WHO’S AMPED FOR NEW LACUNA COIL?

At first, you may feel hostility to heavy rock bands like Lacuna Coil, but fuck that. You don’t settle for the easiest, most immediate appraisal of stuff — especially stuff as nebulous as rock music. So after two more seconds of thought, you see that it’s allegiance that we owe to Lacuna Coil and their skilled ilk. Without them and their complicated shirts, our only sources for pure, habit-forming pop hooks would be Billboard’s top 100, that one Cave In album, and Faith No More. Surely don’t go to Lacuna Coil for metal, but rather when you desire ace pop delivered in metal vernacular. In this capacity, their jamz save us from mainstream radio, where every song is about doin’ ya/refusing to do ya/doin’ your friend/choking a stripper. Shudder.

So I rejoice that slated for October release is Lacuna Coil’s Dark Adrenaline, their second with awesome producer Don Gilmore. He also helmed 2009’s Shallow Life, a classic record sunk in the marketplace by a string of misguided single choices — srsly wtf no “Wide Awake” (for moms) or “Underdog” (for bros)? To date only 75k shipped in US c’monnn!? What happened? Maybe Century Media biffed at breaking a would-be platinum record; maybe band and management bungled the singles via Hysteria-style overthinking; maybe the young people haven’t yet healed their Evanescence-inflicted wounds. Maybe all three. And maybe for Dark Adrenaline, Lacuna Coil and crew will listen to my professional advice or at least lift that restraining order. We’ll see!

-ADF

Lacuna Coil’s Dark Adrenaline is due out on Century Media in October.