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Virgins Image
Metascore
87

Universal acclaim - based on 26 Critic Reviews What's this?

User Score
8.5

Universal acclaim- based on 63 Ratings

  • Summary: The seventh full-length release for the Canadian experimental electronic producer was recorded live in Montreal, Reykjavik, and Seattle.
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Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 26 out of 26
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 26
  3. Negative: 0 out of 26
  1. Magnet
    Oct 18, 2013
    95
    All of it bears his precise touch, but the spectrum of moods he's able to conjure just got a lot wider. [No. 103, p.56]
  2. Oct 15, 2013
    90
    There's an exhilarating bleakness at the center of Virgins--the hollow at the heart of all things, nibbling inexorably away.
  3. Oct 24, 2013
    90
    This album has all the presence that you should expect it to have.
  4. Uncut
    Oct 10, 2013
    80
    While "Incense At Abu Ghraib" has a horror auteur's knack for intimidation, a shrill whistle barely masking the sound of feet on metal stairs. It's masterful, though it'll leave you feeling like a speck of gravel in self-destructing world. [Nov 2013, p.72]
  5. Oct 14, 2013
    80
    Hecker's sound signature may still be instantly recognizable, but there is no denying that he has moved significantly farther down the path toward something else with Virgins.
  6. Oct 14, 2013
    80
    Virgins is Tim Hecker at his most thought-provoking and enigmatic.
  7. Oct 15, 2013
    70
    This is an intense, unsettling work from the Canadian musician and if it doesn't quite reach the heights of Ravedeath, it's mostly down to Virgins lacking the fluid album arc of the former and not because the tracks are any less powerful.

See all 26 Critic Reviews

Score distribution:
  1. Positive: 6 out of 8
  2. Negative: 1 out of 8
  1. Oct 16, 2013
    10
    Listening to Tim Hecker's "Virgins" is amazing. After a few listens, slowly memorizing the position and elements of each song, it begins toListening to Tim Hecker's "Virgins" is amazing. After a few listens, slowly memorizing the position and elements of each song, it begins to unfold like an epic, or perhaps, like the shadow of one.

    It's as wide as a cathedral, haunting as the Catacombs of Paris, ominous as an approaching hurricane, cold as Siberia, glitchy as Windows 95, fractured as a broken spine, scary as a horror film, invasive as a parasite, intelligent as a skyscraper's blueprint, instrumentally varied as Texan geography, glowing as moonlight through stained glass windows, melancholic as peacetime after the war, disquieting as a necropolis... and yet, it remains beautiful throughout.

    I enjoyed Tim Hecker's "Ravedeath, 1972" well enough, but "Virgins" speaks to me far more. Stigmata I and II are wonderful together and are perhaps my favorite songs, aside from Virginal I and Virginal II. It's wonderful throughout. Glad I bought it.

    Also, just for kicks: compare Rachel's' "Systems Layers" to the song "Black Refractions." It's interesting how similar they are.
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  2. Jul 25, 2022
    10
    Original Score: 8/10
    Reviewed on: 25/10/21
    It took me a while to realize this is a perfect record. It's always been quite difficult for me
    Original Score: 8/10
    Reviewed on: 25/10/21
    It took me a while to realize this is a perfect record. It's always been quite difficult for me to give a completely ambient album a ten as it just didn't seem fair or on par with my other 10's which were 10's for a myriad of factors which usually involve the songwriting, vocals and delivery. But tim Hecker on what is his best album impressed me with his skill,how he manages to craft these vivid foreboding soundscapes reminiscent of obsidian and empty attacks. His music feels very hollow, as if delivered by an inhuman celestial harbinger. The ceenter piece "live room" is a solid higlight I can never skip.
    Dark,claustrophobic and peaceful. A great achievement in composing and production. I cannot help but return to this in times of stress. Love this
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  3. Dec 29, 2013
    10
    This is the most beautiful album of all time, with a strong vibe of mass destruction. Loving it a lot.

    Must Hear Tracks: Prisms Virginal
    This is the most beautiful album of all time, with a strong vibe of mass destruction. Loving it a lot.

    Must Hear Tracks:
    Prisms
    Virginal I
    Virginal II
    Live Room In

    Not So Good Tracks:
    Live Room Out
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  4. May 15, 2014
    8
    Tim hecker really delivers on virgins, the hooks on this album are done very well the track live room is my favorite especially the hooks inTim hecker really delivers on virgins, the hooks on this album are done very well the track live room is my favorite especially the hooks in this wow, this album has a dark feel to it. Track after track tim delivers. This album is put together really well 8/10 Expand
  5. Oct 26, 2013
    8
    This album is a beautiful listening experience. A journey through a road of amazing sounds. Some are sad, others are tense, while others canThis album is a beautiful listening experience. A journey through a road of amazing sounds. Some are sad, others are tense, while others can actually be called scary. And then there are the calm pieces. Just wonderful. It's why "Black Refraction" is my favorite track. It feels almost like a meditation.
    I enjoyed this album more than its predecessor, which is still good in its own right.
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  6. Oct 9, 2022
    6
    The kind of album that makes you have deeper reflections on what should actually be and represent any other music album.
    I had the impression
    The kind of album that makes you have deeper reflections on what should actually be and represent any other music album.
    I had the impression that Tim Hecker chose certain sound movements for this project and then diffracted them again and again in various ways. Of course there are numerous floating and transitional moments but it is only to come back harder and with more originality. Unfortunately there were just too many of it for myself. Time is way too often suspended in my opinion. But I can't take out those pure transitions though, as the beginning of 'Black Reflection' appear to be.
    Indeed this LP manages to invoke powerful and varied emotions in us during the listens. It sometimes feels poetic, rushed, dark, contemplative and derivative at the same time. And surely words would not have been enough to describe it all better than 'Virgins' did.
    It is a questioning effort. But the several listens I had of it just made me realize the major highlight of what I could call shallowness and repetitiveness.
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  7. Dec 8, 2013
    0
    I find this to be totally unlistenable and hard to really quantify as "music". It's more like a bunch of annoying noises layered over eachI find this to be totally unlistenable and hard to really quantify as "music". It's more like a bunch of annoying noises layered over each other in random ways. There are many who will bend over backward to convince themselves that they "get" this album, and try to seem "sophisticated" by liking it. I will not be one of those hipsters. Collapse

See all 8 User Reviews

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