Lacuna Coil is an acquired taste. It makes sense to point that out because those unfamiliar with the gothic band's 1999 debut (In a Reverie) won't appreciate how they have evolved
Dark Adrenaline
artist: Lacuna Coil
label: EMI
PRICE: Rs 395
Rating **
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For those who have followed their career though, or even those who just own the album Comalies, Dark Adrenaline will sound like a return to form. The star here is still Cristina Scabbia, whose vocals give tracks like Trip the Darkness and Kill the Light their ferocity. This isn’t to say co-singer Andrea Ferro plays a wallflower; The Army Inside — ‘Now get ready for war, it’s starting today. I’m leading the army inside, I am not afraid to lose, I’m not gonna hide, I’m leading the army inside’ — shows he hasn’t lost his intensity for the microphone either.
What works in Lacuna Coil’s favour is the duo’s longevity. They’ve been playing together for a surprisingly long period of time, a fact that contributes to the rather obvious chemistry on display. Having said that, tracks like I Don’t Believe In Tomorrow miss the mark entirely. They’re loud, hard to decipher and, ultimately, pointless. The dwindling of the second half into more of what goes before also ensures that this won’t top any ‘Best Of’ charts soon.
For the most part though, this is solid, hard-hitting stuff, guaranteed to take you back to a time when unvarnished gods of rock — you know who they are — still walked the earth.u00a0