Lacuna Coil ‘Black Anima’
Album Review By Adam McCann
Century Media Records/Alternative Metal
Lacuna Coil needed to do something following their 2016 album ‘Delirium’, this album was received lukewarmly by fans of the band and was the beneficiary of a harsh mauling from critics. Taking this in their stride, the Italian powerhouse returned this year with their latest offering entitled ‘Black Anima’ in an attempt to recapture the hearts of the heavy metal world.
The band have been choosing to plough their own furrow with a sound that has more akin to alternative metal than where the band began and due to this, this is what the listener continues to get with ‘Black Anima’. Unfortunately, there isn’t anything here that Lacuna Coil fans haven’t heard already, tracks such as ‘Apocalypse’, ‘Reckless’ and ‘Save Me’ all have chorus’ that are easy to sing along to with an almost middle of the road heavy metal enjoyability and the main reason for this is the production. What ‘Black Anima’ offers is a well-rounded super production that is both clean and shiny, the vocals of Christina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro are honed beautifully to intertwine and push this album into being audibly aesthetically pleasing, being both radio friendly and having the ability to sell reasonably well.
Yet, ‘Black Anima’ is a far cry from the Gothic metal that made the band’s name, Lacuna Coil have evolved into something else entirely; sure, this album is listenable and enjoyable at times as well as being significantly better than ‘Delirium’, but does it have the staying power of their early releases? Probably not and it should be listened to with this in mind.
Rating : 60/100
MHF Magazine/Adam McCann
