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Rating: She has been our metal queen for more than thirty years and the charismatic frontwoman of Lacuna Coil, a band that has exported Italian metal worldwide and stood the test of time, despite several departures among the original members.
Cristina Scabbia has always loved singing but admits she never thought she would do it this way. Especially starting from dance, which saw her make a name in the Eighties thanks to the brilliant intuition of Joe T. Vannelli, who would base his entire career on that genre.
It all starts more or less here as we begin flipping through the pages of “The Devil Sold My Soul”, the first book written by the Lady of Italian metal.
It is not an autobiography, as the author was keen to specify from the outset, comparing the book to a container of advice, more precisely a backpack (to wink at the new generations), in which “auntie” Cristina (as she wants to be called) dispenses advice through numerous anecdotes and life stories.
The preface is by Barbascura X, a writer and public speaker who is a friend of Cristina and a longtime Coiler.
The timeline is immediately declared as frenetic and starts from the immediacy of the present. Cristina is in the recording studio with headphones on, a few meters from the microphone, intent on recording the first single from the new upcoming Lacuna Coil album. The journey begins in the Quarto Oggiaro apartment, where the Scabbia family has always lived and where Cristina still currently resides, the youngest of four siblings, like in the most romantic of family stories, far from any luxurious whim of an established artist.
Initially, there are pleasant digressions, then each chapter lands on a single, precise moment in the life of the Milanese artist. Life in the beloved but not quiet Milanese outskirts of the Eighties, relationships with friends and family, adolescence, and the first infatuation with that genre, as discriminated against by society then as it was intriguing for the few devotees who began to grow attached to it.
The beginnings with the first band, then called “Ethereal”, the relationship in its embryonic stage with those who would share with her the first shaky stages and electric dreams (Marco Coti Zelati and Andrea Ferro), before reaching the Olympus of metal. The delicate and melancholic account of the loss of her parents and the perpetual feeling of having them by her side, passions beyond music, and relationships with fans. The television opportunity offered by “The Voice of Italy” and the historic experience of the 2006 Ozzfest stage with Ozzy Osbourne. The friendship with Dave Mustaine and the unforgettable meeting with the late Lemmy Kilmister. It is an accurate and very flowing account of the incredible journey of a vocalist unique in her kind. Positivity is never lacking, even in the most difficult moments, and there is a sense of genuineness in a narration that seeks no sycophant nor to flatter anyone but merely to put a visceral passion turned mission on paper, before it became a profession.
This book is a kind of chat with fans and longtime friends and contains not a crumb of gossip or self-celebration. This is also proven by the presence of “Devo”, the funny little devil created by the author's own pen, which makes every page resemble an old Smemoranda full of secret and sincere thoughts.
“The Devil Sold My Soul” reveals without filters the multitude of personalities of those who narrate. It shifts from the passionate and unconventional singer to the avid gamer at the helm of a dedicated Twitch channel, created without too much thinking during the 2020 lockdown. There is always much simplicity, "paciarotta" Milanese style (her amusing words), and there is no lack of goofing and awareness of humble origins.
The backpack fills to the brim with advice, flowing over until the last page. It is an old, worn backpack but tremendously pleasant to wear, entrusted to us by someone who has strong shoulders now.
After turning the last page, the reader is left with the author's realization of not yet having concluded her journey and the desire to share it step by step, hoping to inspire new generations entering music and chasing a dream, finding themselves on an uphill path.
Recommended, it goes without saying, to those who love Cristina Scabbia and especially to those who do not know her well and want to enter her world, made of great music and plenty of experience.
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