A Lacuna Coil new album? I always look forward with curiosity and interest to it. For me, a ritual that has been perpetuated since way back in 2001, when I stumbled by chance upon their second album “Unleashed Memories” and the wonderful song entitled “Senzafine” in Italian. Yes, because it has been about 30 years since Lacuna Coil have been the standard-bearers of Italian metal in the world. So much so that they have become more famous in the United States than at home.
“Sleepless Empire” is their tenth studio effort
“Sleepless Empire” is their tenth studio effort, six years after the previous “Black Anima” and three after “Comalies XX,” which is a remake of their historic album “Comalies” from 2002, thus devoid of unreleased tracks. We could say that this “Sleepless Empire” was born under the banner of the number 3. In the sense that it is the third album of the third “incarnation” of Lacuna Coil.
Lacuna Coil Mark III
Let me explain further. Lacuna Coil had a first period in which they proposed a fascinating gothic rock influenced by bands like Paradise Lost and The Gathering. In a second moment, they chose to propose a metal close to certain American sounds, giving birth to “Karmacode.” The album that projected them out of European borders, also thanks to the single “Enjoy the Silence,” a cover of the famous Depeche Mode hit. In the wake of this success, they released albums with sounds close to “nu metal” for three more albums. Until they reached their apotheosis with “Broken Crown Halo,” where the harshness of the sound was extreme to levels hitherto unknown to the band.
The death and rebirth of Lacuna Coil
The third incarnation concerns the death and rebirth of Lacuna Coil. Death because three historical members left the band, leaving only three survivors: bassist and multi-instrumentalist Marco Coti Zelati and the two voices: the male “growl” voice of Andrea Ferro and the female voice of Cristina Scabbia, a true siren of Italian singing. But from then on, Lacuna Coil was reborn from their ashes like the Phoenix. Integrating two new members into the lineup, namely Richard Meiz on drums and Diego Cavallotti on guitars (now replaced by the equally excellent Daniele Salomone). They reinvented themselves by releasing the album “Delirium” in 2016, composed of very strong heavy sounds and an increasingly pronounced contrast between Andrea Ferro‘s growl vocals and Scabbia‘s, which here comes in very high tones.
Retracing the steps
The look of the band also changes totally, carnival horror costumes and tricks that would not be disfiguring on a tour with Slipknot. So the third full-length of these renewed Lacuna Coil seems to retrace the footsteps of the previous two works, both as sounds and as gothic “imagery.” “The Siege” opens with a distant chant before the rhythmic explosion. Andrea‘s growl leads the way for Cristina‘s singing, the two voices blending in unison in the killer refrain that immediately gets into your veins like a slow but pleasant, addictive poison.
Lacuna Coil sonic alchemy
The formula of sonic alchemy remains unchanged: a keyboard supporting the guitars, a play of mirrors between many voices reflecting one in the other. The gothic of the early albums peeps out, but mixed in the skillful athanor of the new face of Sphinx. Cristina‘s voice also seems to drown in “Oxygen,” a feeling of claustrophobia, a labored ascent to the surface. The ultra-powerful bass creates sound waves of fatal impact. Salvation is just around the corner, perhaps, but you have to fight for it.
“an irresistible vortex”
I like to imagine “Scarecrow” performed live, where Andrea and Cristina’s voices chase each other in an irresistible vortex, anger and sweetness, hope and despair. The song flows like sweet honey to our ears, and we would like to repeat all the words at the top of our lungs.
The Latin phrases that open “Gravity” invite us to participate in a propitiatory rite, and we can almost feel the sweat of the onlookers and the intense heat of the torches. The priestess Cristina hands us a sacred host to seal a pact that will last for eternity. The longing for freedom contained in “I Wish You Were Dead” is pure catharsis, an attempt to erase toxic relationships and feelings through a compelling refrain, almost a nursery rhyme of death to bury a past that shall never return.
Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe’s participation
Lamb Of God‘s Randy Blythe, guesting on “Hosting The Shadow,” perfectly blends his vocals with Andrea’s growl, and once again the voices chase each other in a circular interplay that at some points merge in unison. Richard Meiz is a real war machine behind the drums, and the rhythmic interplay with Marco Coti Zelati‘s bass is incredible.
The psalmody of Lacuna Coil
The Latin language returns at the opening of “In Nomine Patris,” but rather than a psalmody, it sounds like a folk song to be sung over the vestiges of an old abandoned church, where there is no longer the smell of incense. The symbols of religion are here desacralized and are used in the text to highlight an inner struggle to break free from the archetypal bonds that plague our lives. A secular prayer to find one’s lost path. Daniele Salomone‘s guitar envelops us with a beautiful solo, adding an unusual touch to Lacuna Coil‘s grammar.
The title track of Lacuna Coil
The high notes touched by Cristina‘s voice in “Sleepless Empire” convey opposite and complementary vibrations to those generated by Andrea Ferro‘s snarl, a hellish pinwheel to tell about the sleepless empire of our lives dominated by a continuous flow of information, a virtual cage that knows no rest, that gives us no respite and that extinguishes our existences behind a bright panel. There is no more sacredness but only an aseptic world illuminated by LEDs that breaks the cycle of sleep and wakefulness and mixes reality and dream, real images and ghosts created by technology.
The sneaking fear of “Sleep Paralysis”
Fear snakes through the notes of “Sleep Paralysis” like in a Dario Argento film reinvented by artificial intelligence, Cristina’s voice defies gravity by touching peaks in almost impossible high notes, and Andrea‘s voice is nothing short of hellish. And in the general chaos, Solomon‘s guitar returns with a fiery solo perfectly in line with the mood of the song.
Cristina + Ash Costello of New Years Day
And here is served the most extreme dish of this full length, a sonic nightmare from which we hope to wake up. Shrapnel of pure metal strikes our senses in “In The Mean Time,” where this time it is a female guest who accompanies Cristina‘s voice: Ash Costello of New Years Day. It’s a convincing refrain that does not, however, add anything new to the band’s sonic universe. Closing is entrusted to “Never Dawn”, a song we are already familiar with from 2023 that reprises the familiar vocabulary to which the tricolor band has accustomed us.
Conclusion
“Sleepless Empire” participates in the general trend of releasing an album anticipated by several singles, nevertheless, it appears homogeneous, also thanks to a thematic glue of ‘concept album’ thickness. Once again, Lacuna Coil consecrates a rite by offering us a rich and powerful work that challenges the temporal and creative limits of a band that continues its path with dedication and even obstinacy. However, observing a changing world without falling into the temptation of identifying with it.
Tracklist
- The Siege
- Oxygen
- Scarecrow
- Gravity
- I Wish You Were Dead
- Hosting The Shadow (feat. Randy Blythe of Lamb Of God)
- In Nomine Patris
- Sleepless Empire
- Sleep Paralysis
- In The Mean Time (feat. Ash Costello of New Years Day)
- Never Dawn
Line Up
- Cristina Scabbia: Voice
- Andrea Ferro: Voice
- Marco Coti Zelati: Bass, Guitar, Keyboards
- Richard Meiz: Drums
- Daniele Salomone: Guitar