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Lacuna Coil - Delirium review



Reviewer:
7.4

191 users:
7.48
Band: Lacuna Coil
Album: Delirium
Release date: May 2016


01. The House Of Shame
02. Broken Things
03. Delirium
04. Blood, Tears, Dust
05. Downfall
06. Take Me Home
07. You Love Me 'Cause I Hate You
08. Ghost In The Mist
09. My Demons
10. Claustrophobia
11. Ultima Ratio
12. Live To Tell [Madonna cover] [deluxe digipak bonus]
13. Breakdown [deluxe digipak bonus]
14. Bleed The Pain [deluxe digipak bonus]

Time for another match between Lacuna Coil's discography VS gothic.

Once upon a time, I was a baby Gothic Metalhead who was only listening to Type O Negative and HIM, and didn't really dig deep into the genre until I graduated high school. One of the bands that was instrumental in helping me dig deeper into gothic metal was Lacuna Coil. My first interaction with them was with Broken Crown Halo, and I loved it at the time so much that I started digging deeper into all their music, then eventually got into Theatre Of Tragedy and Anathema. A year later, the album known as Delirium was actually my most anticipated album at the time, and I would listen to this a lot. I had drifted away from this album for the longest time until recently. Delirium was not a bad experience to my ears, at least compared to what came after this (I won't say names). Sure, that hype died down compared to today, but it still was an above-average run-of-the-mill LC album.

Unlike Broken Crown Halo, Delirium takes a 180 into a different sound. Where Broken Crown Halo sounded as if they were returning to their gothic-sounding music, this is a heavier album. Alternative-influenced, but the one noticeable change that I was skeptical about was the metalcore influence. The band utilizes breakdowns in order to capture a heavier sound. I remember listening to "Ghost In The Mist" for the first time and being somewhat sad that they added breakdowns to the album, coming from someone who hated metalcore music. However, it was not too bad, it was actually a nice heavy direction. Some of the more atmospheric songs are the best songs off the album, like "Downfall" and "My Demons", and I will even say "Take Me Home" was such a different song, but it was still an alright kind of different. Some of the keys went too electronic-sounding such that they felt out of place, but for the most part, it wasn't overdone. At least with this album, it has some ounce of atmosphere, and it didn't fall too heavily on the ridiculous heavy darkness that I would hear with their next album. There are definitely a few songs that didn't grab my attention, because of how some didn't have any catchy or atmospheric hooks. Nonetheless, it's been decent musically, guitars were nice, the bass wasn't too big on the Fieldy-style playing, and the keyboards were alright.

The vocal performances are not too bad either. One thing that really stood out compared to other LC albums was the change in direction for Andrea Ferro's vocals. Noticeably, most of the time he's just doing metalcore-inspired extreme vocals. It wasn't my favorite part of the album as it stripped what made Lacuna Coil so unique by having a male clean singer combined with female vocals. In some ways, it brings back those times when Andrea can do growls on Unleashed Memories, but not quite as good as this. Ferro's biggest highlight comes in "My Demons", where he would combine those growls with his singing, which I actually enjoyed. As for Cristina Scabbia, her performance is solid. She had a lot to do on this album and has a nice range. She sings higher parts compared to Broken Crown Halo and is probably the best thing about the album.

One of my biggest criticisms I've had with Lacuna Coil is their lyrics. While not the worst I've heard from the band, Delirium has somewhat not lived up to the themes the album is supposed to present. It still follows the typical LC themes of "I'm hurt, but nothing stands in our way". They would follow the visual themes of mental institutions with the last track "Ultima Ratio". The lyrics are not really creative and don't do anything to really make for a gripping experience, just more or less generic.

Whatever criticisms I've had with this album, Delirium is still a decent album with some enjoyable music, some atmospheric performances, and I appreciated this heavier sound, even if doesn't live up to the days of Unleashed Memories. While I can't say this album was a better experience today compared to when I first listened to the album, at least it wasn't a bad experience during Lacuna Coil's 2010's era.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 7
Songwriting: 6
Originality: 6
Production: 8

Written by Gothic Metalhead | 21.02.2021




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.



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