Lacuna Coil - "Sleepless Empire"

Sleepless because the future holds no hope of a good LC album

Lacuna Coil is one of those groups who became foundational for a lot of kids my age in the early aughts. Their fresh approach to Gothic Metal made them immediately popular amongst the Goths, a close second to the dominance of Nightwish in those circles, especially with the one-two punch of Unleashed Memories and Comalies in 2001 and 2002.

But, today, over twenty years later, we cannot discuss Lacuna Coil without at least mentioning their evolution — or, as much as Taylor Swift owns the word now, their eras. The band has seen significant change over the years. The next release after Comalies, 2006’s Karmacode, saw them incorporate mainstream Alt Metal approaches into their Gothic sensibilities. And in the releases following, they infused touches of Nu and Metalcore and basically whatever they felt like toying around with.

With rare exception, it has, more or less, worked very well for them.

Somewhere between 2016’s Delirium and 2019’s Black Anima, they shifted into a new era, reinventing themselves again. The band has been gradually shifting into harder, heavier, more aggressive styles over their almost-30-year existence, and this newest evolution made Black Anima their hardest record yet, with founding member and male vocalist Andrea Ferro all but dropping his clean vocals in favor of purely harsh vox.

With Sleepless Empire, their tenth LP, the bar has been shifted further into heavy territory, and I don’t believe Ferro has a clean line anywhere in the album.

Sharp readers, though, might have noticed that I specified Ferro’s position as “male vocalist” — realistically, he isn’t even the lead vocalist. That position belongs to Cristina Scabbia, who is the heart and soul of the band. It is her voice that made the band recognizable, instantly; in the early days of the band, most of Ferro’s contributions were backing vocals to Scabbia, but when he does break free and provide his own lines or verses, he has a distinct and grungy voice which is difficult to mistake, yet were, according to Kenstrosity’s review for Angry Metal Guy, “much-maligned”.

Maybe it’s because I don’t linger on specific artists long enough to really delve into spaces dedicated to their fanbases, but I was completely unaware that his clean vocals were disliked. He has, in years past, used the occasional harsh vocals, and it always felt like the perfect bit of punctuation for Lacuna Coil’s moody Gothic melodies.

Sleepless Empire is the inverse: the majority of the album is just exclamation marks. The songs are almost uniformly big, brash, anthemic affairs. The Gothic roots are still there, but the band’s unique melodicism is firmly in the backseat (screaming, probably, as Ferro has death-growled a “YOLO!” and excitedly taken the band off-roading).

It’s an exciting evolution in the band’s sound, showcasing just how vibrant they are, despite their age. Or, it would be exciting…for 2-3 songs. An entire album of this is, frankly, tiring. It’s difficult to pick any songs out from the overdone crowd, save “I Wish You Were Dead”, which feels like a one-off token track that overcompensates in the other direction — it’s somewhat poppier, with only Scabbia on vocals and, despite its abysmally short sub-three minute playtime, is intensely repetitive on the back end.

Really, I think ‘overcompensation’ is the name of the game here. I don’t know what else it could be. Fans don’t like Ferro’s cleans? Aggro death growls only then! Band is getting old? No we’re not! Check out how this album is ONLY HIGH ENERGY!

I can tell you that, despite my negativity, I don’t hate the album. These songs probably kick ass live, and maybe I wouldn’t hate them as they pop up periodically in a playlist or mix. But as an album? I’m underwhelmed. I’m disappointed.

I listen to Lacuna Coil for Gothic Metal — dark, moody, and intense songs with unique melodies that sometimes burst into moments of heaviness. Not this — Sleepless Empire is more Alt Metal wearing a Goth skinsuit and a Death Metal mask. Okay, it’s probably more a Groove Metal mask. But you get my point.

It’s too samey and feels like they’re trying too hard to stay relevant.

Rating: Yellow