Shallow Life

The Italian alt-metal command

The band Lacuna Coil was formed in Milan, Italy, in 1994. Initially, it was known as Sleep Of Right, but changed the title for Ethereal, when the contract with a major label arrived. However, soon the artists learned out that the title was already taken by a Greek command, and chose Lacuna Coil for the substitute, which has been their visit card for years. Around the same time, the lineup of the band settled – after several moves, it included two singers and four musicians. The soloist Andrea Ferro initially was the only performer, but the artists decided to add some female vocals to make the sound more contrastive. They asked their friend, Cristina Scabbia, to record with them. Soon Christina became the official band member, but not as a backing vocalist. She became the co-soloist with Andrea Ferro. Besides them, the band includes guitarists Cristiano Migliore and Marco Biazzi, percussionist Cristiano Mozzati and keyboardist and bassist Marco Zelati. The music of Lacuna Coil by that moment became more alternative and less gothic. In 2002, the artists recorded their breakthrough disc Comalies, which brought them to fame not only in Europe, but also in the US. After that, Lacuna Coil became the regular guest of the biggest world’s metal fests. The follow-up Karmacode (2006) also was highly praised by the public. This year, the artists recorded the new disc Shallow Life.

Shallow Life is a metal music event

It should be stated at once that the musicians of Lacuna Coil strive for making their albums not a fast-food. They work for a long time on each record in a studio in order to perfect it as much as possible. That is why each release by Lacuna Coil is a rare and significant event, especially for the devoted fans of the group. Moreover, the disc Shallow Life did not get into the massive flood of metal releases, which takes part in summer, thus giving us an opportunity to purchase the album and listen to it thoughtfully, without tearing up between Shallow Life and some other metal long-plays. The listeners could already appreciate the wonderful alt-metal single Spellbound and a video for it, shot in a luxurious place of the Dolce & Gabbana Gold restaurant. The album opener I Survive demonstrates us the renewed musically band – the artists left the heavy riffs for the sake of stronger melody, and this move is at least praiseworthy. They also verified their ability to write big, hooking choruses, like in the song I Like It. The artists promised in the interview to make their music more Arabic-influenced, and it becomes obvious on the track I’m Not Afraid. The vocalization of Cristina in the Eastern style can mesmerize anyone. The thought-out and strong track Unchained has, if we speak about opportunities openly, all chances for becoming at least a single, if not a hit.

Lacuna Coil eradicates the drawbacks

In order to get into the world scene, the band has not only to consist of talented and highly-professional musicians – it goes especially about the metal scene, it also needs to make everything in the best manner and have the identity. The musicians of Lacuna Coil got this tendency with the disc Shallow Life. The got rid of all the elements they were not amazing at – like gothic riffs once again – and propelled the qualities they were adored for all over the world. It mostly considers the vocals by Cristina Scabbia, as her voice can make even ordinary material sparkle like a brilliant. The artists were totally right, when they added Eastern motifs to the melodies of Shallow Life, Scabbia’s singing becomes wonderful at such moments. Let’s take as an example the hit-single Swamped with the ethnic tune, which was featured in the soundtrack to the film Resident Evil: Apocalipse and in the final of the game Vampire: The Masquerade – Bloodlines. Well, if we compare the disc Karmacode to its follow-up Shallow Life, we can see that the Lacuna Coil members made a great work to eradicate the shortcomings of their music. Producer Don Gilmore assisted them in this hard business. The disc Shallow Life became one more step for Lacuna Coil on the ladder to mainstream. Well, this band definitely deserves ubiquitous popularity.