It’s time for a blockbuster and with a film of that type you know exactly what you are in store for. Firstly some fun that the whole family can enjoy, then something entertaining and unchallenging without a hint of real danger, also special effects and moments to make you go “ah,” as well as a happy ending; one that will leave you coming out from your experience with a shit eating grin on your face. Of course familiarity is also a big part of all this and you will certainly not be taken out of any comfort zone. In other words it is all rather shallow, but the most important thing to bear in mind is that no matter how much you do not want to, there is absolutely no way you are going to be able to not actually enjoy yourself. In a nutshell this sums up the new Lacuna Coil album perfectly.
Now I have liked the band since they started out in 1994 and up to their fantastic ‘Comalies’ in 2002. Hell, Cristina Scabbia was the first person I actually interviewed face to face at the time. I could see they were perched on the verge of greatness with venues getting bigger and magazines that would not have previously touched them suddenly fawning over them. This was proved with 2006 ‘Karmacode,’ an album that I really did not like and one that I have stopped myself from getting and completing my collection. So I was interested when ‘Shallow Life’ came up for review and on first listen I had a list of reasons why I was going to firmly put the boot in on it. Some of those reasons are going to surface here as it is a crass commercial beast make no mistake but again we come back to the fact that despite its many faults it is difficult not to enjoy as much as I am loathe to do so.
In a recent review where I listed all the fantastic female fronted bands just about to release an album I purposely left out Lacuna Coil. The reason for this is that despite the way they are portrayed in the media it would be wrong to look at them as such due to the fantastic contribution made by Andreo Ferro. ‘Shallow Life’ is no exception to the rule and his parts are excellent on the whole and should certainly not be ignored. Now I have said that it is time for me once again to press play and detonate that hand grenade on the cover.
There are 12 numbers here and it runs at 41 minutes; everything is incredibly safe and accessible. It is as though Lacuna Coil are going for that perfect pop song and radio play; not one of these numbers is over 4 minutes. Opener ‘Survive’ has a nursery rhyme type backing chant going on in it. Being Italian there is absolutely no way in hell that the band can deny its origins, it is sped up but lifted straight from Goblin’s ‘School At Night (Lullaby)’ from the ‘Profondo Rosso’ (Deep Red) soundtrack of the Dario Argento movie. It’s up there on Spotify so give it a spin and see for yourself. That aside it’s actually a cracking song and one almost as good as ‘Swamped,’ the memorable opener from ‘Comalies.’ Andreo opens on ‘I Wont Tell You’ and when Cristina comes in it’s impossible not to wonder when she suddenly became American. This is what I have referred to as the other Cristina track, Aguilera to be precise and she has turned this particular number into a trailer trash anthem that has me virtually gagging. Thankfully the more ballad etched ‘Not Enough’ has her singing more naturally and being herself and makes this a much more passionate and enjoyable number. ‘I’m Not Afraid’ easily one of the best tracks on the album, the interaction between the vocalists here is excellent. Andreo yet again gives a storming performance hammering in his incidental parts and this will easily go down a storm live, Cristina even does a good job doing a bit of an Ofra Haza Arabic sounding wail on it. This is followed by the worst song they have ever, ever done; ‘I Like It’ sounds like it’s trying to tick all boxes and cater to the Britney, Beyonce crowd, this is so offensive to my ears it makes me never want to shout “sell outs” from the rooftops and never listen to the band again. Again though there is no way I cannot admit that it has a fantastic pop laden chorus and nauseatingly positive lyrics making me understand completely why they did it. There be mega dollars in this particular number!
After this it’s pretty much a case of painting by numbers. ‘Spellbound’ is another one where Cristina comes into her element with a stirring chorus, powerful enough to see why this was chosen as a single. Cheesy lighters out ballad ‘Wide Awake’ is at odds with its title, making me want to snooze. Again although sounding Americanised ‘Unchained’ has another of those crowd pleasing choruses and some flamboyant guitar soloing which for once gives the music itself some form of identity but the title number is a real anti-climax to go out on not doing very much emotionally at all as far as I am concerned. So I think I have said it all and am only pleased that I do not actually have to go and give this a mark out of ten, as I would really struggle more than actually reviewing it to do so. I think I am going to be looking at ‘Shallow Life’ as one of those guilty pleasures in life but this band have sadly outgrown themselves for me.
http://www.lacunacoil.it
http://www.myspace.com/lacunacoil
