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Lacuna Coil - Karmacode
Release: 2006Label: [link]Century Media[/link]
By: Anders
Posted: May 22, 2006
This Italian band caught me and tons of others with their last album "Comalies", which turned out to be a pretty big commercial success. The well-written album, showed a more accessible and straight forward band, using almost pop-like blueprints for their compositions, without it turning too soft or boring. The band is now ready with their new album "Karmacode", which naturally, upon the success of "Comalies", has been hyped quite a lot.
The first thing that hit me when I listened to this disc the first time, was the more complex, yet at times simple sound picture. The heavy hooks and catchy choruses, which created the drive and made many love "Comalies" wasn't as present as obvious here. Commercial suicide? One might ask oneself. Though it soon shows that the truth is far from that. The band is still using their melodies very wise, they are swirled throughout the album, holding it together. The bottom is the heavy and quite groovy bass, a thing I had a problem with in the start, but it has started to grow on me, I have to admit. As written earlier this album isn't as accessible as Lacuna Coil before has been, it takes some spins to get the material under the skin, but when that has happened the album unfolds itself, and show all the elements the band is known for.
The vocals from Christina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro are still the highlights of the album, the 2 vocals works really well together, and create that special atmosphere, which has made the band as well-known as they are. Especially Scabbia's performance reaches new heights once in a while, especially during the Depeche Mode cover track 'Enjoy The Silence', she handles that song very well. Together with the rest of the band of course, they catch the original atmosphere, but still manage to make the song their own.
After having spent a good while with this album, I have come to the conclusion, that it doesn't hit the heights of "Comalies" simply due to being more complex and not having the same brilliant catchy choruses. The band has chosen to do a more complex and experimenting album, and has done that well, the album is still very good and I do enjoy listening to it. Though it takes some more time to get under the skin and you have to be in a special mood to enjoy the material to the fullest. But an interesting path the band has chosen to follow and it can turn out to be very exciting in the future, no doubt about that, until then, spin this album when you feel like it and "Comalies" at all other times.
The first thing that hit me when I listened to this disc the first time, was the more complex, yet at times simple sound picture. The heavy hooks and catchy choruses, which created the drive and made many love "Comalies" wasn't as present as obvious here. Commercial suicide? One might ask oneself. Though it soon shows that the truth is far from that. The band is still using their melodies very wise, they are swirled throughout the album, holding it together. The bottom is the heavy and quite groovy bass, a thing I had a problem with in the start, but it has started to grow on me, I have to admit. As written earlier this album isn't as accessible as Lacuna Coil before has been, it takes some spins to get the material under the skin, but when that has happened the album unfolds itself, and show all the elements the band is known for.
The vocals from Christina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro are still the highlights of the album, the 2 vocals works really well together, and create that special atmosphere, which has made the band as well-known as they are. Especially Scabbia's performance reaches new heights once in a while, especially during the Depeche Mode cover track 'Enjoy The Silence', she handles that song very well. Together with the rest of the band of course, they catch the original atmosphere, but still manage to make the song their own.
After having spent a good while with this album, I have come to the conclusion, that it doesn't hit the heights of "Comalies" simply due to being more complex and not having the same brilliant catchy choruses. The band has chosen to do a more complex and experimenting album, and has done that well, the album is still very good and I do enjoy listening to it. Though it takes some more time to get under the skin and you have to be in a special mood to enjoy the material to the fullest. But an interesting path the band has chosen to follow and it can turn out to be very exciting in the future, no doubt about that, until then, spin this album when you feel like it and "Comalies" at all other times.
Rating: 8/10
[link]Lacuna Coil[/link] website
Distributed in Denmark and kindly supplied by EMI
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