LACUNA COIL SHALLOW, LIVELY ON ‘SHALLOW LIFE’
Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at 1:00pm by Anso DF
Lacuna Coil makes it easy for haters. For one thing, their latest (and best) album ostensibly explores the meaninglessness of modern life, yet Shallow Life itself is immediate, thoughtless pop. Luckily, it’s awesome pop, to be enjoyed in the same disposable way as Doritos and Indiana Jones: as good, pointless fun. And though it suffers for its lack of depth, most of the Shallow Life experience is awesome hookery bolstered by Don Gilmore’s micro-tuned (post-)production. Arrangements are mercilessly utilitarian, with very few intros or outros or reps. At first, the record’s swift economy of riffage kinda feels like abridgement, like Reader’s Digest’s Shallow Life. But it’s soon clear that the brevity is basically a mercy killing, cuz, if you recall, guitarists Cristiano Migliore and Marco Biazzi played like vaginas on 2006’s otherwise awesome Karmacode. Those two either needed to get a style, or be banished to the background with (snicker) the keyboard player – and they are on Shallow Life. Out of convenience if not necessity, Gilmore’s Lacuna Coil is no longer a guitar band, but a pop band with heavy guitars, like Paramore, Garbage, and In Flames.
And like a pop record, Shallow Life is all singing. Not just a lot of singing at one time, but also in the sense that either there’s singing or silence for 48 minutes. Of the first six songs, four are taut Top 10 singles, and that doesn’t even count a fifth (“I Won’t Tell You”) that practically fellates radio programmers or the tune in which non-Cristina Scabbia singer Andrea Ferro seems to bellow “I’m not a faaaaag!” (“I’m Not Afraid”). Then there’s “The Pain,” a heavy ballad (and live must-play) with the gravity and bald histrionics of Sneaker Pimps simulating that first Evanescence single in half time.
Gilmore is most successful on Shallow Life in taming Ferro, whose embarrassingly passionate raving is more often confined to verses here. Ferro is given steady work, but light-lifting only, and he pulls it off notwithstanding his occasionally hilarious accent (“Sie-lint wheespersss” on “Spellbound”). When Ferro vacates completely, liberating infinite Scabbias to harmonize and overlap, it’s like exhilarating cinema. It could be that the male components of Lacuna Coil are Scabbia’s well-qualified backing band, and will likely be photographed in such a manner when they perform Shallow Life centerpiece “Wide Awake” at the next Grammys and possibly Oscars. The towering anthem finds Scabbia nodding to Kate Bush and Sinead O’Connor with a voice that now – in addition to a dozen other mosts – can also be called rock’s most emotive.
In a good way, Shallow Life is like Def Leppard’s Hysteria, Andrew WK’s I Get Wet, and that last Lost Prophets record produced by Bob Rock: simplified to the point of absurdity and limitlessly consumable. Not like a fulfilling meal, rather a fun snack. It rocks about as hard as Nickelback – maybe Disturbed – and therefore might still be ignored in a lobby or elevator. You feel like a total sucker as it pulls every string with predictable precision. You even find parallels in the track order, as Hysteria‘s anti-climatic album closers “Excitable” and “Love And Affection” are matched by the monotonous “Unchained” (according to my girlfriend, an admission of Scabbia’s desire to do porn) and “The Maze,” a tiresome dud. Elsewhere, “I Like It” is great but treads too closely for comfort to Alanis Morissette territory (Canada, right?) and “Spellbound” seems like it’d be a real headache for Scabbia in concert. It’s these songs that make Shallow Life a bit depressing, all desperately vague and pleading for approval. Otherwise, it’s beautiful garbage.
(4½ out of 5 horns)
-ADF
Anso DF is a former music journalist who thinks you might have a learning disability, Sammy, on the daily Metal news column Hipsters Out Of Metal!
I have seen Lacuna Coil live four times(albeit, as a supporting act) and I still just can’t get into them. I mean, Heaven’s A Lie was a good song and their cover of Enjoy the Silence was good, but they just don’t do it for me. Maybe if they dropped the non-Cristina Scabbia singer
enjoy the silence was a cover. then i really dont like any song by them
metalguy likes depeche mode hahahaha
okay to any Lacuna Coil haters out there. Go fuck yourself with a fucking loaf of bread. Cristina and Andrea are fuckin amazing and anyone who thinks otherwise should be shot.
I got to “Paramore, Garbage, and In Flames” and stopped reading.
And this is coming from somebody that LIKES all of those bands, but seriously…what the fuck.
Then I started reading again and realized there was no point because honestly, from the moment I read that the reviewer thought this was their best CD I knew we were listening to two different records. This is, in my opinion, by FAR the worst CD this band has ever made. The title says it all, there’s no life to this thing. It’s just boring background noise.
How the hell did Garbage and Paramore get mentioned in the same sentence? That’s like saying, “Peter Jackson is like Woody Allen and Michael Bay…”
Lite pop = fail; however, I can’t really fault Lacuna Coil for going with it, since goth rock/metal was a short-lived phenomena in the US, and while it’s still going good overseas, I’d imagine it doesn’t sell well in the US now. I wouldn’t say sellouts, either, because LC has always been decently “pop-trendy”, unlike a lot of the other goth rock/metal bands out there….just bending in a different direction when the tides change, I guess.
This album is really bland, and not in a good way. I’ve given it a few listens, but it’s boring and not especially heavy. I don’t think I’ll listen much more.
Reads like a fairly negative review for a 4 1/2 horn rating.
yeah that’s what I was thinking. put the horn rating at 1 and its pretty accurate review (except for the part that its their best album). Its their worst album by far
Iyeah it’s almost like ANSO felt guilty about liking it so much. I don’t listen to them much so I don’t really have an opinion of Lacuna Coil. I typically stay away from pop-metal, but I do like Avenged Sevenfold so I have my “guilty pleasures” as well.
The review reminds me of when i read positive reviews of DragonForce albums where the reviewers always sort of trash the band then give them an awesome rating.
“…Lacuna Coil is no longer a guitar band, but a pop band with heavy guitars, like Paramore, Garbage, and In Flames.”
I read that an hour ago and I’m STILL laughing.
i really hope to god you do not make this part of your best albums of the year with that rating
big lolz at the in flames shot
lacuna needs to kick the dude singer out already
i like lacuna coil, but the album is fuckin weak. didn’t they just grant you an interview? hmmmmm…..
I didn’t like it since as a pop record, it still wasn’t as good as Avril, Gunther or Christina Aguilera. (In the same way that anything by Ted Nugent totally blows Metallica’s Load out of the water when it comes to hard rock albums.) I thought that Karmacode was as commercial as they’d be allowed to get but when you’re the top selling artist on your label, there are simply no limits as to how far your label will have you sell out.
Dear god, It just hit me that Mayhem are to biggest band on Season of Mist. It’s only a short while before Attilla Csihar starts sounding like T-Pain!
I like the album despite it being purely pop metal. While no experimentation or anything progressive is on this disc, its consistent thru out all the tracks. I could do without the ballad tho.
Its hard to categorize this album as their best, since each disc of theirs has its own sound to it. I find this much better than karmacode and more consistent than Comalies. Unleashed Memories is really a separate sound altogether so I’d rate them about the same.
After reading several articles on this band, and finally giving this album a listen to, I don’t get what all the fuss is about. I’m not familiar with their work at all, and I’m guessing this album is not the best starting point.
Anyone care to enlighten me on this band? What’s one of their albums that’s more representative of their sound/style?
Comalies is the best album they have, and even that one isn’t amazing. This one only got 4 1/2 because she grants interviews to this site. Kinda like the Chimaira/God Forbid albums guaranteed high scores. If you’re looking for accurate reviews this site really isn’t the place.
This was a good album. Yeah, it’s not exactly like their goth days, but they did add more of their goth element to the music (listen to how dark the “Wide Awake” and “Shallow Life” arrangements are – strings, ambience, legato singing, dark themes). It has pop too, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It seems to be such a problem with metal fans when the pop element is added to the mix. Go as far back as Metallica’s Black Album. A LOT of people were turned off because of the mainstream element added to it, but later down the line it was one of their staples. Also Carcass’ Heartwork. Excellent album, but wasn’t initially recieved too well by the hardcore metal fans. Now, most modern metal bands ripp off this album (along with AT THE GATES). Also look at the producer. Gilmore is a pop producer. This is a good listen because there’s nothing wrong with catchy songs. Personally, I absolutely love death metal, but a lot of the bands tend to have the same sound (similar song structure, similar arrangments, etc.) It’s nice to get a slab of music you don’t have to wrap your mind around, but instead just rock the fuck out to. I DEFINITELY agree that Gilmore has finally tamed Andrea’s vocals, and Cristina is amazing on this album. It is a prime example of her vocal range. The criticism I do have is some of the guitar solos (if you want to call them that). Criz (drums) is solid all the way through, and minus the solos, the guitars and bass are catchy and solid. All around, great album to put on and not have to think about.
They should include a cookie cutter with the deluxe version
word.
Normally, I have nothing but positive things to say about Lacuna Coil. As far as this album goes however, they sound like Linkin Park, but instead of that wigger dude rapping the second set of vocals they have a beautiful woman singing, while simultaneously making my pants a bit tighter. 4 1/2 horns?! You have to be kidding me…
I dont even want to listen to this, I just think the cover is cool as fuck.
I didn’t know Lacuna Coil had guitarists!
i’ve heard all the songs a few times and i hate this style of bland pop. But these songs are so AWESOME. it seems like a paradox but i mean i don’t like what it is, but i love how good it is. i hate coffee too, but sometimes a gooey mocha hits the spot. does that make sense?
it sucked
This review is wrong.
Come on Anso, you don’t have a girlfriend.
<=== did not appreciate or get the In Flames jab. Sure, they are melodic as hell, but that doesn’t take anything away from their catchy heaviness.
Totally agree. They can still rip up a place or two.
Maybe they’ll go on tour with In This Moment!
I just saw them live at MAAW V, they were quite good.
Honest record but not comparable to Karmakode and Comalies.
4 horns and half? Lolwoot? (and’im italian :)
I would be glad to hear Axl and Vince opinions.
This sounds like true selling out…
Not like “Oh my gawd, my favorite band changed their singer and their image” selling out.
More like. “We’ve sacrificed everything for the sake of getting more radio singles” selling out.
I’m sure this will get a lot of “EVERY ARTIST IN THE INDUSTRY SELLS OUT!” but think about the interview with Christina. When she did that generic “I don’t care what critics think because we’re doing something different and anyone that doesn’t like it probably has no life.” thing that so many close to failing bands -cryptopsy- have done.
This review must be a joke…but it’s an understandable joke. He really just gives them points for being radio friendly and accessible, not for any sort of creativity.
Good review–you convinced me to give it a try at least. But I cannot in any way agree with your evaluation. Thanks anyway.
I think, this album kicks ass, I have every album by them and have been a loyal fan since Unleashed Memories, which I think Unleashed Memories is the best. Shallow Life kicks ass, it’s different from any other LC album, yes the style has changed, a bit, still has that LC feel. Andrea is doing a lot more singing in this one, It’s alright I guess, but it kicks ass. And don’t compare them to GAYamore or Paramore, they suck bad lolz….
LC is just becoming more popular these days, what some popular, Gutar Hero, Rock Band playing mainstream fans don’t know, is that LC has been around for quite awhile now, they don’t even know they have 5 albums plus an ep.. pisses me off. So stop with this Lacuna Coil is pop now, try listening to all their album, then I guess judge…
Sorry for those all haters, but this band is great. Seriously I’d really like to hate them, but i can’t (just the same as In Flames…in spite of all the hate. I love ALL their albums, I can’t despise them). I follow Lacuna Coil since the first album, and they never make an identical album. Yes, this is not their best effort, and they’re not going to change the face of rock or metal, but they kick ass. Lacuna Coil pop? I dont care if this is even country for you.