''Caligvla'' is the second album released by

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...

band

Ex Deo Ex Deo is a Canadian death metal band formed in Montreal, Quebec in 2008. The band is a side project of Kataklysm frontman Maurizio Iacono, and is based on the history of the Roman Empire. History Ex Deo was formed in 2008 as an artistic proje ...

, on 31 August 2012. The album title refers to

Caligula Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus (31 August 12 – 24 January 41), better known by his nickname Caligula (), was the third Roman emperor, ruling from 37 until his assassination in 41. He was the son of the popular Roman general Germanicu ...

, the third emperor of

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

known for his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and intense personal insanity.

Release

Ex Deo first announced its second album on 19 August 2010 through their

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page. They mentioned the writing process would begin in late 2011. On 14 October 2010 the band revealed the new album's title ''Caligula'', which would later be changed to ''Caligvla''. On 16 April 2011 the band announced would take longer than initially expected. On 28 September 2011, an announcement was made that the album would be released on 31 August 2012, which would also mark Caligula's 2000th anniversary. In November 2011, the band began to record for the album. On 4 February 2012 Maurizio posted a studio update that most of the symphonies and orchestral parts were done. He also mentioned that the process of creating the album would take a lot of time and would possibly interfere with their Paganfest tour. The band cancelled their appearance at "Paganfest America Part III" a few days later.Ex Deo: 'Caligvla' Track Listing Revealed - Blabbermouth.net
/ref> Iacono commented on the cancellation: On 16 February 2012 Maurizio started recording his vocals which would be finished by 21 February. In March 2012 the band revealed the final track listing of ''Caligvla'' and also announced they began mixing the album. On 23 March 2012, the band revealed the guest appearances on ''Caligvla'', which would involve Seth Siro (

Septic Flesh Septicflesh (formerly known as Septic Flesh) are a Greek death metal band from Athens, founded in 1990. History Septicflesh were formed in Athens in March 1990 by Sotiris Vayenas (guitar), Spiros Antoniou (bass and vocals), and Christos Anto ...

Mariangela Demurtas Tristania was a Norwegian gothic metal band formed in 1996 by Morten Veland, Einar Moen and Kenneth Olsson. Tristania's music is usually classified as Gothic metal with death influences, due to its strong tie and legacy within the gothic metal h ...

( Tristania), Stefano Fiori (

Graveworm Graveworm is an Italian extreme metal band from Brunico formed in 1992. History Before Graveworm even released a demo, they were signed by Serenades Records after a performance close to their hometown of Brunico, northern Italy. Graveworm was ...

) and Francesco Artusato (

All Shall Perish All Shall Perish was an American deathcore band from Oakland, California, formed in 2002. The band was signed to Nuclear Blast and have released four full-length albums through the label. Their final album, ''This Is Where It Ends,'' was release ...

). The band unveiled the album cover artwork for ''Caligvla'' on 15 April 2012. In June 2012, the band announced a video for the song ''I, Caligvla'', featuring Maurizio's girlfriend and

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

n model Suzzy. On 27 July 2012 they uploaded the new video for ''I, Caligvla'' on

YouTube YouTube is a global online video platform, online video sharing and social media, social media platform headquartered in San Bruno, California. It was launched on February 14, 2005, by Steve Chen, Chad Hurley, and Jawed Karim. It is owned by ...

Reception

MetalStorm rated it 7.9/10. MetalSucks gave it 3.5/5.0 horns. The Encyclopaedia Metallum currently has an average rating of 83% approval.Ex Deo - Caligvla - Encyclopaedia Metallum: The Metal Archives
/ref> Metal Underground gave it five skulls, indicating that it was "Perfection. (No discernable flaws; one of the reviewer's all-time favorites)" Angry Metal Guy gave the album a 'very good' rating of 3.5/5.0 with the epithet "Move over, vest metal, make room for Chest Plate Metal!"Ex Deo - Caligvla Review , Angry Metal Guy
/ref>

Track listing

Notes

# A

video Video is an electronic medium for the recording, copying, playback, broadcasting, and display of moving visual media. Video was first developed for mechanical television systems, which were quickly replaced by cathode-ray tube (CRT) syste ...

for the title-track ''I, Caligvla'' was shot.

Personnel

;Ex DeoCaligvla - Ex Deo , Credits , AllMusic
/ref> *

Maurizio Iacono Kataklysm is a Canadian death metal band. They have released fourteen studio albums, one EP and two DVDs as of 2020. Kataklysm won their first Juno Award (Canadian equivalent of the Grammy) for best album of the year in the "heavy metal" categ ...

– vocals, composer, executive Producer, lyricist, producer *Stéphane Barbe – lead guitar * Jean-Francois Dagenais – rhythm guitar, engineer, producer *Dano Apekian – bass guitar *Jonathan Lefrancois-Leduc – keyboards, orchestration *Max Duhamel – drums ;Additional musicians *Seth Siro Anton – vocals, cover art, cover layout *Stegano Fiori – vocals *

– vocals *Francesco Artusato – guitar, soloist ;Technical personnel *Jason Messer – band photo

Trivia

The intro to 'Once Were Romans' is taken from the historical drama TV series ''

''.

References

{{Authority control 2012 albums Ex Deo albums Albums with cover art by Spiros Antoniou