Once known for their dark and yet gorgeous female fronted gothic metal, Lacuna Coil has taken an even bigger step in the wrong direction than any fan has ever feared. The Italian outfit has released their sixth studio album, entitled “Dark Adrenaline.” We were able to put up with the reckless off key vocals of male singer Andrea Ferro in their previous album, “Shallow Life,” however the new album just goes too far.
“Trip The Darkness” was the first single that the band released from the album. It’s also the opening track on the album. The music starts out pretty decent as thunderous drumming accompanies heavy blaring guitars that make you want to bob your head. But just as you get comfortable with the melody, Ferro comes in with his sour voice and ruins everything. Cristina Scabbia does her part to aid the chorus but it’s too late. The damage has already been done. The only difference between this song and songs like “Against You” and “Upsidedown” is that the band felt that Ferro’s vocals need delay and echo effects instead. So not only do you get to hear his god awful vocals but you get to hear it echo around you and ring in your head for days.
When you have a talented female singer in your band, you need to let her sing. “I Don’t Believe In Tomorrow” allows her to show off some of her gorgeous vocals in the verses but once the refrain kicks in it’s all Ferro the entire time. You’ll go from bobbing you’re head to the monstrous guitar riffs and rumbling drum rolls to shaking your head in disgust of such horrible male vocals.
Tracks like “Kill The Light” and “Intoxicated” are fine. They lean more towards a more rock type of feel but they contain catchy melodies in both the verses and the refrains. They also have little male vocal parts in them. Scabbia is able to take control of these songs and guide the instruments with her melodic vocals with no interruptions. Unfortunately “The Army Inside” goes right back to Ferro opening the first verse and hitting you with some terribly flat vocals that will make you skip to the next track immediately. If you end up making it through this track you will run into a nice little guitar solo towards the end with notes that destroy the musical scale. But is this solo worth the pain?
For all of you R.E.M. fans out there, you’ll find that Lacuna Coil covered “Losing My Religion.” Scabbia sings all the verses and she does a great job as well. Sorry to disappoint you but Ferro does that catchiest part of the song, the chorus. His raspy whining completely destroys this song. You will never listen to that track the same ever again.
The only track that I would say to definitely listen to before you dismiss this album all together is the final track, entitled "My Spirit" The verses are sung by Ferro and it's terrible but that's not important. Get pass that and listen to the refrain. Scabbia's vocal performance is absolutely ravishing and stunning in every way. This track proves that Scabbia still has it even with all of the flashy lights and distracting fame that has been around her.
From the looks of things, it seems like the band has really forgotten about their original sound and what people really liked them for and instead focused to much on the fame and attention that they’ve been getting. If it weren’t for Scabbia looking as good as she does, no one would want to listen to this band any more. They let Ferro do way too much singing in this album and it hurt them. I really hope that the band wakes up soon and starts putting out that good old Lacuna sound that we once knew.
4/10
Official Site - http://www.lacunacoil.it/
Myspace - http://www.myspace.com/lacunacoil
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