Milan… the second-largest city in Italy and home to two ‘A’ grade football clubs, Leonardo Da Vinci’s ‘The Last Supper’, and some of the biggest fashion and design houses in the world. Milan also happens to be home to Lacuna Coil – the name of which is a hybrid of Italian and English meaning ’empty spiral’.
For those of you yet unfamiliar with this band, Lacuna Coil produces some pretty convincing metal sounds that have evolved over the twenty or so years they’ve been together. They’ve gone from producing mainly mid-tempo esoteric beats to a more earthy bestial sound. Broken Crown Halo is the band’s seventh studio album, and its heaviest to date; still theatrical and ‘gothically’ dark in style, most of the tracks on this offering rely on adeptly urgent guitar riffs to move the listener along the path of the concepts, philosophies, and impressions painted by the lyrics.
Vocals in apposition parry with each other and lend a storytelling vibe to the music. The growling base vocals of Andrea Ferro contrast well with the almost operatic Cristina Scabbia.
At times Scabbia sounds a lot like Amy Lee from Evanescence, which gives some idea as to the strength and range of her voice. Unusually (for this genre) the instrumentals and vocals are very well balanced and work together to produce the desired effect.
The band wants to convey that they believe the world is in a sorry state and uses elements of darkness and horror in its lyrics and in its instrumental sounds to create a feeling of desolation and sadness.
You won’t come away from this listening experience feeling hopeless, but you will identify disappointment with humanity.
The opening track ‘Nothing Stands in our Way’ begins with a desperate guitar riff that gets the heart racing. Track two, ‘Zombies’ is rhythmic and one can almost imagine the undead on the march. ‘Die and Rise’ is anthemic and in it, you can hear the influence of Nine Inch Nails… this is a good thing indeed.
If you’re going to listen to a Lacuna Coil album, best make Broken Crown Halo your album of choice.
Lacuna Coil: Facebook
Release Year: 2014
Label: Century Media Records
Category: Album
Country: Italy
Reviewed by Sharon Brookes
