Gothic Lacuna Coil

[Riff_Raff]

Official Website
Lacuna Coil Wikipedia

Genre - Gothic Metal/Alternative Metal
Formed - 1994

Current members

• Andrea Ferro — male vocals (1994–present)
• Marco Coti Zelati — bass, keyboards (1994–present), guitars (2015–2016)
• Cristina Scabbia — female vocals (1996–present)
• Diego "Didi" Cavalotti — guitars (2016–present)
• Richard Meiz — drums (2019–present)

Studio albums

• In a Reverie (1999)
• Unleashed Memories (2001)
• Comalies (2002)
• Karmacode (2006)
• Shallow Life (2009)
• Dark Adrenaline (2012)
• Broken Crown Halo (2014)
• Delirium (2016)
• Black Anima (2019)
• Sleepless Empire (2025)

Have been a fan of them for years and enjoy their album diversity especially among their first 3-4 albums. Recent albums even have had a lot of great moments on them and I am keen to hear their upcoming album Black Anima.

 

[Mr. Gregory]

They're a solid band. Everyone says their earlier stuff is better, but I can't speak to that because I'm only really familiar with their later stuff. The first album of theirs that I listened to was Dark Adrenaline. I really liked it - it's good, radio-friendly hard rock. I hated Broken Crown Halo at first, but it grew on me a little over time. I haven't listened to Delirium for a while, and I'm not sure if I even got through the whole thing. I need to go back and listen to it again. I do remember it having a much heavier sound and being hailed as a "return to form" of sorts.

As for their earlier stuff, judging from your samples, I at least need to go back and listen to their first two albums. Circle is a good song, as is Heir of a Dying Day. I tried listening to Comalies and Karmacode when I first got into the band after Dark Adrenaline came out, but I couldn't get into those at the time. My musical ear has grown a lot since then, so if I listened to those albums today, I'm almost certain that I'd come to a different conclusion.

Here are some of my favorite newer songs of theirs.

Upsidedown (from Dark Adrenaline)

Intoxicated (my favorite song from Dark Adrenaline)

Zombies (from Broken Crown Halo)

Hostage to the Light (my favorite song from Broken Crown Halo)

 

[Riff_Raff]

Comalies and Karmacode will likely hit you better than the first time. It did for me. Comalies remains my favourite LC record today. That said I do dig their newer material also.

 

[Mr. Gregory]

I sat down and listened to In a Reverie this past weekend while playing some Dead or Alive 6. I liked it. The riffs (and the instrumentation overall) are punchy and hard-hitting, which is exactly what I like to hear from bands like them that ride that fine line between hard rock and heavy metal. Circle is a really good song.

 

[Mr. Gregory]

Comalies and Karmacode will likely hit you better than the first time. It did for me. Comalies remains my favourite LC record today. That said I do dig their newer material also.

Comalies definitely did. I listened to it in its entirety today while playing FIFA 20 (with the commentary off, of course, so I could concentrate on the music). I honestly have no idea why I didn't like it before. I guess my ears just weren't ready at the time.

I'll probably check out Karmacode tomorrow.

 

[Mr. Gregory]

I didn't realize that Lacuna Coil has a new album out this year, Sleepless Empire, which came out in February. I listened to most of it during my morning commute this past Friday and couldn’t really judge it fairly.

I try not to do first listens in the car, because I almost always miss out on the details, and it sometimes leaves me with a middling first impression. That happened with this album, but this time, I just blocked that out of my mind. I gave it a fair listen in its entirety a few minutes ago through my headphones, and I love it!

I enjoyed every single song on it but am gonna go with the opener, The Siege, and Hosting the Shadow, with my man Randy Blythe from Lamb of God on guest vocals, as my current favorite tracks. These guys always start their albums off right.

The Siege

Hosting the Shadow

 

[Mr. Gregory]

Yeah, Sleepless Empire is a winner for sure. It's the first album of theirs that has really clicked with me as a whole since Dark Adrenaline. I need to go back and give Black Anima another listen to confirm that, but I can't seem to tear myself away from this one.

Like I said, I like every song on this album, but In The Mean Time, with Ash Costello from New Years Day, is another of my favorites.

 

[Magic]

I will give Sleepless Empire a listen a bit later today. It’s still too early for me to listen right now since I just got up..

I’ll let you know my thoughts after a couple listens.

 

[Magic]

I like Sleepless Empire. My picks are “I Wish You Were Dead” (beautiful gothic anthem), “In Nomine Patrice” (Christina’s voice is in top form), and “In The Mean Time”. The whole album is good.

 

[Mr. Gregory]

Seriously, for me, there's not a single skippable track on Sleepless Empire. I could post any of the songs and go "yep, I love that one" - like this one, Sleep Paralysis. I was pleasantly surprised to hear that it is indeed about sleep paralysis, which most people have experienced at some point in their lives, myself included.