Lacuna Coil – Shallow Life
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Lacuna Coil are a strange bunch. Their brand of dynamic operatic metal certainley sounds authentic enough. Throw into the mix the fact that the Italians have rocked out centre stage in enormo-domes across the good ‘ol US of A on hip metal tours such as Ozzfest and Bloodstock and credibilty doesn’t seem to be a factor either. They even have a purdy frontwoman who’s falsetto wails could raise just as many eyebrows at a high brow ballet as they could in a sweat soaked mosh pit. So why do they seemingly have a ready made stigma attached challenging the legitimacy of their art? One word: Evanescence. Amy Lee’s crew were making records for a full five years before Lacuna Coil even thought about forming. For most fans of the Gothic Opera movement the Coil are simply Johnny Come Latelys, cashing in on the chaotic demise of Evanescence. ‘Shallow Life’ is meant to change all that. This is the one that is going to seperate the meaningful from the mundane, and, perharps more importantly, lift Cristina Scabbia out from under the shade of Amy Lee’s corset.
‘Shallow Life’ is the sextet’s fifth studio release following 2006′s breakthrough ‘Karmacode’. In a move that’s sure to raise the ire of the bean counters at Century Media records, Lacuna Coil are streaming the album for a week on their MySpace page prior to general release. Cristina Scabbia claims this is the group’s first crack at a concept album, citing an ambitious approach to recording and even incorporating arabic influences. Some would offer, at this stage in Lacuna Coil’s storied career, that this is a make or break moment for the band, a chance to defy the naysayers and silence the critics once and for all. No pressure guys.
‘Shallow Life’ kicks off in fine fashion. ‘Survive’ is a solid opener combining a faux nursery rhyme rhythm with a hungry, menacing riff. It highlights the band’s knack for crafting songs that muddle the line between innocence and danger, a staple for past Lacuna Coil releases. It’s a bright and unexpected start that unfortunately they cannot maintain.
The album declines extremely rapidly, falling into a miserable pattern of generic post Nu Metal-esque dirge. Track after track washes over the ears without resonating even a hint of an impression. The dual vocals are in full effect on every number re-inforcing the Evanescence comparisons and, to only a slightly lesser extent, Linkin Park.
The album also sounds worryingly clean. The mix has been stripped of any distortion or, in all honesty, interest. It’s as if they were instructed to make a bona-fide hit that would appeal to thirteen year old goth girls, funny that.
Vocally, Scabbia puts in a stirring performance and there can be no doubt as to the talents she possesses, it’s just a shame she never gets the opportunity to truly shine, as just when she soars to a place that borders on commanding the listener’s attention, Andrea Ferro cruelly cuts in turning the track into another tired tribute to ‘Bring Me to Life’. Lyrically things are even worse, when a disc contains such pearls of wisdom as ‘I feel very different today, I like it, like it’ and ‘I’m gonna get what I like, gonna celebrate ’til I die’ you can file it under ‘K’ for Kindergarten.
Essentially ‘Shallow Life’ is the product of a band seeking credibilty by incorporating every ageing cliche that others have done better before them, and when you consider the album title, one can only imagine this is a classic case of art imitating life.
Rating: 
