LACUNA COIL: Karmacode

Produced by Waldemar Sorychta and Lacuna Coil

Released: 2006

Lacuna Coil seem to have become one of everyone's favourite bands over the past few years, at least since Comalies and their appearances at Ozzfest had Americans arguing over whether it was they or Evanescence who was emulating the other. Since then, Lacuna Coil has only risen in popularity, and a good proportion of that success has come from this album.

Karmacode was this band's breakthrough album on a commercial, mass-following level. The hordes that ate up Evanescence and are currently scoffing down H.I.M. and even Opeth also grabbed this with both hands, especially the guys once they got a load of the incredibly sexy Christina Scabbia, easily one of the hottest women in rock history.

However there is little doubt that ever since Unleashed Memories, when the grim male vocals that made their first couple of releases so uneven were reined in, Lacuna Coil has become an increasingly formulaic band. It was evident even then that they had a clearly mainstream agenda and Karmacode is the final confirmation of this. All of Lacuna Coil's hallmarks are here. It's not ridiculously heavy, but there's still enough guitars in there to make it metal. Coupled with the band's typically soaring melodies, Scabbia's wonderful voice and the hint of Gothic melancholia, this is almost the perfect release for the seemingly increasing army of commercial Goth-metal fans around the world at the moment. Artistically, and from a long-time fan's point of view however, Karmacode is not particularly exciting. Virtually every track is built on the same quiet keyboard intro/delicate verse/soaring chorus/repeat/interlude/chorus structure that helped get units ticking over, but it doesn't make for a very interesting album. Karmacode is so rigidly formulaic that it makes Comalies seem diverse; worse, it lacks any real catchiness so that after 47 minutes have gone by you're left without any one particular song stuck in your head.

Lacuna Coil deserve success. They are great at what they do and have been doing it longer than most but with an offering as bland as Karmacode, that success may prove to be fleeting.

1. Fragile


2. To the Edge


3. Our Truth


4. Within Me


5. Devoted


6. You Create


7. What I See


8. Fragments of Faith


9. Closer


10. In Visible Light


11. The Game


12. Without Fear


13. Enjoy the Silence

Rating: 64%