Album Review

Lacuna Coil - Broken Crown HaloLacuna Coil – Broken Crown Halo

In a few days Lacuna Coil are set to release their seventh studio album ‘Broken Crown Halo’ and it happens to be a massive release for the band for a number of reasons with the main reasons being that it is the last album to feature drummer Cristiano “Criz” Mozzati and guitarist Cristiano “Pizza” Migliore who both announced their retirement from the band back on the 14th February, it also follows on from their outstanding sixth studio album ‘Dark Adrenaline’ which really saw a return to form for the band and I am happy to confirm that ‘Broken Crown Halo’ continues down the route that ‘Dark Adrenaline’ opened.

‘Broken Crown Halo’ really does progress nicely on from ‘Dark Adrenaline’ as the album features a wide mixture of dark sounds and radio friendly anthems and once again Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro’s dual vocals are like a match made in heaven as they work off each other so easily with their vocals complimenting one another as they twist and turn throughout the 47 minute duration of the album.

The album opens with the first single to be taken from the album ‘Nothing Stands In Our Way’ and straight away you can see why Lacuna Coil chose this song to represent the album from the start as the song builds up over time and becomes a big sounding gothic anthem where Cristina Scabbia’s vocals sound more beautiful than ever whilst Andrea Ferro lefts off some aggressive screams whilst instrumentally the song flows with a big catchy vibe.

‘Zombies’ opens with a tasty guitar solo which really does sound dark, moments later Andrea Ferro comes in with some catchy vocals which are soon followed up with Cristina Scabbia laying down some extremely melodic vocals before Andrea Ferro returns with some pent up anger as he executes some well placed screams whilst Cristina Scabbia is still laying down her melodic vocals, the song is easily one of the most accusable on the album and it is great to hear Andrea Ferro mixing up his vocals throughout the song.

Early on in the album things go a bit mellow with the likes of ‘Hostage To The Light’ and ‘Victims’, the songs are still listenable but really lack the fun edge that we have come to expect from Lacuna Coil in recent times, however things quickly pick up for ‘Die And Rise’ which happens to be a bit of a tub thumper with Korn style riffs kicking arse towards the middle of the song whilst Christina Scabbia lays down some vocals in her native language.

Overall ‘Broken Crown Halo’ is a solid release from Lacuna Coil, it is not instantly accessible as their last album ‘Dark Adrenaline’ was but once you have listened to the album a couple of times you will start to appreciate the diverse range of songs and sheer and energy and emotion coming through your speakers throughout the majority of the album.

4/5

Review by Trigger

 Band Members

Andrea Ferro
Marco Coti Zelati
Cristina Scabbia
Marco Biazzi
Cristiano Migliore
Cristiano Mozzati
 Track Listing

1. Nothing Stands in Our Way
2. Zombies
3. Hostage to the Light
4. Victims
5. Die & Rise
6. I Forgive (But I Won’t Forget Your Name)
7. Cybersleep
8. Infection
9. I Burn for You
10. In the End I Feel Alive
11. On Cold Day

 Band Related Links
Lacuna Coil Facebook
 Review Score Code
- Top Cheese
- Brilliant
- Pretty damn good
- Ok I guess
- What Was That?