Lacuna Coil
Karmacode

THE REVIEW

It was the spring of 2004 and the news came like a bolt from the blue: two years after its release, "Comalies" entered the prestigious Billboard charts in the United States. Who would have ever expected that Lacuna Coil, so little praised at home, would make a splash in the USA? Perhaps all this happened in the wake of the Evanescence phenomenon, but unlike the American group, Cristina Scabbia & Co. reached this milestone after a long struggle.

A hard-won milestone, therefore, the result of the long work of a band active since the second half of the 90s. Nonetheless, the favor of the public must be sought out in any way, as it is well known that they do not reward non-commercial bands. Actually, Lacuna Coil has never planned anything; they have never been a band that made originality their strong point, but rather a group of six youths who have always put great passion into their work, continuing on their path, disregarding the criticisms received at home. Perhaps a thousand other bands from our country would have deserved that spot on the charts more than them, but what happened is easily understandable: as everyone knows, the American public is much more ignorant about metal compared to Europeans (just think that Lacuna Coil were welcomed as an "offspring" band of Evanescence).

The rest is history: following the sales boom, several tours took the band around the world (the Italian stop at Gods of Metal 2005 was perhaps the one where the audience was least enthusiastic) and finally, after four long years, a new album from the band arrives. To posterity, the difficult judgment: was their success a good or a bad thing for our Milanese metal music exporters? For some, it completely ruined an already unremarkable band, while for others it allowed them to make a qualitative leap. For me, the verdict remains unchanged: success or not, Lacuna Coil remains the same group, not exceptional but fairly good, as they were two years ago.

This new "Karmacode" thus places itself at the same level as its predecessor, but due to personal tastes (which I will explain later) I still prefer "Comalies." Musically, the album is much more direct (it's clear this album was designed for the American market) but at the same time much heavier in sound (notable is the use of guitars, which in the past played a secondary role, often being a simple background for the singers' voices), more original, and varied in the set of songs. The significant improvement in Andrea Ferro's voice, always the band's biggest flaw, left me speechless. A special applause goes to Cristina Scabbia, undoubtedly an important icon for the band, a sexy, intelligent, and charismatic girl, and endowed with a great voice (chilling low tones). Analyzing song by song we find many interesting ideas such as the use of Oriental melodies and Nu Metal rhythms which, although somewhat superficially inserted, make the listening less boring than in the past and the presence of a string quartet that enhances the songs at their best without ever overshadowing the other instruments. The songs that convince me the most are the ones with a darker mood: "Fragments of Faith" and "In Visible Light" are among the best Italian Gothic Metal songs.

Episodes like "Fragile," "Our Truth," and "Without Fear" are instead among the most personal compositions by the sextet, truly intricate compared to the group's standards. The tracklist closes with a cover of "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode. I have to admit I appreciated Lacuna Coil's version, truly fitting in the verses, at the expense of the original, which never conveyed anything to me. However, in my opinion, this experiment is not entirely successful. The same applies to the entire album, because despite all the above-mentioned merits, it also has equally significant flaws. First of all, we find, invariably in every album, the usual tiring, nauseating filler episodes: in this case "Devoted" (terrible) and "Closer." Moreover, the band demonstrates that they are not good with ballads: "Within Me" is a truly banal song (akin to the most mediocre pop standard), and this album is too cheerful in some tracks; for these two reasons, I continue to prefer "Comalies," which, despite containing many mediocre songs, always has a melancholic and dark aura.

However, it is not my intention to dismiss this "Karmacode": after listening to the 13 songs, I was pleasantly surprised by the band's evolution. Lacuna Coil is truly saying something new in the world metal scene, crossing the boundaries of a genre in extinction (Gothic Metal with female vocals) of which today only Tristania and few other bands keep the flag high.

An album to listen to, significant for the Italian metal scene. The next one could be even better.