posted
wow, was just browsing through some heavy metal (and i mean heavy metal, like black/death/viking/power metal) band reviews (SonicDeath website) and came across an Italian band called Lacuna Coil. Was gonna skip to the next review when i saw Evanescense's name mentioned (or however the heck you spell it).
Anyway, after seeing they had a female vocalist and the reference to Evanescense (musical style, nothing bad...just saying that this band didn't go "mainstream" with their sound) i decided to check em out. I recommend "Unspoken" and "circle" as first songs. these may not be their best but i'm still familiarizing myself with them.
i prefer her voice over that other woman's (sorry, don't know her name...don't follow most of the new bands anymore). Sings high, low, whatever and they have a male vocalist that joins in sometimes...occasional harmonies, sometimes solos.
Also, the music is about as musically heavy, maybe a bit heavier than Ev's but the lyrics are definitely more of a depressing/goth nature.
--------------------------------- Loud...it's when you can see the ground move, it's when you have to force yourself to breath, it's when the rest of the world ceases to exist. Posts: 4136 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Sep 1999
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Circle: The very few seconds of this song did remind me of somewhat of Evanescence, and then the voice just finished it off. Then later on in the song, the voice kind of got me to remember The Cranbarries and their original song Zombie. You can't really hear the guys voice during the chorous but it was an ok song. 2.5/5
Unspoken: Once again, her voice is so close to The Cranbarries lead singer and the beat also comes close. Lyrics are okay, can't really make them out as much as Evanescense. Didn't really like this song either, but more than Circle. 3/5
Overall: If you like these songs, then look into The Cranbarries. I remember listening to this group when I was 6 or 7 years old, and it's just ironic how her voice brings me to remember the band. Comparing to Evanescense, Lucuna Coil has better lyrics, they arn't repetative like Evanescense, but sometimes you cannot make them out as much as you can with Evanescense. Good band, but I don't like them as much.
Just my opinion, but will definatly keep my eye out for them. Thanks alaska.
Posts: 282 | From: Los Gatos | Registered: Jul 2002
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Second thoughs: Hmm, well I downloaded more of their songs (Stars, Angel's Punishment, This is my dream) and I'm starting to get used to them. I guess this is the same thing that happened with Evanescense, I didn't really like their style but after listening more and more, I loved it. "This is my dream" is a nice slower song by the group with nice vocals by the guy and the girl. Getting better by every song.
Posts: 282 | From: Los Gatos | Registered: Jul 2002
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I saw them in concert with Opeth. I thought they were good and my girlfriend loved them. I don't think Lacuna Coil and evenesence should be spoken in the same coversation.
--------------------------------- Loud...it's when you can see the ground move, it's when you have to force yourself to breath, it's when the rest of the world ceases to exist. Posts: 4136 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Sep 1999
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Lacuna Coil : Throughout history, Italy has been known for blending the classic with the innovative. In the musical realm, Milan’s prolific Lacuna Coil has best translated the dichotomy of this Italian consciousness.
With three full-length albums and two EPs released in a 4-year span, each offering has furthered the enunciation of the subtle, solemn beauty Lacuna Coil creates. Signifying "empty spiral" in English, the definition betrays the rich versatility of their music. Comalies, their offering for 2002, maturely exhibits the trademarked gothic overtones and simplistic melancholy of their haunting musical landscape. Leaving all comparisons to Draconian Times-era Paradise Lost and The Gathering's Mandylion-era behind, Lacuna Coil bring miraculous eloquence to their collision of melody and metal.
Originally formed in 1996, the band teamed up with producer Waldemar Sorychta (Sentenced, Samael, Tiamat) in 1998. Their songwriting talents immediately evident, Terrorizer Magazine hailed Lacuna Coil's self-titled debut as "superb, and its strength soon weakens whatever resistance you may have had after repeated plays." 1999 proved to be the band's most eventful year, with an impressive tour schedule in support of that year's release, In A Reverie, also produced by Sorychta. Sharing stages with Skyclad, My Insanity, Grip Inc., and Samael, they debuted at the esteemed Dynamo Open Air Festival in The Netherlands, the Metal Mania Festival in Poland, and Italy's prestigious Gods Of Metal Festival. Following an appearance at the Altheimer Open Air Festival, they toured with Swiss gothic legends Lacrimosa and reaped the praise of fellow musicians, critics, and new-found fans. With the demand for Lacuna Coil's music suddenly escalating, they released the Halflife EP (recorded in Damage Inc. Studio in Ventimiglia, Italy) as a gift to their European community of fans in the year 2000.
Welcoming Waldemar Sorychta back into the producer's chair at Woodhouse Studios to assist them with recording 2001's Unleashed Memories, this album (released in North America with the previously unavailable Halflife EP) lavished the band with much-deserved acclaim. Praised by Alternative Press for their "supersize chords that nearly burst into flame, gorgeous three-part harmonies and chill-inducing melodies that recycle in your head for days" and earning a special mention in Billboard Magazine's Hard Music Spotlight for their "compelling mixture of seductive melodies and aggressive riffs," the band embarked on their first North American tour with labelmates Moonspell in the winter of 2001. Metal Maniacs documented their live show to be "a sensory overload of the highest order. In one word: intoxicating."
It is indeed difficult not to get pulled into the dream-like quality of the world Lacuna Coil creates, which floods you with a myriad of heavy and hypnotic sounds. The epic feel of their latest melodic invention, Comalies, will quickly lead to you believe that an incredibly personal epiphany is about to happen. Each song contributes to the build-up, encouraging introspection while documenting the sadness that this particular journey uncovers. Upholding the emotive yin/yang tradition of vocal interplay between the dulcet tones of Cristina Scabbia and the deliberate vocals of her male singing partner Andrea Ferro, Comalies is another dynamic exploration of Lacuna Coil's soulfully somber and stunningly enigmatic musical alchemy.
Produced once again by Waldemar Sorychta at Woodhouse Studios, intoxicate yourself with the seething regret in "Swamped," consider "Entwined" to be the accompaniment to falling from an emotional cliff in slow motion, soar into unknown depths of consciousness with "The Ghost Woman And The Hunter," and remember a forgotten language with "Comalies."
Answer the call of the siren and its invitation into the dangerous arms of self-introspection...
Nightwish : Finland's Nightwish originally began as an acoustic project by keyboardist Tuomas Holopainen (from the band Nattvindens Gråt) who sought to create something different and unique from what he had been playing before. He ultimately created three songs consisting of keyboards, acoustic guitars and the female vocals of professionally trained opera singer Tarja Turunen. In April 1997 the band entered the studio to record seven new songs they had written, now including electric guitars and drums. After the recording they received offers from various labels and decided to sign with Finland's Spinefarm Records. Their astonishing debut album, Angels Fall First, was released in Finland in October 1997 and the rest of Europe in March 1998. Angels Fall First featured 12 songs of atmospheric metal with incredible female vocals, heaps of gothic elements and an energetic, upbeat sound. In December 1998, Nightwish unleashed the surprise success of the year: Oceanborn. The superior new material had unsuspecting metal aficionados suddenly taking notice causing the album to shockingly climb to Number 5 on the official Finnish album chart (staying on the charts for over 30 weeks) and springing off three Top 10 singles! Nightwish commenced touring Europe playing clubs and large festivals, rapidly building up their fan base to immense proportions. In early 2000, the band entered Finland's top recording facility, Finnvox Studio (Sentenced, Stratovarius), to lay down their third, and most accomplished, full-length entitled Wishmaster. The new album was released in Europe in May 2000 and immediately hit Number One on the Finnish charts, holding the position for three weeks and eventually going gold in a short period of time. Now the time is for the band to make their long-overdue mark on North American audiences with Century Media USA proudly licensing Wishmaster for domestic distribution. One listen to the band's awe-inspiring originality and you'll know why they are so well received throughout Europe. Tarja's powerful operatic vocal style will instantly capture your attention and hold it throughout the entire affair while the band members fire off the most mind-blowing, dynamic musicianship the scene has to offer. Jetting from fast tempo compositions to dreamy ballads, Nightwish deploy dazzling keyboard/guitar interplay to breathe energetic life into each melodic track while the earth-shaking rhythm section (double bass drumming included) rumbles within. There is no denying the fact that Nightwish are at the top of their game, knowing how to write memorable songs that defy any singular description in order to inject some fresh ideas into the often unoriginal metal realm.
ARCH ENEMY : From the prolific stronghold of Sweden, the exalted ARCH ENEMY emerged in their first incarnation in 1996 and quickly became another quality export from Scandinavia. Since their emergence onto the worldwide scene five years ago, the goal of successfully enveloping traditional twin leads and guitar solos within a death metal context has been met a thousand fold. ARCH ENEMY have persistently challenged and redefined the limits of melodic death metal with their trademarked alchemy of aggression, melody, technicality, brutality, exceptional musicianship, and their stunning live performances.
The career of founding member and self-taught musician Michael Amott is in and of itself an illustrious and intense workshop in musical genealogy and history. In addition to his previous tenure as a guitarist in Carnage, and as a guitarist and songwriter with the mighty Carcass, he is also active in the psychedelic doom band Spiritual Beggars. While ARCH ENEMY is virtually full of legends (brother and fellow guitarist Christopher Amott played in Armageddon; singer Johan Liiva came from Carnage; the ubiquitous Sharlee D'Angelo is currently in Mercyful Fate; drummer Daniel Erlandsson played with In Flames), it should be emphasized that the band's advanced technical proficiencies and flawless songwriting-not their musical pedigrees-are what have sustained them through four meticulous and charismatic albums.
When Black Earth debuted in Europe in 1996, it was universally hailed as a milestone in Swedish Death Metal debuts, an amazing feat for a new band who never even circulated a demo. Recorded and mixed in nine days and produced by the celebrated Fredrik Nordström (Dimmu Borgir, In Flames, At The Gates), it showcased their broad spectrum of influences and helped re-establish a faith in the importance of melodious riffs that had been noticeably dwindling. In 1998, the band fashioned another offering under Fredrik and Michael's guidance that became Stigmata. An album that was a scorned ode to the timelessness of hate, making Terrorizer Magazine proclaim, "Here is a beast of many heads, under the unifying banner of crushing Neo-Death done the Swedish way. The ease of performance and height of execution Arch Enemy delivers promises to wipe your slate clean."
A haunting combination of Black Earth and Stigmata, 1999's Burning Bridges was at once intricate and devastating. Fredrik Nordström and Michael Amott once again documented the natural evolution of ARCH ENEMY's sound. Particularly noteworthy were how the beautifully lingering yet aggressive guitar passages from the Amott Brothers cascaded over the turbulent and punishing rhythms of Sharlee D'Angelo's bass lines and Daniel Erlandsson's drumming, proving to be an exceptional blend of classic metal, death metal and traditional thrash in a psychotic testament to the uncompromising viciousness of death, leaving everyone bloodied & shaken and nothing less. Metal Maniacs was quick to praise them for creating music "a mite deeper than the vaunted 'Gothenburg Sound.'"
Relentlessly busy in their promotion for Burning Bridges, ARCH ENEMY successfully toured the United States with Nevermore in 2000; toured Europe with In Flames, Children Of Bodom, and Dark Tranquillity in Fall of 1999; performed at the 1999 Dynamo Festival in the Netherlands; co-headlined a show in Santiago, Chile with HammerFall 1999; made a one-off appearance in London with Cradle Of Filth in 1999 and also triumphantly toured Japan three times, where they recorded and released Burning Japan Live to exclusively thank the country for their phenomenal support. With such incredible anticipation building for their next studio album, fans were left understandably bewildered when vocalist Johan Liiva was replaced.
Rumours were flying about who would succeed the newly vacated vocal throne, and in a completely unexpected turn in their own musical direction and setting a noteworthy precedent for bands of their calibre, the members of ARCH ENEMY unveiled German singer Angela Gossow as Liiva's replacement, who is as irrefutably beautiful as she is talented. States Michael: "When you have a group of musicians as strong as ARCH ENEMY, the vocals need to be nothing less than totally killer. The band was in desperate need of a strong personality at the front. We were lucky enough to find Angela. She's really one in a million, musically as well as visually…" Beginning her career in Germany in 1991 singing for two extreme death metal bands, Asmodina and Mistress, Angela is unquestionably the most aggressive female vocalist in existence, leading Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles to state, "Her performance is nothing short of staggering, giving many of her peers serious competition if not putting them to shame entirely." The fearlessness exuded in the delivery of her incredibly powerful and clearly accentuated vocals (in the vein of Death's now sadly departed Chuck Schuldiner and Carcass' Jeff Walker) has refocused the band into such a different direction that the dark energy and aggressiveness of Wages Of Sin crowns them with a firebrand that secures their authoritative position in the worldwide extreme metal scene.
Recorded at Gothenburg's famed Studio Fredman with friend and co-producer Fredrik Nordström and mixed by the brilliance of sound engineer Andy Sneap (Nevermore, Testament, Kreator) at Backstage Studios in England, Wages Of Sin will be released as a double CD with eight bonus tracks, two videos and a 20-page colour booklet with extensive liner notes by Michael Amott. (Century Media will also be re-releasing the debut album, Black Earth with bonus tracks and a domestic version of the wildly acclaimed Burning Japan Live later this year.) Only such a collection can boldly capture ARCH ENEMY's ravenous temperament for stunning brutality in sound while speaking to their musical dexterity, their limitless progression, and unparalleled ability to embrace new paradigms. Relentless touring is planned for 2002, including an absolutely unprecedented 7-date tour of Japan, which has not been matched even by the likes of Slayer. Michael shares, "We now have the line-up to be able to show the rest of the world what this band is all about. We have achieved much in Japan, we will go out touring and kick ass everywhere else possible. We have so many loyal fans all over the world who have never seen us. We're gonna play for them."
A rare breed of band featuring a team of guitarists that have never failed with their spiraling melodic manipulations in the Amott brothers, accentuating the undeniable flawlessness of a surgically precise rhythm section in D'Angelo and Erlandsson, and stressing the furiously feral, unrepentant and articulate vocals of Angela Gossow (as demonstrated in "Enemy Within," "Ravenous," and "The First Deadly Sin"), these qualities have come to exemplify ARCH ENEMY's defiant leadership and violently emblazons their unyielding music into the psyche of resistance that dwells within us all.
i'll be sure to check em out female vocals are very refreshing, especially in hardcore metal genres
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--------------------------------- Loud...it's when you can see the ground move, it's when you have to force yourself to breath, it's when the rest of the world ceases to exist. Posts: 4136 | From: Denver, CO | Registered: Sep 1999
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