Italy, Lacuna Coil: 1994! Today: 2019! Yes: the band has become a legend, still tours and delivers a brand new album. Lovers of female fronted gothic/rock/metal bands will be delighted! Expect more growls (for Andrea Ferro) and epic parts (for CristinaScabbia)!
They start with Anima Nera where Cristina Scabbia sings as if she is part of The Cocteau Twins (you know: this little voice that sounds like a kid’s voice). You feel the pain and slowly the anger comes in. The piano is cool, just as the vinyl feel/sound. It has something scary. It’s a short one and is over before you even notice it and leaves you with silence and fear. More anger, more energy, more grunting and powered up male vocals come with the heavy fuelled Sword Of Anger. HereCristinabrings in the sweetness and a catchy feel. I sense an upcoming hit in it if the media push it a bit! It’s an epic vocal fight between good and evil, mixed with great guitars and hammering drums.Reckless is a typical Lacuna Coil track mixing the beauty and the beast feel. The industrial metal sound is top and the melodic sound has something catchy.
Layers Of Time is at least as heavy as the previous one. Once again Andrea screams and grunts as if he has to fight against demons with his vocals whilst Cristina brings in the melodic and angelic part. I’m sure that this one will do great during concerts too! Apocalypse is a very catchy one. The lyrics are like written from a critical point of view towards religion. The music sounds like a stadium rock band that is used to play in front of 100.000 people and screams for a video! It’s one of the strongest and best track on the album as it catches the energy, has a melodic sound and contains the right message! This is a real wow momentum! After the sound of an old vinyl record playing we hear a sonic bomb with Now Or Never! The keyboard is also worth mentioning! Under The Surface sounds a bit like metalcore and I love it! It might be a bit unusual for the fans, but this is for sure a good innovation/ a good try out! Veneficium has a real choir in it (and starts like that too). Cristina’s powerful voice gets for once the help of the clean voice produced by Andrea (mind you: he still does some grunts on top). It’s a sweet and powerful track, almost like as if sung by sirens (backed up by a male siren that turns into a demon)!
The End Is All I Can See starts with a bit of industrial/electro. Andrea’s voice sounds a bit metallic, whilst Cristina sings with a deep voice (backed by her angelic version). Somehow it has a very commercial sound. Save Me goes back into the melodic and sweet sound with a slice of melancholia and great vocals! The spoken word passage is also a great idea. This one is the second best track on the album! The symphonic end is also super! Last track is Black Anima. It starts with a dark and scary feel (thanks to the electronics). The bass and Andrea’s vocals are determined to play an important role. This is the last blow, destroying what is left and going out with a blast!
I must say I liked it! It’s groovy, catchy, fuelled, has great vocals and the music is also very melodic! Can’t wait to see them on stage!
