
68
Blitzen Trapper
75
BLK JKS
53
Bon Jovi
76
A.A. Bondy
65
Boys Like Girls
76
Brand New
73
Tyondai Braxton
83
Brother Ali
72
Ian Brown
75
Michael Buble
77
Built To Spill
61
Colbie Caillat
78
Califone
69
Mariah Carey
81
Brandi Carlile
72
Julian Casablancas
83
Rosanne Cash
71
Castanets
82
Nick Cave & Warren Ellis
64
Exene Cervenka
79
Vic Chesnutt
81
Circulatory System
67
The Clean
84
The Clientele
72
Cold Cave
85
Converge
76
The Cribs
79
Cymbals Eat Guitars
62
Dashboard Confessional
71
Datarock
59
Dead By Sunrise
76
Dead Man's Bones
77
Del The Funky Homosapien & Tame One
73
Do Make Say Think
63
The Dodos
77
Drive-By Truckers
67
Bob Dylan
58
Echo & The Bunnymen
61
Electric Six
44
The Entrance Band
69
Fanfarlo
71
Jay Farrar And Benjamin Gibbard
63
Felix Da Housecat
68
Fink
66
Orenda Fink
79
The Flaming Lips
66
Flight Of The Conchords
79
Florence And The Machine
67
John Fogerty
83
Fuck Buttons
71
Nelly Furtado
47
Gary Go
68
Ghostface Killah
79
Girls
69
Gossip
62
David Gray
66
David Guetta
65
Calvin Harris
79
Richard Hawley
74
Mayer Hawthorne
66
Headlights
79
HEALTH
67
Hockey
67
Whitney Houston
80
Hudson Mohawke
68
Imogen Heap
59
Jack Ingram
79
Islands
74
Jamie T
65
Jay-Z
51
Jet
68
Daniel Johnston
76
Norah Jones
77
Karen O And The Kids
72
Toby Keith
69
Kid Cudi
75
Kid Sister
66
Kings Of Convenience
62
Sean Kingston
64
KISS
63
Mark Knopfler
73
Kris Kristofferson
68
KRS-One & Buckshot
76
La Roux
85
Miranda Lambert
71
Sondre Lerche
56
Juliette Lewis
62
Leona Lewis
82
Lightning Bolt
74
Little Dragon
44
Pixie Lott
83
Patty Loveless
73
Lyle Lovett
79
Lucero
75
Baaba Maal
77
Madness
84
Madonna
85
Manic Street Preachers
61
Maps
73
Mario
55
Massive Attack
57
Matisyahu
62
John Mayer
66
Tim McGraw
65
Brian McKnight
79
Mew
75
Mika
68
Amy Millan
76
Mission Of Burma
75
Molina And Johnson
80
Monsters Of Folk
66
Morrissey
76
The Mountain Goats
62
Múm
72
Muse
66
Willie Nelson
82
Nirvana
96
Nirvana
80
No Age
71
Noah And The Whale
75
Noisettes
79
Nudge
64
OneRepublic
47
Dolores O'Riordan
74
Os Mutantes
78
Osso
67
Alec Ounsworth
81
Owen
73
Paramore
78
Pastels And Tenniscoats
80
Pearl Jam
69
Jemina Pearl
65
Phish
61
Pitbull
79
A Place To Bury Strangers
79
Polvo
72
Porcupine Tree
72
Port O'Brien
79
Q-Tip
79
R.E.M.
88
Raekwon
69
Rain Machine
75
Dizzee Rascal
74
The Raveonettes
79
Real Estate
81
Rodrigo Y Gabriela
66
Omar Rodriguez-Lopez
78
Russian Circles
69
Hope Sandoval & The Warm Inventions
78
Say Anything
61
Sally Shapiro
78
Shudder To Think
70
Simian Mobile Disco
58
Simple Minds
80
Slayer
61
The Slits
58
Spiral Stairs
55
Steel Panther
75
Sufjan Stevens
52
Rod Stewart
68
Joss Stone
83
Barbra Streisand
77
A Sunny Day In Glasgow
74
Susanna And The Magical Orchestra
79
The Swell Season
80
David Sylvian
83
Taken By Trees
80
Tegan And Sara
68
The Temper Trap
78
The Dutchess & The Duke
71
The Pains Of Being Pure At Heart
74
Them Crooked Vultures
72
Themselves
82
They Might Be Giants
66
J Tillman
69
Times New Viking
57
Tokio Hotel
67
Trey Songz
73
Frank Turner
71
The Twilight Sad
60
Carrie Underwood
56
The Used
68
Various Artists
69
Various Artists
77
The Very Best
70
Kurt Vile
65
Vivian Girls
71
Volcano Choir
73
Rufus Wainwright
78
Wale
57
Weezer
81
White Denim
76
Why?
83
Wild Beasts
80
Wildbirds & Peacedrums
69
Robbie Williams
59
Andrew W.K.
65
Wolfmother
84
The xx
79
Yo La Tengo
83
Yoko Ono Plastic Ono Band
52
Pete Yorn & Scarlett Johansson
59
Zero 7
Stars indicate the most critically-acclaimed albums.
Saturnalia
Generally favorable reviews
Based on 28 critic reviews
How did we calculate this?
Based on 13 votes
Read user comments
Rate this album >
Album Info
Label: Sub Pop
Release Date: 04 March 2008
Discs: 1 disc
Genre(s): Rock, Alternative
Summary
The Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli and Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan team up on their debut album as The Gutter Twins.
Also On The Web: Official Artist Site
What The Critics Said
All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...
Alternative Press
The lofty expectations are met in full with Saturnalia. [Apr 2008, p.160]
Delusions of Adequacy
Saturnalia is easily the best album I have heard this year and will undoubtedly be included in many a year end list.
Read Full Review >No Ripcord
Saturnalia revels in sin while occasionally contemplating salvation. Mesmerizing comes to mind.
Read Full Review >Filter
Dulli and Lanegan, two of today's greatest underappreciated frontmen, are hypnotic; narcotic. [Winter 2008, p.96]
PopMatters
Repeated listens to this wonderful record reveals a wealth of musicality more prominent than perhaps anything either Dulli or Lanegan have been attached to yet.
Read Full Review >The Phoenix
It’s Dulli sounding like Dulli at his best. And Lanegan delivers some of his more devastating vocal performances.
Read Full Review >All Music Guide
Saturnalia is mysticism and hedonism, saints and sinners, dark and light, but this is no clear-cut Manichaean collaboration. Both Lanegan and Dulli represent this, both contain all the good and the bad they sing about, sometimes at different moments but very often together, and it's that joined duality, that very disturbingly human quality, telling us things about ourselves we'd rather not acknowledge, that makes the album so absolutely alluring.
Read Full Review >Billboard
Saturnalia, is teeming with the kind of raw and gritty music one might expect to hear kicked around in, well, the gutter. And considering the project is a collaboration between Mark Lanegan and Greg Dulli, that's certainly not a bad thing.
Read Full Review >Dusted Magazine
It’s in those moments [of appealing moment of vulnerability] as well as in the swarming chorus of 'God’s Children' that the duo hit their true heights, and those same qualities are the ones most likely to mark this album as an enduring piece of work from two icons of a class that has long since graduated.
Read Full Review >Paste Magazine
Lanegan began speaking of this collaboration before a note had been recorded, and it plays out perfectly.
Read Full Review >Hartford Courant
Fans of Dulli and Lanegan should happily devour the Gutter Twins, but even better, newcomers are in for a smooth, memorable introduction to two of the darker characters in rock today.
Read Full Review >Village Voice
The result's a bit grungy, sure--but there's also an undercurrent of dark, sinister country and blues that suggests they're not just rehashing old times.
Read Full Review >Uncut
With Lanegan at his stentorian best and Dulli in full confessional mode, Saturnalia is a feast, certainly--but one where the dishes are served delightfully raw.
Read Full Review >Mojo
It's a gloom that suits them both. [Apr 2008, p.112]
Q Magazine
It's the best thing either has done in a decade. [Apr 2008, p.116]
cokemachineglow
Musically the most important aspect of this collaborative effort is that their voices work so nicely with and against each other.
Read Full Review >Pitchfork
Musically, Saturnalia, named after the Roman festival where slaves and masters switch roles, is a concentrated dose of their usual badassery, never straying too far from the territory Dulli explored on the last three Singers albums, and even includes many of the same collaborators.
Read Full Review >Almost Cool
It's not the sort of release that throws a lot of curveballs, but Saturnalia is nonetheless a solid album from two veteran musicians.
Read Full Review >Under The Radar
Saturnalia isn't breaking any new ground, and in large sections it sounds a lot more 1992 than 2008, but there's enough majesty and confidence behind it to make one hope Dulli and Lanegan will give it at least one more album. [Spring 2008, p.83]
New Musical Express
What gives Saturnalia its real kick is the way it emotionally engages.
Read Full Review >Spin
These guys sound like they're genuinely torn between looking up at the stars and trying to find an exit to the sewer. Neat trick, that.
Read Full Review >Sputnikmusic
This represents a new territory for both Dulli and Lanegan, and it's one that they (generally) excel in.
Read Full Review >Dot Music
This is a lovingly crafted record which has the same misty fug and aura as The Soulsavers and Lanegan indulged in recently.
Read Full Review >The Onion (A.V. Club)
The Twins' mission statement seems to be more about mood than memorable songs.
Read Full Review >Prefix Magazine
In their desire to avoid repetition, however, they’ve indeed strayed somewhere they’ve never been before: the middle of the road.
Read Full Review >Blender
Not surprisingly, their debut tends toward brooding, bluesy rock—a worthy soundtrack for those dark, whiskey-soaked nights of the soul and the regret-filled mornings after.
Read Full Review >Slant Magazine
They were probably aiming for hypnotic or dreamy, but except for the cinematic bookends 'The Stations' and 'Front Street,' the slow dances mostly crash-land in Snoresville
Read Full Review >What Our Users Said
The average user rating for this album is 8.6 (out of 10) based on 13 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.
Bullet Magazine gave it a9:
Intense, dark, brooding - but a sense for the melodic which makes this an essential listen.
NJstixx gave it a9:
As a huge Twilight Singers fan, I thought I'd be disappointed with this...Not so! Repeated listens bring a whole new meaning to the Gutter Twins....God's Childeren and Idle Hands will be appreciated right of the bat, but other tunes such as "Circle the Fringes" , and the rest will capitivate you after several listens. I hope these guys keep making music together.
Raindog's Rants gave it a9:
I've come to expect nothing from excellence from these two guys. The record is not dissimilar to the more aggressive Twilight Singers stuff steeped in biblical references and downtrodden perspectives.
Rob G. gave it a10:
f**king great. Mark & Greg thank you.
Bob S. gave it a9:
Good.
