Lacuna Coil - Unleashed Memories
Century Media - 2001
By Rodrigo
/images/covers/LacunaCoil_unleashedmemories.jpg
Unleashed Memories is the newest offering from the Italian band Lacuna Coil. I was familiar with their earlier album In A Reverie but besides the outstanding song "My Wings" that album did not really do much for me. However, Unleashed Memories has struck me as a very solid album. I really do not want to use the term "Goth metal" with this band and album because it really does not apply to Lacuna Coil. Sure there are the male and female lead vocals but the music is more atmospheric and has soothing and tranquil melodies that are not really heard from other Goth bands. The music also has a more "pop music" feel to it, kind of like what The Gathering has been doing in their past two albums. The song that best characterizes this is "Cold Heritage". It features emotional and dark lyrics (the main themes of Unleashed Memories deal with fear, uncertainty, and lying) but the music is extremely catchy. This is one song that would fit perfectly in radio stations across the country. Do not fear though, Unleashed Memories still has some heavy passages to please the metal fans like in "1:19". This is probably the fastest and heaviest song of the album and it features great guitar work, especially the solo by Marco Biazzi.
Of course, one can not talk about Lacuna Coil without mentioning the beautiful Cristina Scabbia. Her singing is absolutely dreamy and mesmerizing. She has improved a lot and her pronunciation is the best of the female singers I like (Tarja from Nightwish and Anneke from The Gathering are the others). Also, it seems that the band has also taken notice because her vocals are more prominent than before. Andrea Ferro still provides the male vocals and he growls less than In A Reverie which I found to be a great improvement. The song that shows the best qualities of each is "When A Dead Man Walks". The forceful male vocals and heavy driving music lead in the verses, while the chorus features the dreamy vocals of Cristina and slower musical melodies all making an excellent contrast. Two other songs feature this contrast, "To Live is to Hide" and "A Current Obsession". Another excellent highlight is the song "Senzafine". Cristina sings in it her native Italian and manages to sound even more seducing in her native tongue. Lucky for us Century Media included the Halflife EP and we get two versions of this fantastic song. Four more songs are found from the EP and they are "Halflife", "Trance" "Awake" and "Stars" a cover of the band Dubstar.
With Unleashed Memories, Lacuna Coil has come out with their best effort and there can be no mistaking their own unique sound. While not a metal band Lacuna Coil is a band that seems to strike a chord with plenty of metal fans. They provide a different musical journey that is relaxing and infectious. Finally Lacuna Coil has been able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together in Unleashed Memories.
Century Media - 2001
By Rodrigo
/images/covers/LacunaCoil_unleashedmemories.jpg
Unleashed Memories is the newest offering from the Italian band Lacuna Coil. I was familiar with their earlier album In A Reverie but besides the outstanding song "My Wings" that album did not really do much for me. However, Unleashed Memories has struck me as a very solid album. I really do not want to use the term "Goth metal" with this band and album because it really does not apply to Lacuna Coil. Sure there are the male and female lead vocals but the music is more atmospheric and has soothing and tranquil melodies that are not really heard from other Goth bands. The music also has a more "pop music" feel to it, kind of like what The Gathering has been doing in their past two albums. The song that best characterizes this is "Cold Heritage". It features emotional and dark lyrics (the main themes of Unleashed Memories deal with fear, uncertainty, and lying) but the music is extremely catchy. This is one song that would fit perfectly in radio stations across the country. Do not fear though, Unleashed Memories still has some heavy passages to please the metal fans like in "1:19". This is probably the fastest and heaviest song of the album and it features great guitar work, especially the solo by Marco Biazzi.
Of course, one can not talk about Lacuna Coil without mentioning the beautiful Cristina Scabbia. Her singing is absolutely dreamy and mesmerizing. She has improved a lot and her pronunciation is the best of the female singers I like (Tarja from Nightwish and Anneke from The Gathering are the others). Also, it seems that the band has also taken notice because her vocals are more prominent than before. Andrea Ferro still provides the male vocals and he growls less than In A Reverie which I found to be a great improvement. The song that shows the best qualities of each is "When A Dead Man Walks". The forceful male vocals and heavy driving music lead in the verses, while the chorus features the dreamy vocals of Cristina and slower musical melodies all making an excellent contrast. Two other songs feature this contrast, "To Live is to Hide" and "A Current Obsession". Another excellent highlight is the song "Senzafine". Cristina sings in it her native Italian and manages to sound even more seducing in her native tongue. Lucky for us Century Media included the Halflife EP and we get two versions of this fantastic song. Four more songs are found from the EP and they are "Halflife", "Trance" "Awake" and "Stars" a cover of the band Dubstar.
With Unleashed Memories, Lacuna Coil has come out with their best effort and there can be no mistaking their own unique sound. While not a metal band Lacuna Coil is a band that seems to strike a chord with plenty of metal fans. They provide a different musical journey that is relaxing and infectious. Finally Lacuna Coil has been able to put all the pieces of the puzzle together in Unleashed Memories.
