Lacuna Coil
Karmacode

THE REVIEW

So, we all know that talking impartially about Lacuna Coil isn't easy because being an important Italian metal band (especially) abroad, there’s always the notion that Italian metal should be supported, no matter what. It's a good thing that I don’t care too much about this, haha. Furthermore, being familiar only with this album of theirs, I can consider myself more impartial and objective than someone who already has a preconceived opinion about the band (whether positive or negative) before even listening. Even so, it's not easy to give a fair judgment on "Karmacode."

Let's start by saying that it is certainly an easy listening CD; we are not dealing with Dream Theater or Opeth here. In this release, Lacuna presents themselves as a rather easy listening band. They aim to captivate the listener with simple refrains, truly excellent production, and rightly rely on the beauty of singer Cristina Scabbia's voice. However, these aren't the only strengths of the band: there's also a confident rhythm section, which is extremely precise without slip-ups; the male voice is used a lot in some tracks, focusing mainly on the verses, while it's almost absent in others, like "Our Truth," the first single extracted from this album; the guitars do their job by adequately weighing down the sound with a character close to nu-metal, so forget about solos and virtuosity in favor of great precision. Moreover, the album starts well with "Fragile," which from the very first seconds already tells us that the singer is good and the rhythm is catchy.

Now, however, let's get to some of the sore points of the album. First of all, not all the songs are at the same level; there are missteps, like "Closer," which starts with an intro entrusted to the skilled bassist (nothing transcendental, we're certainly not at the genius levels of the historic intro to "Damage Inc." by Metallica from "Master Of Puppets," but one can't expect too much) and then leaves a lot of room for almost dance-like keyboards that clash too much with the rest of the album and don't really fit with the genre the band plays.

The album risks at certain moments to bore the listener, partly due to the not too subtle similarity of one track to another. Lastly, the impression one gets while listening to this Italian Lacuna Coil work depends a lot on one's predisposition towards it; if one expects a masterpiece, they will inevitably be disappointed, but if approached with a lighter heart, the impression will be better. At the end of the album, there's a track sung in Italian, "Without Fear," and a cover of "Enjoy The Silence" by Depeche Mode, which is quite well conceived.

In short, a record that's easy to approach but requires at least a second listen to be better understood, which probably won't make history in the metal world, won't satisfy the most extreme metalheads, but can surely entertain those more open to experiments and listening to various genres. Regarding the "support of Italian metal" discourse, let's say we can be satisfied with having a capable, precise, and clean band at home. However, I expect improvements in the next release. I'm also looking forward to seeing them live on September 24, 2006, in Rome at the Palacisalfa, because I have the impression that they might give their best live.