  
Italian band Lacuna Coil are back with their latest album, Broken Crown Halo. The album is the last to feature guitarist Cris “Pizza” Migliore and drummer Cristiano “Criz” Mozzati - the two members quit the band in February to spend more time with their families. The band has a new drummer but will continue with a single guitarist, so it will be intersting to see how that changes their sound both in a live setting and on future albums.
On the lyrical themes of the album, Andrea Ferro said “We’ve always been fascinated by the differences and comparisons between real life and fairy tales, and on this album we decided to mix the two worlds when writing our lyrics. We’ve fused dark and horror elements with real life situations and have created a metaphor – we are fighting for a kingdom and a crown that is not what it seems, it represents the moment of confusion we’re living in and the very fragile situations we face every day.”
Brief comments on a few tracks....
The album opens with some keyboards that just scream "Lacuna Coil" before male screaming vocals and some heavy guitars suddenly blast out - damn that's a heavy start to a Lacuna Coil album. It quickly settles down to a more typical Lacuna Coil sound with Cristina's vocals and then Andrea's vocals. The guitars do feel slightly more prominent than on previous albums, giving it a heavier feel.
Next up is "Zombies", with more of the heavy feel.
"Cybersleep" is a much softer song but is equally good.
It's an interesting mix. At times the album feels heavier than the last couple of albums, but at other times it's not heavy at all. The opening of the album has the instantly recognising keyboards then really lets rip with some heavy guitar and drums and a male scream, and is definitely a very heavy start to the album before it settles down. There are also softer more pop-like parts, and that's really the thing with Lacuna Coil, the mix of light and dark, soft and heavy. Some people love it, others argue about whether there is too much of one element or another. There is a heavier guitar sound in this album compared to Dark Adrenaline and that gives it back some of the hard rock feel that they were starting to lose, so to my mind this is a better album than Dark Adrenaline.
Track listing:
1. Nothing stands in our way
2. Zombies
3. Hostages to the light
4. Victims
5. Die and rise
6. I forgive *but I won't forget your name)
7. Cybersleep
8. Infection
9. I burn in you
10. In the end I feel alive
11. One cold day |
