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Caligula Image
Metascore
88

Universal acclaim - based on 8 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.1

Universal acclaim- based on 60 Ratings

  • Summary: The third full-length release for Rhode Island artist Kristin Hayter was mixed by Seth Manchester features contributions from Mike Berdan, Lee Buford, Ted Byrnes, Noraa Kaplan, Sam McKinlay, and Dylan Walker.
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  • Record Label: Profound Lore
  • Genre(s): Experimental, Industrial, Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Heavy Metal
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 8 out of 8
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 8
  3. Negative: 0 out of 8
  1. Aug 5, 2019
    100
    It might not be an easy listen at times, but make no mistake, this is a vital an important record and one that needs to be heard in order to make sense of it. A definite contender for album of the year and one whose impact will stand alongside Lou Reed‘s Berlin for years to come.
  2. Aug 5, 2019
    100
    Surprisingly, it’s far more tuneful than her previous release, ALL BITCHES DIE, and yet arguably even less listenable. ... Her voice is an astonishing instrument, moving from operatic fullness to hyperventilating shredded shrieks, but always foregrounding intelligibility.
  3. Aug 5, 2019
    90
    Hayter's already dynamic aesthetic. Her thoughtful amalgam of opera, neoclassical darkwave, and death industrial continues to produce theatrical yet still intimate pieces. But above all, Hayter's uncompromised voice tells a necessary story that contests the dominant narratives of women's trauma. Her vivid, brutal portrayal of the enduring effects of misogyny and domestic abuse strictly reveals the gruesome realities of it.
  4. Aug 5, 2019
    80
    The push-pull between fragile piano and ruptures of psychic static is arresting, but by far Kristin’s most captivating weapon is her voice. ... It’s an awesome work of extreme beauty and brutality that will leave you speechless.
  5. Aug 5, 2019
    80
    From start to finish, this album feels like an exposed wound, freshly – you might almost say studiously – picked and mastered to tape. It is an album of baroque intensity and gothic flamboyance played out like one long cathartic scream. Like an onion, it offers up layer after layer to slowly unpeel, each one a potential incitement to the very bitterest tears.
  6. The Wire
    Aug 9, 2019
    80
    An even deeper dig into the wound exposed on her debut. The album is drenched in divinity, its consideration of good and evil as polar concepts is biblical, elevating vengeance to a God-given imperative. Her classically trained voice deals in spiritual cadences, and commands gothic instrumentation of strings and drones. [Aug 2019, p.58]
  7. Aug 5, 2019
    80
    Hayter is classically trained, and there is emotional as well as technical brilliance to the way she expands her vocal palette here.

See all 8 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 4 out of 6
  2. Negative: 1 out of 6
  1. Aug 7, 2019
    9
    This record is even more incredible trip to hell than it’s predecessor. Wow.
  2. Aug 20, 2019
    9
    This album very, very nearly passed me by. I seen it on the home page for weeks, passing it up on every opportunity. Had I known what toThis album very, very nearly passed me by. I seen it on the home page for weeks, passing it up on every opportunity. Had I known what to expect coming in, I would've swerved it completely. Yet on the spur of the moment, I felt compelled to just try it out and see what the hype was about, and after the first track I was allured by the beautiful strings and gorgeous singing.

    What followed was nothing I truly expected to experience, but it caught me so off guard that I wanted more. I was left on the edge of my seat from the very first time she began screaming and let me tell you, never would I find this enjoyable, and in a way I didn't, I was beyond terrified, constantly. I never knew when she would just catch me off guard again. At one point I actually reacted to one such moment in such a way that I burst into tears.

    The way "Lingua Ignota" weaves in-between superb classical music, accompanied by pristine beautiful vocals and deathly shrieking alongside crashing cymbals and what not is an experience I cannot begin to describe.

    I actually forced myself to close the lyrics as I didn't want to potentially spoil the surprise for myself when she did change it up so suddenly and that gripped me so so much more.

    I have been that genuinely frightened by this album that the most harrowing thing was the abrupt end to the closer and then it all starting over again.

    "Lingua Ignota" passed what she set out to do with this album, by instilling fear into its listeners. In my case, it was an almost unhealthy dosage, but alongside the gorgeous instrumentation and super vocals that acts as a false breather in an album where you never know where she might strike next, in my eyes I don't believe it could've been executed more perfectly.

    Favourite Tracks:
    FAITHFUL SERVANT FRIEND OF CHRIST, DO YOU DOUBT ME TRATIOR, BUTCHER OF THE WORLD, MAY FAILURE BE YOUR NOOSE, FRAGRANT IS MY MANY FLOWER'D CROWN, IF THE POISON WON'T TAKE YOU MY DOGS WILL, DAY OF TEARS AND MOURNING, SORROW! SORROW! SORROW!, SPITE ALONE HOLDS ME ALOFT, I AM THE BEAST
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  3. Sep 15, 2019
    9
    Amazingly crushing album with a very interesting concept of biblical proportions. Well worth a listen if you want a unique experience.
  4. Aug 5, 2019
    8
    Caligula (from the Roman Emperor reference) tells all devastating effects of vices: depression of humanity as byproduct of wars among humansCaligula (from the Roman Emperor reference) tells all devastating effects of vices: depression of humanity as byproduct of wars among humans or within themselves. Lingua Ignota told us their uncertainties for two choices of life. The result is wicked, that is the desire to take revenge. It's f**king wicked that reminds us all how humans can be out of their own control from wickedness they suffer in life. Expand
  5. Oct 7, 2021
    6
    Its important to start off by saying this album isn't for everyone. Assuming you know who Caligula was, you can expect some extremely edgyIts important to start off by saying this album isn't for everyone. Assuming you know who Caligula was, you can expect some extremely edgy lyrical content relating to the singer's deep dive into carnal vices and feelings of rage. This album emanates the brutish desires and impulses of the lead singer, and to say it can be difficult to listen to for some people is an understatement. As you progress through this album it becomes clearer that the product was not made for mass consumption, and Lingua Ignota's fanbase is more a niche audience, which many people including myself find intriguing. Steve Albini, one of the most important music critics of our time, said that there will always be a layer of fluff in the music scene in any generation that's nonsensical and lacking in meaning. But below this, as you dig deeper and deeper you can find more and more quality music from frankly obscure artists like Lingua Ignota who never intended her music to be for a larger audience. I enjoyed the production of the album and the brooding voice of Kristin Hayter. At its best it feels like crossing The Rubicon in ancient Rome, at its worst its a monologue about her feelings of depression and anger. Definitely a very ancient Roman vibe, almost as if she's playing a part venting feelings of isolation, rage, or despair. This very modern music project that deviates from norms in singing and production can be visceral, be forewarned. Its the antithesis to easy listening pop music. Revision: Album artwork is terrible, they must have been smoking something. She looks gross and is too pale. -2 points more points. Expand
  6. Aug 28, 2019
    1
    Is all this demonic sounding music meant to be impressive, is it a joke, I guess I didn't find it funny, or the least bit entertaining,Is all this demonic sounding music meant to be impressive, is it a joke, I guess I didn't find it funny, or the least bit entertaining, certainly about as far as one could get from PLEASANT MUSIC (she capitalises each letter of each song to make sure we get the point that she is REALLY, REALLY, REALLY DARK...) oh give me a break. This "artist" needs to take some deconstipants and spend some time on the loo, because all this forced singing is good for is pressing out a blob of what the music sounds like. Expand