Lacuna Coil -- 'Karmacode' [review]

Lacuna Coil
"Karmacode"
(Century Media Records)


Fans of Italy's Lacuna Coil have waited almost four years to see what the band was going to come up with when it came to topping 2002's "Comalies."

And here's your cliched question: Was "Karmacode" worth the wait?

Upon first release, "Comalies" wasn't the big hit it was to become. Apart from diehard fans, the album stalled on the shelf until Evanescence exploded onto the scene. People were suddenly interested in any hard rock/metal act out there and latched onto Lacuna Coil in the process making the band the best selling act in Century Media history.

But that's where the comparisons to Evanescence end. Lacuna Coil has been together for 10 years at this point. The band's sound, to some extent, is etched in stone. You have the growling male backing vocals, the beautiful female lead, the dueling guitar solos, thunderous drumming and groovy bass-play. Mixed together and infused with a worldly attitude (some synth for Euro-metal flavor and some native groove) and you have Lacuna Coil.

The band had to be feeling the pressure to follow-up its most successful album to date. Would it have the guts to try some new things or simply trot out "Comalies Part 2?"

Lacuna Coil pretty much picks up where it left off with "Comalies." There was talk of the band adding a more "American" feel to the album, which essentially boils down to the group keeping an eye on making songs more "radio-friendly" (the songs didn't really get any shorter or simpler). There's a handful of interesting hooks sprinkled throughout the album, most notably Cristina Scabbia's awesome melodies in "Our Truth." The band adds a few moments of string-orchestration on a few songs (a welcome change-of-pace from the gritty guitar interplay) and even tries its hand at a cover (Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence"). And, overall, the disc has a far more upbeat "sound" than the band's previous efforts (which had an almost goth feel to them at times). Ultimately, there's enough new elements (in very small doses) to make this a solid follow-up.

But it's not all good. For some reason, upon first listen most of the songs come across, for lack of a better term, two-dimensional. "Fragile" and "To the Edge," the first two songs, feel like they go on for ages and seem completely and unnecessarily repetitive. However, after a few listens the songs grow on you and actually start to sound a little better. The biggest problem with "Karmacode" is that there doesn't really seem to be any breakout hits on the album, it sort of just feels "there." "Comalies was a huge commercial success and the band had a four year lull in recording, so you'd imagine there might be something more to offer.

As bad as those negatives sound, the truth of the matter is that Lacuna Coil really isn't the big "one-hit," explosive band one might think, given the hype. The truth is, the band is perfect at making these subtle albums that continue to grow on the listener with each repeated visit. Nothing may jump out at you, but you'll start to find it impossible to turn the album off. While I think the band could have done more, the truth is that Lacuna Coil made a great Lacuna Coil album. "Karmacode" will start off as a blimp and end up being one of the best albums of the year.

Atreyu -- 'A Death Grip on Yesterday' [review]

Atreyu
"A Death Grip on Yesterday"
(Victory Records)


Atreyu seems to have finally settled into a sound. The band burst on to the scene with the harsh, death-metal-esque hardcore EP "Fractures in the Facade of Porcelain Beauty" in 2002. The group's first full-length, "Suicide Notes and Butterfly Kisses" was more of a straight-forward hardcore affair. The band moved in an more metal direction for 2004's "The Curse," with most critics hailing the band for incorporated a retro-80s feel to its music. The hardcore has been toned down on each subsequent release.

"The Curse" is what made Atreyu a hit, which is what makes "A Death Grip on Yesterday" such an interesting album. Now that the band finally has a set sound, it feels free to explore the parameters and experiment to some degree. Such undertaking could be successful or an utter failure. This new release falls into both columns.

Atreyu has found a comfortable sound and it shows. Tracks life "Ex's and Oh's" and "We Stand Up" explode out of the gate. The album is full of the hardcore growls and soaring sung vocals. There's plenty of driving guitar riffs and frantic drumming. In short, there's plenty for fans to love. And there even a few surprises, most notably the pseudo-ballad "The Theft," a slow-tempo, melodic rocker that will catch most fans completely off guard (the surprise is it's probably the best song on the album).

That said, there's far less hooks when the album kicks off. The one-two punch on "The Curse" of "Bleeding Mascara" and "Wrong Side of the Bed" set a pretty high president, and sadly there's nothing quite like these two tracks on "Death Grip..." (in the hook dept.). The album does pick up after "Our Sick Story," but at 33 minutes in length, there's little time to mess around. There are also times where the album starts to almost sound like Atreyu is treading water trying to figure out exactly which direction it wants to go in. The logical progression for the band would be the same one that Avenged Sevenfold took (eliminating the hardcore vocals altogether), though I hope it's more like the From Autumn to Ashes route (keeping the hardcore stuff in there to a limited degree). There's some creative stuff on this release, but it's not the explosion "the Curse" seemed to promise.

Atreyu is one of the better bands on the metal circuit at the moment. The group is an exciting, young band full of potential, and it's fun to see the band and its sound grow and develop. "A Death Grip on Yesterday" isn't the worst album of the year, it fact, it'll probably end up being one of the best. If "The Curse" wasn't so good, it'd would be easier to give this album a higher grade, but it's clear Atreyu is capable of much more. Rate this as a slighter-higher than average release from an above-average band. Go grab a copy, you won't be sorry, you just won't be blown away.

Amorphis -- 'Eclipse' [review]

Amorphis
"Eclipse"
(Nuclear Blast Records)


These days, it's hard to pigeon-hole Finland's Amorphis into the metal category ... the band has more of a folk-metal feel for lack of a better phrase. The group is technically sound on the metal front, but adds a certain element to the chords and melodies, giving some of the songs an almost-medieval tone. When the band started out in 1990, it was purely a death metal outfit. But, over the years, the group's sound has evolved. Amorphis' last couple of albums with Pasi Koskinen in the vocal slot further expanded the group's direction (you could almost consider "Am Universum" a hard-rock album), drawing influence from a variety of places while keeping the same core principle. When Koskinen left the band following 2003's "Far From the Sun" release, fans began to wonder if the band would call it a day.

It did not.

The addition of Tomi Joutsen breathed new life into Amorphis. The group was rejuvenated and ended up crafting what is destined to be one of the strongest metal releases of 2006: "Eclipse."

The core, creative and vast sound of Amorphis is intact. The songs are full of elaborate guitar riffs, full drumming and expansive interplay between the guitar solos and bass-bridges. As impossible as it sounds, the band is completely metal but hardly metal all at once (think Dream Theater's earlier work mixed with European flavor and less overblown).

Joutsen's vocals are deeper in delivery and add a hard-rock element to the band's sound. Joutsen even offers up some death metal growls in limited quantity, a welcome addition to long-time fans and something that had all but disappeared from the group's last few outings. The guitar work is spot-on, the drumming is top-notch and never overpowering, and the bass offers a subtle presence to proceedings. The album pulls you in from the onset and is sure to win the band new followers.

Unfortunately, the production was a little muddy at times. Joutsen is a fantastic addition to the band, but his vocals are almost washed out in the first couple of tracks, overpowered by the band and guitars in particular. The problem is even more apparent on the US release of the album, which features a new (bonus) track ("Stone Women") with the vocals on a better level with the rest of the tracking. Literally, that is the only problem I have with the release. The spattering of death metal growls left me wanting more, but that can probably be considered a positive.

Amorphis really deserves much more attention than it gets. The group is one of the best European metal acts out there and, while a hit abroad, hasn't really caught on with the American audience. The band is a tight metal outfit, with enough riffs to appeal to any metal fan, but also with enough outside influence to be enjoyed by any fan "heavier" music. The new vocals add an awesome new dimension to the band which shows little signs off slowing down. Highly, highly recommended.