Lingua Ignota’s Caligula is beautiful and terrifying in equal measure. It’s drenched in a darkness that lends both depth and clarity. Named for the Roman emperor famed for his depravity, Caligula stares that depravity down in a way that is unflinching yet consumed with the pain and anger of having been at the hands of it. This record deconstructs and turns the violence back on itself, creating an astoundingly complex, difficult listen, but one that is entirely worth it.
Lingua Ignota is the project of San Diego-based artist Kristin Hayter, a classically trained musician creating experimental, industrial hardcore. She is an outspoken survivor of domestic abuse and violence and much of her music deals with the confrontation and processing of the lasting trauma she has experienced. Hayter’s music is raw and profound, it lashes out against abusers and gives voice to the all-consuming anger of having been exploited, often in a way that lends itself to extremes—yet still manages to deal in nuance as well. Caligula counters violence with violence, calls out the brotherhood of masculinity, and presents a visceral narrative of devastation and retribution. It ranges sonically from beautiful, soft classical instrumentals to shrieking, grinding, industrial hardcore, sometimes transitioning between them in just seconds. There is still a cohesion to the record, but it is rife with sharp transitions, and even jump scares.
The track at the core of the record is the more than nine-minute “Do You Doubt Me Traitor.” It throws Caligula into chaos, calling Satan to the side of the narrator and crying out the desperate refrains “How can you doubt me now? / How can you doubt me?” “I don't eat, I don't sleep,” and “How do I break you / Before you break me?” in progression. It illustrates a person broken and built back up full of rage and resentment—becoming something powerful through their weakness, growing into “The Butcher of the World.” Lingua Ignota shrieks “I'm the fucking death dealer / I’m the butcher of the world / If you don’t fear me yet, you will” on the following track, the devolution into true madness and brutality complete.
There is little reprieve from the menace of Caligula with moments of clarity often hitting harder than chaotic ones. On “Fragrant is My Many Flowered Crown,” Hayter sings “All men are brothers / and brothers only love each other,” breaking through the crushing noise with perhaps the most damning line of the entire record. With Caligula, Lingua Ignota has created a space where anger can be stoked, resentment simmered, and hatred bred—but all to an end. She gives an outlet to trauma, letting the ugly side breathe. For sixty-six minutes its all-consuming, and to be consumed in the madness is exquisite.
Oh and the chest tattoo is real, and Hayter wants you to know it.
Listen to Caligula on Bandcamp:
