Lacuna Coil are undoubtedly a successful band, with a long career full of well-selling albums and high up the bill festival slots - but to me they seem like a band who had just finished peaking when I first listened to them in the late 2000s, and whilst they're still doing fine, aren't the big name they once were.

With that pre-amble out of the way, I feel their last two albums feature a *lot* of trendy bits and pieces thrown in there in tone, tempo etc such as the djenty guitar tone and signature "twangs" for want of a better word on Delirium in particular.

I'm wondering if this is a result of the band trend hopping in an attempt to keep their music "fresh" and interesting, or if perhaps there some nudging from their label in this direction after the success of a million similar Djenty sounding bands in the mid 2010s.

A related point and key thing I'm curious for those who have been around a bit longer to answer - in the early 2000s were Lacuna Coil seen as innovators in their sound, or just a band that happened to be in the right place at the right time to catch the wave of Gothic Metal that seemed to do well around that time?

This is a forum topic rather than a review as these aren't heavily researched or legitimised claims, but are the feeling I've got from them in recent years. What do you guys think?


edit: I searched in a derpy way and didn't spot the other thread on this band that already existed, but on the other hand it hasn't had a single reply in over a decade!

I think this is a band come in right time and maybe not place, to earn some money. Not metal band but alternative band, what some metalheads likes.

Nice discussion. I used to be a huge Lacuna Coil fan, but I have to admit, I have profoundly lost an interest in their music after Comalies. For me, In A Reverie is still their best work to date. That album is for me pretty much flawless; production wise it is what it is, but the overall atmosphere hits my nerve every time I put it on. Unleashed Memories had me with its deep, dark emotions and Comalies is dear to me mostly because it its diversity.

Karmacode and Shallow Life had maybe 1-2 tracks, that I found fairly enjoyable, but that was mainly it. I just can't comprehend the overall feeling of these albums. Dark Adrenaline was a step forward in my opinion, it was again a bit more personal and carried a special ambiance to it, Broken Crown Halo was again one of those albums I just coulnd't fall for in its entirety, but it has its catchy moments. I took many spins of Delirium and Black Anima also, but it felt like I am listening to one song being recycled all over again on both albums. Just my 2 cents on their works.

I never really considered LC to be the innovators in their sound, even though it was pretty specific in their pre-Karmacode era, really more like a band that just so happened to be around and was really, really good at it. In my opinion, their path was to an extent a natural development, but with recent years, it actually seems like it's more of a trend-thing going on; if its the label or themselves making the decision: who knows. They got big, apparently wanted to and why not ride the wave, if it's what they have seeked?

For me Cristina is still an amazing frontwoman; she has the charisma to carry it on and sometimes it feels like she "owns" LC and that media is somehow forgetting that LC is not just Cristina, but the band. I think it's safe to say we won't get a IAR/UM/C styled album ever again, but still, I can't pass on listening to anything they release. I mean they are good musicians and apparently feel their creative juices are still flowing and well, nostalgia is a powerful weapon, so I never had the need to just bury them in my book.

I'm still a Lacuna Coil fan, I proudly have their logo painted on the back of my gothic metal battle jacket. However, as I discovered more and more gothic metal bands years ago I realized that there were better options compared to Lacuna Coil.

I listened to all of their albums and they never seem to recapture what made them so unique in the first place, let alone sounding more gothic metal. I can argue the closest they were to recapturing their gothic metal sound was in Broken Crown Halo. One thing I always say when a band gets more popular is that the quality of their music goes down rapidly. It happened with Metallica, and it surely happened with Lacuna Coil since Karmacode.

My biggest complaint I've had with LC's deteriorating music quality is their lyrics and how they sound too generic and safe. There's definitely traces of good music within LC's discography after Karmacode, but most of the time its either generic or has fallen flat. When I posted my review on the band's latest album Black Anima I felt like I was that guy who had an album that they hated, but everyone else liked because the recent album sounded nothing like the band, yet it was still liked by people. I will even admit that Delirium was a more enjoyable album than that. That review was probably my lowest-rated score I gave both in metal storm, and back when I reviewed in the MA.
LC's new sound was more metalcore leaning and I hate metalcore with a passion. In some way, it felt like a betrayal even though I still enjoyed Delirium.

To end this comment, at least we have the early albums (I was more into Unleashed Memories and Comalies) where I can still enjoy their music. Lacuna Coil use to be one of my most listened to bands since high school and the recent album did very little to make me feel enthusiastic with any new material ever again. I am proud of the band for being one of the most successful metal bands in Italy, I still consider Cristina Scabbia as one of my idols, and they are a fun band to watch no matter what sound or makeup they had on. Getting more mainstream attention is not worth getting more money, I savor quality and art over attention and quantity, and LC is one of those examples.

Written by AnGina-- on 24.01.2021 at 23:46

I never really considered LC to be the innovators in their sound, even though it was pretty specific in their pre-Karmacode era, really more like a band that just so happened to be around and was really, really good at it.

At the end of the day, Lacuna Coil is just another The Gathering clone only with clean male vocals.

Written by Gothic Metalhead on 29.01.2021 at 08:40

I'm still a Lacuna Coil fan, I proudly have their logo painted on the back of my gothic metal battle jacket.
My biggest complaint I've had with LC's deteriorating music quality is their lyrics and how they sound too generic and safe.

Picture please lol gothic battle jacket.... nja

As Italans their lyrics are good and maybe best band what use English most from rest of Italian bands

Written by Bad English on 29.01.2021 at 17:27

Written by Gothic Metalhead on 29.01.2021 at 08:40

I'm still a Lacuna Coil fan, I proudly have their logo painted on the back of my gothic metal battle jacket.
My biggest complaint I've had with LC's deteriorating music quality is their lyrics and how they sound too generic and safe.

Picture please lol gothic battle jacket.... nja

As Italans their lyrics are good and maybe best band what use English most from rest of Italian bands

Not sure how to post photos through the comments so how would I do that?

There have been other metal bands in Italy I can name that have written English that I can say is better. The Foreshadowing is a good example of a band that has written some deep lyrics in English if you look at an album like Days of Nothing.

Written by Gothic Metalhead on 29.01.2021 at 20:40

Not sure how to post photos through the comments so how would I do that?

Post it on imgur. Use [img] tags with the link of the image, not the post, but remove the "s" from "https".

Some patches are not gothic metal, but the main theme was suppose to be gothic metal. I originally wanted it to be a Lacuna Coil Jacket which is why I hand painted that logo. But felt it was too limiting and decided to add more bands that were gothic metal.

Written by Gothic Metalhead on 29.01.2021 at 08:42
At the end of the day, Lacuna Coil is just another The Gathering clone only with clean male vocals.

Well for me LC never quite shared the overall ethereal sound and the profound ambiance The Gathering were able to achieve (I'm taking their post Almost A Dance discography), especially considering their debut falls inebtween The Gathering's How To Measure A Planet? and If_Then_Else release, who had significantly different sound. The Gathering sure were very influential of many acts at the time, but I've searched deliberately for TG clones, but were never able to find one.

I do agree on The Foreshadowing, amazing music and great lyrics.

Comparing those 2 bands, lol its like saying Anathema plays doom metal, no better saying anatema plays metal att all , LC is better as Gathering after they hired Anneke.

Written by Bad English on 31.01.2021 at 15:26

Comparing those 2 bands, lol its like saying Anathema plays doom metal, no better saying anatema plays metal att all , LC is better as Gathering after they hired Anneke.

But this is not the point (we're trying to show). Whatever happened to The Gathering is a totally different path, yes they drifted from doom/death to trip-hop infused rock, whether their music was better pre- or post-Anneke is matter of personal taste. Mandyllion - to anyone's liking or not - was a trendsetting album at the time and it infuenced many musical acts.

Apart from the comparisons I just made and whatever person likes this album or this band or not: The point I wanted to make was LC was a great band, I still follow their social media pages, and they're all great musicians, but at the end of the day their newer stuff has me drifting away to other music within the genre.

What rubbed me the wrong way the most about LC is that they started to go all SlipKnot in 2016. Usually bands start out with the weird stage gimmicks and make-up, not randomly decide to do them once all the members of the band are well into their 40s. Felt like they were trying too hard to get those edgy teenagers into their music.

As for their music, I thought Comalies and Karmacode were great back in the day. I really liked that they mixed female leads with clean male vocals. This is surprisingly extremely rare in Metal music. It sounded fresh and unique. Anyway, now their male vocals are primarily growls which has been done by nearly every female lead band in the history of Metal. it's overdone.

My opinion on LC is largely that their popularity faded in the mid 2010s and they wanted to get back into that gravy train so they trend hopped into what worked for bands in the late 2000s. I don't dislike their new music but it doesn't feel like Lacuna Coil anymore to me. They still put out some good songs but I don't go out of my way to listen to them anymore. Saw them live in 2017, they weren't bad, just not the LC I grew up to.

Written by WorpeX on 04.02.2021 at 19:58

Saw them live in 2017, they weren't bad, just not the LC I grew up to.

For me, 10-20 years ago one of my biggest wishes was to see LC live. And I never really understood the fact that we lived in neighbour countries, yet they never toured here. Well, they finally came around in 2019 and honestly, I didn't even make the effort to see them live. I just didn't want their performance to leave any more bad taste in my mouth, because I'd probably be one of those old pri*ks yelling "no new stuff" (which I utterly hate hearing in concerts. Don't wanna be that bi*ch.)

+ To anyone, whom it may concern: you can't mention The Gathering (anywhere) without expecting K7 to make an appearance, saying how much he hates their post-doom/death era music.

From the outside looking in (listened to their stuff and followed them casually over the years) they've struck me as a band who have felt the need to reinvent/diverge in order to maintain/regain their popularity.

I think they hit at just the right time, acting like the next step along the path for people new to the genre to start with the likes of Evenescene and move further down the rabbit hole.

Though I'd take this with a pinch of salt as like I say, I'm only really a casual listener.

Written by WorpeX on 04.02.2021 at 19:58

What rubbed me the wrong way the most about LC is that they started to go all SlipKnot in 2016. Usually bands start out with the weird stage gimmicks and make-up, not randomly decide to do them once all the members of the band are well into their 40s. Felt like they were trying too hard to get those edgy teenagers into their music.

As for their music, I thought Comalies and Karmacode were great back in the day. I really liked that they mixed female leads with clean male vocals. This is surprisingly extremely rare in Metal music. It sounded fresh and unique. Anyway, now their male vocals are primarily growls which has been done by nearly every female lead band in the history of Metal. it's overdone.

My opinion on LC is largely that their popularity faded in the mid 2010s and they wanted to get back into that gravy train so they trend hopped into what worked for bands in the late 2000s. I don't dislike their new music but it doesn't feel like Lacuna Coil anymore to me. They still put out some good songs but I don't go out of my way to listen to them anymore. Saw them live in 2017, they weren't bad, just not the LC I grew up to.

Slightly more exaggerated than my personal view but this is what I was curious about, in terms of the vibe they've given off in recent years.

All the posts have been useful and informative mind!

For me I'm just curious if there's conscious trend hopping pushed by the label (discreetly, or otherwise) or if the band has tried to evolve without outside influence and they've just ended up being a weaker version of other bands rather than their own powerful force that they seemed to be in the late 2000s. That said I really should have listened more to their first 2 albums than I have, and intend to do so sometime - maybe that will help to illuminate things a little for me as the evolution between those and the following albums could suggest they've always tried to change their sound around, and it's just become more apparent to me on the last 2 albums.

Well, I think the band genuinely puts off a vibe they're proud of their work and enthusiastic about their music, that could be the indicator what they are releasing is really what they want to release. However, what particularly comes to interest in me that LC has had a pretty much steady line-up up until 2014; at least from 2000 onward. And their first 4 albums were produced by Waldermar Sorychta (I think we all know who he is) and that surely had an impact as well. Whether band members leave due to a certain change and not be ok with it or music changes because someone who was a creative force changes, that varies.

I really don't bother questioning myself who made the decision to shift the sound, but usually some band members leaving, change of label or producer shows something. I mean, there have been massive changes in sound, especially with the male vocalist-female vocalist goth sounding bands; for example, Theatre of Tragedy with Musique, Tristania with Ashes, Within Temptation (not really my cup of tea, but I think their debut is brilliant, then I just lost interest in their music) and I think we could find a few more. Those just pop in my head when thinking of the subject.