Review Summary: annihilating comfort
SINNER GET READY leaves me feeling cold. The record is freezing, terrifying, and entirely captivating, leaving its listeners in a similarly distressed state. This is a feat that should not be undervalued: few “scary” albums actually
scare; few “fun” albums actually leave one with the sensation of having had
fun. Lingua Ignota’s third full length is deeply unpredictable, nestling itself in the deepest corners of one’s mind to calmly annihilate whatever comfort may reside there.
As intent on marrying heaven and hell in the most bloodcurdling of ways as 2019’s
CALIGULA,
SINNER GET READY treads slightly calmer waters. Waters coloured by the blood of all that once lived there, mind you, but displaying more subtle and sophisticated motions nonetheless. Opening cut ‘THE ORDER OF SPIRITUAL VIRGINS’ basks in unnerving choirs underscored by gentle piano during its first stretch, before bursts of noise fade in and out of focus, eclipsing the track until its few bones melt into an eerie voice recording simultaneously accentuating the record’s loneliness as well as, contradictorily, giving this loneliness and silence itself a voice. As such explosions of sound do persist on the album, Lingua Ignota does not exactly show restraint; it’s clear that mastermind Kristin Hayter needn’t do so as she explores her hollow world more delicately, showing relative grace while never succumbing to the anticipated. It can be felt in every element: whether it’s ‘I WHO BEND THE TALL GRASSES’ molding fearful cries into angelic vocalisations or ‘MAN IS LIKE A SPRING FLOWER’s extraordinarily intimidating banjo strums, no stone in the barren landscape is left unturned and uncrushed.
Amidst the desolation, ‘PERPETUAL FLAME OF CENTRALIA’ presents a moment of unadulterated peace. The calm piano piece may open on the lyrics “
I am covered with the blood of Jesus”, yet it never trails from its sonic serenity. In the context of the record, the song can be seen as a breather in its intensity, while simultaneously accentuating and amplifying the potency of all that surrounds. The distinct appears more transparent; the destructive all the more dangerous.
SINNER GET READY’s core message can be found in ‘REPENT NOW CONFESS NOW’ as Lingua Ignota and an audibly discomforted choir exclaim that “
this body is not your home”. A simplistic reminder encompassing spiritual undertones, its delivery connotes a perpetual, inescapable distress. This very sense of distress runs in the record’s blood, staining all it touches and leaving deceptively inconsequential blemishes.
While the overall experience is entirely captivating, the album is a deeply uncomfortable listening experience and as a direct result occasionally hard to digest. Held together by its paralysing atmosphere, Lingua Ignota’s ever-improving vocal capabilities and sparsely overwhelming instrumentation,
SINNER GET READY will leave you freezing, yet anything but cold.
