Here’s a totally accurate chronology of my Lacuna Coil fandom: I heard a killer LC jam on the radio and was awed by singer Cristina Scabbia. Then I saw a band photo and got awestruck this time by Scabbia the woman. Then once fourth album Karmacode came out in 2007, my awe umbrella’ed out to include the songwriters of Lacuna Coil and, upon 2009’s Shallow Life, also their producer Don Gilmore.

But here’s where I’ll get all Oprah: Though a huge fan of Scabbia’s voice and a forged-by-nature respondent to her wealth of physical charms, I find the most awesome Scabbia is not the singer or the super-fox; she’s most awesome at being a bud, an honest dude, and a great chat. When we connected last week to talk about Dark Adrenaline, the once-delayed sixth Lacuna Coil album (out tomorrow), she effortlessly plowed through abstract questions and hasty analogies, and totally got the vibe of my persistent nagging about sales, producers, and artistic integrity. It was awesome!

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As part of an ongoing to effort to prove they’re not just a pop metal band that only teenge girls and mall goths (and teenage girl mall goths) like, Lacuna Coil have debuted their new video, “Trip the Darkness,” via Hot Topic. So that oughta settle that.

Anyways, it’s not like a great video or anything, but the song is as catchy as the flu to be sure, and for at least a portion of the video, Cristina Scabbia does not look like a beardless Gandalf, which is nice.

“Trip the Darkness” will be on Lacuna Coil’s new album, Dark Adrenaline, which comes out January 24 via Century Media.

-AR

To me, dudes who write about music are heroes. And we metal listeners benefit from the largest number of heroically passionate and sharp writers, bloggists, journalers, and otherwise enthusiastics. My bad if that sounds self-serving or lame. But I think it’s harder to get good advice about non-metal; and it must be hard to cover product that’s supported by so much money and energy. So my hats off to bands who do good covers, helpful covers that kinda gateway metal fans to non-metal greats. And I vote we belatedly doff ‘em to Lacuna Coil for their 2000 cover of “Stars” (above), the most popular but nowhere near most awesome jam by Dubstar. Now, I say we only go as far as hat-doffing because the new version first appeared on an EP (cough filler) and the original was biggish in Europe fives years earlier (motive). But hey awesome Cristina Scabbia (this track’s sole vocalist wink wink) does a great job, so high fives!

-ADF

Lacuna Coil’s forthcoming sixth album, Dark Adrenaline, is slated for release on January 24. November UK dates here. Bonerz.

Sometimes I tell people I like Lacuna Coil and they look at me all cock-eyed, and then I have no choice but to look back at them all cock-eyed, ’cause, well, why the crap WOULDN’T you like Lacuna Coil? I remember the first time I ever heard of ‘em — I saw them open for Anthrax on the We’ve Come For You All tour in 2003 — and as soon as they were done, a WHOLE LOTTA PEOPLE, this blogger included, ran over to their merch booth and bought their then-newest release, Comalies. They were that kinda good. And what won us all over that evening? Yeah, the fact that Cristina Scabbia is hot probably didn’t hurt, but Eyes Set to Kill has twice as many attractive women in their band, and I ain’t never bought one of their records. The difference is that Lacuna Coil write songs which, although perhaps not the heaviest tunes ever composed, are as catchy as that shit in Contagion.

And the band’s new single, “Trip the Darkness,” ain’t no exception. A lotta bands that veer towards the poppier side of metal seem to run out of steam fairly quickly, but this is as fun a song as I’ve ever heard the band release. So if you’re in the mood for something that maybe doesn’t have a million notes a second but you will actually remember and have stuck in your head a few hours from now, head over their Facebook page to stream it now.

“Trip the Darkness” will appear on Lacuna Coil’s new album, Dark Adrenaline, which comes out January 24 on Century Media, and probably has a bunch of other references to the dark, too.

-AR

Last week Dave Mustaine let it slip that Megadeth would be touring with Motörhead, Volbeat, and Lacuna Coil “this year coming up,” and now Noisecreep has confirmed that that tour is, indeed, a go, and is, as we suspected, the newest incarnation of Gigantour. Of course, in a day and age where there are routinely massive multi-band package tours like Mayhem and Summer Slaughter, there’s really nothing gigantic about it, but, hey, the line-up is good enough that there’s no point nitpickin’ the name.

And the really good news is, the tour will apparently take place from January through March, so our concerns that this was gonna be yet another big summer tour are now eased, and we have something to look forward to in the cold winter months. Also, it’s a safe bet that Lacuna Coil’s Cristina Scabbia, who voice is good enough that she’s still in the band despite looking like the kid from Mask, will probably be doing “A Tout Le Monde” with Megadeth every night, and I’m all in favor of anything that will mean Dave Mustaine has to do less singing.

There are no dates yet, but we’ll let you know as soon as there are, natch.

-AR

It goes without saying that an attractive women at a metal show is about as common as a MetalSucks reader who’s seen a vagina somewhere other than the internet. That’s why things like Revolver‘s “12 Hottest Chicks In Metal” calendar are little more than a cheap lie: a more honest title would be “Complete List of Hot Chicks in Metal.”

With such a shortage of ass, metal hotties are in high demand, and men are forced to make tough choices — and what tougher choice is there to make than the classic game of FUCK, MARRY, OR KILL? If you aren’t familiar, FMK is a game in which you are given a list of three names and must choose which one you would fuck, marry and kill. I figured it would be good practice for readers to choose which metal hotties they would eff, marry and kill — check out the menu after the break!

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All these bands decided to release new videos within the past twenty-four hours. So I’m just lumping them all together in one post, the same way my mom lumps any music with loud guitars together under the heading, “Things I assume my degenerate son must like.”

First up we have this pretty amazing video for “Tres Brujas” from The Sword. I’m not even, like, the biggest The Sword fan in the world, but I gotta hand it to them, they have definitely made the nerdiest stoner metal video I’ve ever seen by a band that isn’t Mastodon. The thirteen year-old zit faced virgin in me thinks that this video is incredible, and the eight year-old autistic kid who’s never heard of Sabbath in me thinks the music is pretty great, too.

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Listen to the intro for Iron Maiden’s “Wasted Years”…

…and then listen to the intro for Lacuna Coil’s “Heaven’s a Lie.”

Oh, Cristina… you’ve been a naughty girl!

-AR

The big question since Paul Gray died last month has been, “Will Slipknot go on without him?” On the one hand a member passing away is obviously a huge emotional trauma for a band to have to cope with, and Gray was, at least as I’ve always heard it, a key songwriter for the group; on the other hand, bands persevere in the face of tragedy all the time, and there’s already another potential bass player in the band (and I suspect they could make do without a second percussionist/third drummer/whatever) if they didn’t want to bring someone new into the fold.

But – no shocks here – Jim Root, guitarist and guy who gets to sleep with Cristina Scabbia, says the band hasn’t even discussed it yet. From an interview posted on the official Sonisphere site:

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You probably know Century Media for their work with groundbreaking, legendary artists like Stuck Mojo and My Own Victim, but they are also home to lesser-known bands like Lacuna Coil, Arch Enemy, Nevermore, Warbringer, Terror, and deathcore sensations Winds Of Plague and Suicide Silence. In all seriousness, though, I’ve worked with CM in one form or another since the mid-90s, and have nothing but good things to say about the CM crew. In addition to Despise You frontman/ CM warehouse manager Chris Elder, one of the many great people at CM is A&R guy Steve Joh. With the label’s 20th anniversary coming up soon, I figured it would be a great time to catch up with one of the nicest guys in metal and give the label some much-deserved props. Thanks to Steve for his time and help, and thanks to CM for being cool enough to send me promos when I was a teenager with a fanzine back in the day!

Note: I am a fan of both WoP and Suicide Silence. Knowing that they are lightning rods for the (negative) attention of angry metal dorks, I included their names in the headline for this post in hopes of attracting maximum viewership, and therefore giving the most possible publicity to Steve and the bands. Thank you for participating in this exciting social media marketing initiative.

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FML.

-AR

There’s a NSFW image after the jump. You’ve been warned.

Angela Gossow in the 2006 edition of Revolver’s “Hottest Chicks in Metal”

I love masturbating as much as the next guy who spends most of his day at the computer, but there’s no getting around the fact that Revolver’s annual “Hottest Chicks in Metal” issue – and now, apparently, accompanying calendar – is completely ridiculous. It has nothing to do with music, and there’s no equivalent issue for “Hottest Dudes in Metal,” because, well, metal is mostly a sausage fest and I imagine that a “Hottest Dudes” issue wouldn’t sell very well.

Now Arch Enemy’s Angela Gossow – who has been featured in past “Hottest Chicks” issues – has spoken out against the concept… as if you needed another reason to love her. From a recent interview with KNAC:

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Congratulations to Miss Alicia Jarrell of Quincy, MA. Alicia correctly identified last week’s logo as belonging to the band A Sunset Mourning, and for her troubles, she wins a copy of Heaven Shall Burn’s DVD, Bildersturm – Iconoclast II (The Visual Resistance). Enjoy it, Alicia!

This week the nice people at Century Media have provided us a copy of Lacuna Coil’s DVD, Visual Karma, to give away. This two-disc set features the band’s complete performances from both Wacken ’07 and Loudpark ’07, four music videos, band member profiles, behind-the-scenes tour footage, and much more. So even though Cristina Scabbia hates me and is in total denial about the fact that I am someday going to marry her granddaughter, I think this is a pretty cool DVD and you should definitely fight for this freebie.

All you have to do to win is identify the name of the band whose logo appears below, then shoot me an e-mail at axl AT metalsucks DOT net with your answer, your name, and your address. From everyone who gets it right, we’ll randomly select a winner and announce his or her name next week.

This week’s logo was suggested by reader Alex Carter… thanks, Alex! You guys have been sending me a lot of great suggestions lately, but please keep ‘em comin’! I have to do this contest every week for the rest of my fucking life!!!

-AR

I know that Cristina Scabbia hates me ever since I admitted that I’d like to see her naked (This is such an admission? Every heterosexual male who’s ever laid on eyes on her has wanted to see her naked!), but I’d like to state for the record once again that I am, in fact, a Cristina Scabbia fan who thinks very much of her singing ability, in addition to the fact that I’d like to see her naked.

To wit: Cristina covered Metallica’s “And Nothing Else Matters” at Christmas Metal Symphony 2009 in Tilburg last month, and I really, really dig her rendition. Here’s a good example of a cover that isn’t totally awful. Her voice sounds great, and her emotional investment in the song seems sincere. In fact, I like this better than that version of “A Tout Le Monde” she did with Dave Mustaine a few years back. And, bonus: I’m not sure who the other dudes in the band are, but she left Male Vocalist from Lacuna Coil at home for a change! Hoo-ray!

-AR

This tip courtesty MetalSucks Maniac Josh Kidd.

We’re shuttering the Mansion early this week in celebration of the U.S. Thanksgiving holiday. Axl closed down his Annex hours ago, and I’m bidding farewell to the Vince Division as soon as I finish this here “Worst Week Ever” column. The Monkeys will have to make due on their own ’til Monday.

• Devin Townsend sold some records.
• Noisecreep released their “Best Songs of the Decade” and “Best Albums of 2009” lists. Predictably, arguing ensued.
• Cristina Scabbia posed for a PETA with clothes on (imagine that!), then she took our joke a little too seriously.
• We looked at new releases from supergroups Shrinebuilder and Them Crooked Vultures.
• There’s drama in The Human Abstract camp.

That’s it. We out. Maybe we’ll do SSTGST and Black Metal Brunch columns. Adios!

-VN

Last week I bitched and moaned because, unlike some other celebrities, Cristina Scabbia does not get naked in her new Peta ad. Now loyal reader Greg Heerdt tells us that Ms. Scabbia has responded in a posting on her Facebook page:

Now please allow me to respond to Cristina directly (and by “directly,” I mean via this blog post):

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But not Cristina Scabbia, huh?

Fine, fuck you. I’m gonna go club a baby seal to deah, and it’s all your fault. I hope you’re happy with yourself, Peta. I hope it was totally fucking worth it. Assholes.

-AR

[via Blabbermouth]

I’m not sure what the what is the difference between Peta and Peta 2, other than Peta makes awesome ads like this one…

…and Peta 2 makes less awesome ads like this one:

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So Blabbermouth posted this live footage of Lacuna Coil performing at the Graspop Metal Meeting in Belgium a few weeks back. I clicked, figuring I’d at least get to oggle at Cristina Scabbia; the one-camera shoot meant this ended up not being the case, but I at least got to hear her very sexy voice… and male vocalist Andrea Ferro’s vocal diarrhea.

True, soundboard recordings are always a mixed bag; you hear each instrument clearly, but you don’t necessarily hear them the way they sounded live because house engineers mix to the sound of the venue, not through headphones. But Ferro’s performance is just undeniably, horrifyingly god awful. “Spellbound” starts off innocently enough with the instrumental intro, after which Ferro takes a stab at his first verse. I don’t think it’s possible for him to sound any worse; I mean, it’s like… just BAD. How is this guy still in the band? And to make matters worse, Cristina Scabbia follows him with a chorus that sounds practically perfect, arresting as always, as if to say “This guy sucks so bad, doesn’t he?”

-VN

It’s Monday, it’s purty outside, and there’s a new Lacuna Coil video. I like it!

No no, the video is actually for the track “I Like It” from Lacuna Coil’s pretty good April release Shallow Life (read our own Anso DF’s review). The plotline of the video is pretty much retarded but I guess provides a good way for the director to involve everyone in the band who isn’t Cristina Scabbia. But let’s face it, we’re all really watching to see Scabbia anyway, aren’t we? Thankfully she gets plenty of face-time in this clip too.

Read Anso’s fun recent interview with Scabbia here.

-VN