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Saturnalia Image
Metascore
80

Generally favorable reviews - based on 28 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.3

Universal acclaim- based on 16 Ratings

  • Summary: The Afghan Whigs' Greg Dulli and Screaming Trees' Mark Lanegan team up on their debut album as The Gutter Twins.
Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 25 out of 28
  2. Negative: 0 out of 28
  1. Alternative Press
    90
    The lofty expectations are met in full with Saturnalia. [Apr 2008, p.160]
  2. Filter
    86
    Dulli and Lanegan, two of today's greatest underappreciated frontmen, are hypnotic; narcotic. [Winter 2008, p.96]
  3. Mojo
    80
    It's a gloom that suits them both. [Apr 2008, p.112]
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 70
    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.
  7. 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

See all 28 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 5 out of 5
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 5
  3. Negative: 0 out of 5
  1. RobG.
    Mar 11, 2008
    10
    f**king great. Mark & Greg thank you.
  2. BobS.
    Mar 9, 2008
    9
    Good.
  3. Raindog'sRants
    Mar 21, 2008
    9
    I've come to expect nothing from excellence from these two guys. The record is not dissimilar to the more aggressive Twilight Singers 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. Expand
  4. NJstixx
    Mar 22, 2008
    9
    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 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. Expand
  5. BulletMagazine
    Mar 29, 2008
    9
    Intense, dark, brooding - but a sense for the melodic which makes this an essential listen.