Lingua Ignota - Caligula (Profound Lore)
Following the brilliant self-released All Bitches Die opus in 2017 (re-released by Profound Lore Records in 2018), Lingua Ignota returns with Caligula, one of most powerful efforts that you will hear this year.
Disturbingly demonic, empowering and with a terrifying vengeful approach, Caligula will make you uncomfortable and will force you to deal with your and Kristin Hayter’s psychological monsters that lurk under the bed. With everything else straddled somewhere between the extremes already mentioned, it’s an uncomfortable listening. This raises Caligula far above the simple world of any sub-genre moves, because it’s not quite common nowadays to be able to witness such visceral emotion, honesty and this kind of rare expansiveness through art or music. Hayter’s voice is very unique, from screaming to very gentle singing she manages to combine them very naturally. Her taste for elementary dynamics – very loud to very soft, very sharp to very soft – are almost disconcerting, but her strength and purge is more self-assured than ever, she continues to follow her path and deserves your full attention.
Accompanied by Sam McKinlay (THE RITA), drummer Lee Buford (The Body), percussionist Ted Byrnes (Cackle Car, Wood & Metal) and with guest vocals from Dylan Walker (Full of Hell), Mike Berdan (Uniform), and Noraa Kaplan (Visibilities), all good souls in the making of this effort, highlighting the benefits that a diverse workforce can bring in order to create this well-balanced and epic effort.
Caligula is a storm of noise and lullabies of experimentation that will spin around today’s underground scene, perhaps even beyond that.