Lacuna Coil

As a young metal fan living in Italy in 1998, I still remember very well the excitement of the Italian specialized press when this EP was announced. Lacuna Coil were a young talented band from Milan who, all of a sudden, were being picked up by one of the biggest metal labels of the time, Century Media. In a European market dominated by bands from Germany and Scandinavia, this was big news for Italy. Very few local metal bands had found themselves in a similar position, especially without having yet any official release in their name. So, was all the hype that surrounded this record justified?

Listening to the album today, more than twenty years after its initial release, I can see why Century Media decided to take a chance on this Italian sextet. The level of maturity in the songwriting and arrangements is indeed special for a band at the beginning of the career. Lacuna Coil already possess a fairly well-defined sonic identity, halfway between the doom of Paradise Lost and the gothic/atmospheric metal of The Gathering. Most importantly, the band can rely on the undeniable talent of leading vocalist Cristina Scabbia. The use of female vocalists alongside male singers was not uncommon for metal bands at the time, especially in the symphonic gothic/doom genre. But most bands typically enlisted in their ranks soprano-like singers and used them in a sort of supporting role, their ethereal and fragile vocals complementing the grunts and croons of the (leading) male vocalist. Lacuna Coil turn things on their head here: Cristina’s voice is lush and warm and she mostly uses her powerful mid-range rather than the upper register. She clearly takes the leading role in the band, with co-vocalist Andrea Ferro playing more of a supporting role. This is a wise move, as Andrea’s voice is not nearly as good as Cristina’s. His gruff and half-shouted vocal style sounds like a cross between Paradise Lost’s Nick Holmes and Metallica’s James Hetfield, which is not necessarily a compliment. Occasionally he resorts to a clean gothic croon, but he does not sound fully comfortable with it yet on this album. Despite the limitations, the alternation between Cristina’s and Andrea’s vocals works well and gives Lacuna Coil a distinctive sound which makes them instantly recognizable.

Although Lacuna Coil show considerable promise on this EP, not all songs are equally impressive. Opening track “No Need to Explain” is a strong doom/gothic piece that makes an immediate impression on the listener. It is fuelled by some beautiful vocal melodies sung by Cristina (with Andrea providing backing vocals), laid on top on a varied and interesting musical background. The guitar work is heavy and tight, with good alternation between riffs and melodic leads. The tasteful piano flourishes (courtesy of producer Waldemar Sorychta) add a touch of levity to the arrangements. The rhythm section is somewhat unspectacular, but the simple groove works well to propel the song forward. This is easily the best track of the EP. Another highlight of the album is the atmospheric piece “Falling”, featuring only guitars and Cristina’s extraordinary voice. It is a beautiful ballad, somewhat reminiscent of some of the acoustic songs written by Anathema around the same years. This song is so good that it will be re-arranged and re-recorded for Lacuna Coil’s full-length debut album, released the following year. “This Is My Dream” is another interesting piece, based on a nice, slow bass groove and clean guitar arpeggio that reminds me somewhat of early Katatonia (circa Tonight’s Decision). Unfortunately, none of the remaining three tracks leave a similarly strong impression. “The Secret…” and “Soul into Hades” sound like faded-out versions of “No Need to Explain”, featuring similar ideas and arrangements, but without the strong vocal melodies that make that opening track stand out. “Un Fantasma Tra Noi” is an atmospheric but unspectacular instrumental that shows more than anything else how important Cristina’s voice is for the band's sound.

The alternation between stronger and weaker tracks in the space of the same record is a feature of many Lacuna Coil’s albums and one of the reasons why, personally, I never fully connected with the band. This EP is no exception, but it nevertheless holds a special place in my collection. It is an impressive debut record, showing a band that has already a fairly clear identity and the means to translate their musical ideas into tasteful compositions. Relative to later albums, this EP also retains a certain rough edge (the heavily distorted guitars, the simple monotonous drumming, the unpolished male vocals) that is somewhat endearing. These rough edges will be smoothened on later albums, giving Lacuna Coil wider commercial appeal, while at the same time taking away some of the spontaneity and uniqueness of the band’s early sound.

The female-fronted gothic metal scene seems to have a spectrum that encompasses everything from mid-paced 'melodeath' layered with lush symphonics and feminine moaning to new age folk music with wispy “haunting” vocals and a metal tag due to a spliced in guitar solo. Somewhere in between those two checkpoints lies Lacuna Coil, one of the more commercially inclined and subsequently successful ventures in the gothic metal realm. Their output quite honestly boasts little of either ‘gothic’ or ‘metal’ in the strictest sense, but as a band on the fringes of metal and alternative hard rock, they possessed just enough straightforward heaviness devoid of nu-metal trappings that were rampant at the time of this release to warrant respect. I just wish some of the songs were better.

The EP starts off on the right foot. “No Need To Explain” wastes no time in dishing out the band’s obvious strength and trademark, that being Cristina Scabbia’s voice. Right from the start she’s laying bare her youthful soaring range, and embellishing her delivery with just enough inflections and personality to give the tune a unique flair of juxtaposing warmth in her singing with the drab starkness of the music, which plays like a heavy backdrop to her centerpiece. The guitar has enough weight to carry the overall sound further than an alternative pastiche and towards metal territory, but don't expect raging chainsaws or sludgy thick tones. The production doesn't emphasize any particular instrument, including vocals, but each piece of the puzzle is clearly audible while not sounding overtly polished.

I’ve heard some people say that it’s only a result of her looks that the band received any attention. I understand that concerning female led acts it certainly doesn’t hurt and in a few cases it can be deemed true to some extent, but in others it’s just childish vitriol. In this case, without Cristina, there would be no Lacuna Coil kicking around these days because she’s easily the most talented member of the group. Not just because she most likely can pull off wearing a corset better than the rest of the band members, but that the men, while competent players concerning their music, really display nothing to earn any praise. I’m not going to proclaim that Leonardo Forti is an undisputed master of maintaining a 4/4 mid-tempo beat because I just don’t think it means shit. Cristina, though, has some quality pipes and I’ll drink to that. The band wasn’t initially built around her, but she’s not in the group so the drummer can ogle a voluptuous buttocks during live performances; she’s in the group because at this early stage she practically IS the group.

Andea Ferro, Cristina’s male counterpart, doesn’t really fare quite well but gives it all his limited ability can handle, substituting talent with clench-fisted machismo. He surfaces for a larger portion of running time concerning tracks two through four, with vocals invoking the impression of a former frontman for a Metallica cover band from the outskirts of Milan. They don’t ruin these songs since, unlike the opening track, they are largely hookless and forgettable regardless of his input, but if anything he can sometimes be a liability with his limited skills.

It’s hard to actually categorize the sound of “The Secret” through “Soul Into Hades” without the word ‘banal’. They follow a similar pattern of a distorted guitar playing simple ennui inducing power chord riffs while a clean guitar provides bland melodies to flesh things out. It's not that they are atrociously written works, it's the fact that there's no notable feature to catch the listener off guard. A fast tempo or even merely an interesting chord progression would have done wonders for any of the three tracks. Even Cristina can’t save these, like I said, banal tunes, not that they are really worth saving in the first place. It’s as if she reserved her passion for her big aria in the following song, which is “Falling”. In this percussion-less number, the band really goes for that atmospheric moribund texture for once, eager to prove their worth among the more goth-leaning crowds, but in this scenario Cristina has other aims. A musical template like this would normally be accented and topped off with a mysterious, shoegaze-style feminine croon, but Cristina wants to show off her velvet chops, thus her vocal delivery here feels as if it graduated from the ‘Linda Ronstadt School of Voice’. “Falling” isn’t a disaster, and it’s certainly more memorable than most of this EP’s other tracks. It’s just that it’s either one of the strangest commercial pop ballads or one of the poppiest gothic soundscapes I’ve ever heard.

The album ends with an instrumental, which announces better than any critic as to how necessary Cristina is as the group’s focal point, although I will say the song does get a bit adventurous around the three minute mark, in which by then I’m usually dozing off.

So, Lacuna Coil’s beginnings were pretty humble, but the opening track was like a magnet to my ears with its strong vocal hooks and an air of dark yet sophisticated classiness, in that “No Need To Explain” goes well with a martini in some fake cobweb draped nightclub. Judging by the quality of their first full-length release the following year, these guys & gal learned from their experiences regarding the EP and improved enough to release a quality effort with In A Reverie. Still, I wouldn’t consider this debut a throwaway release for fans of Lacuna Coil; it’s an important document of their origins and has a couple of memorable tracks worth checking out, one being a doozy, and the other being an oddity of some merit.

I well remember the occasion, it was 1997 and I was at the Camden Underworld to see Moonspell. Support came from an unknown Italian band (not much hope there I thought), well how wrong can you be? That night Lacuna Coil blew me away. Like every red blooded male in the room I instantly fell in love with Christina Scabbia and secured this debut E.P. as soon as possible.

Now I'm sure many of the people who saw that performance and others like it have stuck with the band as they have grown in size and declined in quality. But not me. This E.P. was great and the first album was pretty good, but after that I thought they really lost it, and since then they seem to have done nothing but repeat themselves over and over and over and over again.

But this E.P. is special, to me at least. I like the fact that it isn't overwhelmed with unnecessary downtuned riffs (well I say riffs, the same four powerchords would be more accurate if we are honest - and why do they need two guitar players anyway?) and instead focuses on Christina's lovely voice and some nice gently, mainly undistorted guitar parts and some fairly simple drumming.

I think the E.P. holds the attention because it is only six songs, that's probably where the first album started to go wrong. Even back at the start Lacuna Coil didn't display a whole lot of variety and you have to conclude that if it weren't for Ms Scabbia's looks they probably wouldn't still be around.

Lacuna Coil review for s/t EP


The Lacuna Coil of today is not what we have on display here. This EP was the first proper offering from Italy’s best export. This recording also features the bands original line up prior to the two guitarist’s departure to 'Cayne'. This EP is where the idea of the bands sound was first born.

The production is standard for an early signer to Century Media in the early to mid nineties. The guitar work is clean and tight. There isn't very much heaviness in this melodic slice of Gothic Metal but the ideas expressed are original. The leads are a mix of clean, distorted and effects laden sound that are very different from anything you've ever heard. There is a solo of sorts but the rest are leads. The clean and effects driven aspects of this EP are what the Lacuna Coil of today is still using.

The bass wanders around but mostly follows the guitars. The drums are creative enough to keep things moving. There is some keyboard work here and there but it’s mostly for ambience.

The vocals are very good from both singers. Christina, who was originally brought in to be the backing vocalist, is up front and leading the group. Andre's voice is more or less the same as it sounds on 'Karmacode'. Both singers are trying to find their voices and don't really venture out of their comfort zones.

This is a very poppy sounding release. This is just metallic enough to be labeled "Heavy Metal" however. This is also a very mature recording for such a young band. The songs are well written and work well on their own. As a group they tend to drag a bit towards the middle of the EP, but they do pick up at the end. Considering what there succeeding albums sound like, they've really come a long way since this humble EP. Recommended for fans only.

Lacuna Coil did not become famous until the released their 2003 effort, Comalies. Before that they released two amazing underground metal albums, In A Reverie and, of course, Unleashed Memories. They recently released their 2006 disappointment, Karmacode, in which they completely abandoned everything they stood for as a band. This self-titled EP, though, is where it all began. It was apparent from the start that Lacuna Coil would become a great doom influenced band (no one cold of predicted them to go mainstream), with slow and heavy riffs, powerful and emotional vocals, atmospheric music filled with occasional ambiance to give a very mystical feel, and male/ female duets on practically every song (even some occasional growled vocals here and there). With their first release, though, it was easy to tell that Lacuna Coil were not quite sure what there sound was gonna be (by the time Comalies came out though, it was obvious that Lacuna Coil was gonna become a lot like In Flames, which is a good band that will probably never be comfortable with their current sound).

The EP opens up with No Need To Explain, which begins with some drum clicks and spazzy keyboard ambiance before jumping into an upbeat, slowly paced guitar riffage that stays throughout the song. Both Cristina and Andrea contribute great vocal melodies to the track, adding to its happy sounding yet doomy feel. A guitar solo kicks in after the first chorus of the song before the vocals along wit some random keyboard moments pop back into the fray. The song is a great opener and is the second best track on this 6 track EP. Following No Need To Explain is The Secret..., which has a very soft, melodic intro which ascends into some slow chugging riffs before taken over by Andrea and his unique vocal style of raspy yet smooth singing. The song has some great guitar melodies and has avery ambient atmospheric feel, though is not a great song by Lacuna Coils standards, being rather simplistic, and not that catchy.

This Is My Dream has a very quiet bass line soon followed by some soft guitar plucks, making a very soft intro. The song is more or less a ballad in some ways, featuring both vocalist and very soft and soothing atmospheres. There is not a lot of guitar dynamics on this track, but they do kick in near the 3 minute marker. A very different feel from Lacuna Coil’s later albums and songs, but pretty well rounded and well flowing as a track. Soul Into Hades is another track a lot like The Secret..., though a lot more dynamic and stronger vocal performances on both sides of the spectrum. The track has some great musicianship on it (which sadly deteriorates after Unleashed Memories). Falling is the one and only true ballad by Lacuna Coil. Beginning with what sounds like winter winds, a very moody guitar melody comes in followed by some fancy synths. The track features only Cristina on vocals, and what a performance she gives. The song is very soft and quiet, and even gains strings in the back ground before the chorus of the song. Cristinas vocals are all the dynamics the song needs. By far the most softest Lacuna Coil has ever gotten, but also one of the strongest performances ever given on a studio recorded track. (Note: This song is also on Lacuna Coils sophomore release In A Reverie under the title Falling Again, which is basically the same song only with guitars and a heavier atmosphere and feel)

The last song is Un Fantasma Tra Noi, which means A Ghost Between Us". The song is the one and only instrumental piece by Lacuna Coil, and its filled with powerful guitar and bass riffs, drum lines, synths, and awesome guitar solos though out. A very progressive song and also a great closer for the EP.

ORIGINALLY WRITTEN FOR SPUTNIKMUSIC.COM