Lingua - All My Rivals Are Imaginary Ghosts
Aural Music/Code666
Post/Proggy Goth Rock
14 songs (55:11)
Release year: 2010
Aural Music/Code666
Reviewed by Jaime
Surprise of the month
Swedish band Lingua are a little hard to pin down. There are a few elements from the likes of their fellow countrymen Katatonia and The Provenance as welll as some of their Finnish counterparts like earlier Charon in musical execution with a fair whack of post rock in there too. The closest band I can think of that sound anything like them would be the Finnish band Murmansk. Vocally comparisions can be pretty easily drawn to one Simen "ICS Vortex" Hestnæs as he and Lingua's vocalist Thomas Henriksson both share that distinctive tone in their voice.

Now, depsite the genre that's been listed (it's about the closest I could get) the band are pretty consise song wise, with no aimless musical wandering (ala Post and Prog) and the lyrics aren't exactly gloomy or heartbreaking (ala Goth). There's a surprising intensity about them that's displayed on the opening track Leave Us Yours as well as others such as Who's Doing That to You? with its uneasy, crawling guitar parts, Centerpiece and it's almost bluesy swagger and In Mere Defense which is like a slightly less heavy Cult of Luna track. Of course, there are slighly off kilter moments as well, namely Cobalt Sky which has a massive intro that builds up using a lot of drones and, from out of nowhere, African chanting. It's pretty strange going into it, but it grabs you as you want to know where it's going to go. It's very pretty to listen to and is a nice contrast to the rest of the album. What's slightly more intriguing is that they follow it up with what is baiscally a pop-punk song. About Time isn't a bad song, but is kinda out of place compared to everything else and upsets the climax that Cobalt Sky built to.

The songs are all pretty strong, but my only problem is with the production elements, and they're pretty minor that that. There are a few little niggles here and there, like the vocals constantly being drowned in spring reverb, not to mention the fair few bum notes, and the mix being a little unbalanced at times but for this style of music it helps set the atmosphere well. It's an interesting listen, easy to get into and quite deep. An impressive album overall.
Killing Songs :
There isn't really a weak song on here, but Leave Us Yours, Cobalt Sky, It's There, It's Life and In Mere Defense stand out the most.
Jaime quoted 83 / 100
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