Anyone who knows me well knows that I am a fan of Lacuna Coil. I have been for about a decade now, ever since picking up a metal compilation from Hot Topic and hearing "Daylight Dancer" on it. I have been closely following the Italian metal band's career ever since, and Delirium, the band's eighth album, is the latest release. What I have always loved about Lacuna Coil is their ability to blend male and female vocals. Although this is not necessarily unique (other bands such as Nightwish, Sunterra, Theatre of Tragedy, and Epica have been doing it, too), they do make one of the first bands from whom I heard that. I liken them to my favorite band Evanescence (although Evanescence is fronted only by Amy Lee) because of their ability to blend heavy riffs with theatrical sounds. I also tend to relate to their music, which speaks of an assorted variety of subjects such as self-loathing, lost love, and losing faith. Delirium, as the title suggests, is somewhat of a concept album in that it it deals with facets of insanity and mental instability. In the haunting opening track "The House of Shame," for example, Andrea angrily, in his typical gruff manner, declares that "You're the reason I'm feeling so deranged." This song is epic metal, with a soft choir opening and closing the track and a killer guitar break a little more than halfway through. Cristina's opening to the refrain - "Why always staring into the light? If I don't hide inside the darkness, you'll be compromised..." - is, as I said, hauntingly beautiful, so much so that it brings tears to my eyes. Cristina really challenges herself vocally on this record, going places that she never really has before, as this part sounds almost operatic. "The House of Shame" is one of my two favorite tracks on the album.
I also really enjoy the second track, titled "Broken Things." It has the energy of an opening track, although "The House of Shame," with its aforementioned choir opening, works much better. "Broken Things" is consequently placed perfectly on the album. The best part of this song is the anthemic chorus, when Cristina and Andrea sing: "1, 2, 3, the count of your lies..." The song is lyrically pretty simple, at times reminding me of "Daylight Dancer" from Comalies: "As you keep smiling inside, you cannot be afraid of your destiny. All the walls you've built around..." It seems to speak of feeling like you have to live with your metaphorical insides being broken due to past trauma. The third track is the title track and is quite honestly probably one of my least favorite songs on the album, just because the hook doesn't really go anywhere; it just repeats the title over and over again. The fourth track on Delirium is titled "Blood, Tears, Dust," and I love Cristina's refrain here: "Can you believe this, my friend? I was empty and broken inside. She came to save me from the storm." Both lyrically and vocally, it's incredibly powerful. Cristina, like in "The House of Shame," sings in a higher register than she normally does, and she sounds, in a word, amazing. "Downfall" is the fifth track and starts on a quiet note that quickly picks up and gets loud and heavy. This is another one that doesn't do a whole lot for me. It does have a really awesome guitar break break more than halfway through, but one the whole, the song doesn't really make much progress. The refrain isn't particularly catchy, but lyrically, it's pretty meaningful, as it seems to be about clinging onto someone because of how lonely and dark that your life feels.
I briefly mentioned before that I ultimately have two favorite songs on the album. One is the opening track, "The House of Shame," and the other is the sixth track, "Take Me Home." The song starts off sounding very disjointed and has a very dark, creepy sound that reminds me of the remix of "Trip the Darkness" that fans were treated to on the Underworld Awakening soundtrack. There is a children's choir chanting "Big train down the track. Tick-tick, coming back. It's time. Jump on board. There is room for many more." It sounds really creepy and reminds me a bit of the rhyme from A Nightmare on Elm Street. Interestingly, Cristina revealed in a Spotify commentary that it isn't actually children that were used for the part; it's their own voices distorted. The chorus of this song is ridiculously catchy. Over distorted guitars, Cristina sings, "Sit with me. I'll take you for a ride. Tick-tock time, it will be so fine. Tick-tock time, it will be so fine. Stay with me. I'll take you for a ride. Tick-tock time, we will be all right." I simply love this song; it's not only one of the best songs on the album, it's one of the best songs that Lacuna Coil has ever done. The seventh track is titled "You Love Me 'Cause I Hate You" and starts with Cristina singing in a nasally voice. The song becomes one of the heaviest on the album by the chorus, when Andrea roars the title of the song. This is another song that I unfortunately feel doesn't really go anywhere in its refrain; the title of the song is repeated (like "Delirium") along with "everything but love." Although it isn't one of my favorites, however, I can definitely see it being a future single. It has the energy that I think could really fit a music video very well, but unfortunately, there currently is not a single music video, except the lyric video for "The House of Shame," from the album.
The eight track is "Ghost in the Mist," which I guess is technically a promotional single since, along with "The House of Shame" and the title track, it was released prior to the album's release. Although I am sure that it is a total coincidence (especially since it isn't similar enough to have been copied), the riff at the very beginning reminds me of a faster version of the riff from the beginning of "Until the End" by Breaking Benjamin. It's a moderately heavy song with a moderate tempo, which is carried primarily by Cristina's voice in a low register. The song's chorus is decent enough but is not a highlight for me. I do like the ninth track, "My Demons." It's somewhat of a softer one, although still fueled partially by heavy guitars and Andrea's growl. The melody of Cristina's refrain, however, is quite beautiful, and once again, she climbs, quite successfully, to some higher notes. Like many songs on the album, there is also a memorable guitar break more than halfway through. "Claustrophobia" is one that doesn't really go much of anywhere melodically, but I love the lyrics, such as: "Claustrophobic hate starts a chain reaction if it doesn't kill you" and "Why, why don't you try? Time is over. When I'll be gone, you will be suffering for me." I think that the next track, titled "Ultima Ratio," closes the standard edition of the album. By far, my favorite part of this song is Cristina's bridge, sung in a low register: "Inmate out. Time to rack him down. Never ends. Lock him back down inside his cell!" The refrain is also lyrically and melodically great: "Save me before I fall apart," Cristina desperately pleads. "Come closer to me while I'm still alive. It never ends." With its powerful lyrics and powerful sound backed by strings, it is a decent closing track, but, of course, the deluxe version doesn't end there.
The deluxe version of the album starts with "Live to Tell," a cover of the 1986 Madonna song of the same name. I am a really big Madonna fan, and Cristina said in an interview years ago that Madonna was a big inspiration for her, so I have really been looking forward to something like this. Unfortunately, however, I was kind of let down. The song's content is a perfect addition to the album, as it fits the album's theme of mental instability. "Live to Tell" seems to tell the story of someone who witnessed and/or experienced something traumatic but inexplicably (perhaps out of shame or fear of being judged) keeping it a secret even into adulthood. There are parts of the song, however, that are melodically unrecognizable because they are so drastically changed. I have no problem with a band drastically changing a song and making it their own, but this is a Madonna classic, and it almost seems wrong. By far, the best version of this song is the version that Madonna performed on her Confessions Tour. Next on the deluxe version is "Breakdown," another one of my favorites. I love the chorus of this song, during which Cristina powerfully sings in a higher register, "Embrace the pain that breaks me down." A little more than halfway through the song, Cristina wordlessly chants, calling back to the band's 2006 effort Karmacode. I think that this song probably sounds the most like a closing track. The final song on the album as a whole is "Bleed the Pain," another song that doesn't do much for me and doesn't really work as a closing track. I do like the underlying strings, though, playing a melody reminiscent of the Broken Crown Halo lead single "Nothing Stands in Our Way." The album is, overall, decent, and I really like its theme, but it's probably one of my least favorite Lacuna Coil albums, if not my least favorite. There are some unforgettable gems here but also a lot of throwaways that don't sound like they come from a band from whom I am used to hearing much better.
I have been a fan of Lacuna Coil for several years now. While I don't recall the exact year that I started listening to them, I believe that it was 2006 because I believe that it was very shortly after Karmacode was first released. I had heard "Daylight Dancer" from Comalies on a Century Media two-disc sampler and was instantly intrigued. After hearing more songs, I bought all of the band's albums, and being a Coiler has been a rewarding experience ever since. Since Karmacode, three albums have been released by the band (Shallow Life, Dark Adrenaline, and now Broken Crown Halo) because the band does not leave fans waiting for monstrously long periods of time for new material, and I have always appreciated that. HIM is the same way. Broken Crown Halo fails, in my opinion, to live up to standards that were set by earlier albums such as Comalies and Karmacode, but it is still a very strong album all the same, especially with highlights such as the opening track "Nothing Stands in Our Way," and "I Forgive (but I Won't Forget Your Name)." It's definitely one of the band's loudest and most guitar-driven albums to date, and I both like that and dislike that. It's full of energy but ultimately lacks the magic that earlier albums such as Comalies and Karmacode have. If, for example, you're looking for the theatrical sound of "Tight Rope" or the catchy groove of "Fragments of Faith," you're probably not going to find that here on Broken Crown Halo. It's Lacuna Coil exploring new territory on the same terrain, which is not necessarily something about which I am wholly complaining. I think that Lacuna Coil manages to gracefully put out something new and exciting while still keeping me feeling nostalgic.
As aforementioned, "Nothing Stands in Our Way" opens the album, and both lyrically and melodically, I see it as Lacuna Coil at one of its strongest piques. The first verse hooked me instantly the very first time that I heard it: "We're still struggling halfway through this journey. Our eyes are burning, but we're not slowing down. I wish we could have all the time in the world, but we have come too far to give up who we are." Not only was I instantly attracted to the blunt and honest, heartfelt lyrics, I was also attracted to the catchy melody. The refrain, which consists of fragmented words, such as "Lifelong roadblocks, high walls, teardrops...,"is, if nothing else, memorable because of its brevity. I just love that song so much and think that it was smart to open the album with such a powerful track. The second track of the album is "Zombies," a song of which I didn't think much the first time that I heard it; it, however, grew on me, and I now really like it. The guitar sounds choppy and distorted like a Korn song, which is not surprising because I know that the band has, in the past, cited Korn as an influence on them. The guitar solo more than halfway through is, for lack of better words, really cool and is an example of how this album is very guitar-driven in comparison to earlier albums. Cristina's refrain, "We are alone. We are the night. We are the ghosts that come to life. We will scare away reality when walls are falling down...," is quite catchy and is what eventually made me realize that I actually really like the song. The third song, titled "Hostage to the Light," is a song that I immediately liked the first time that I heard it. The refrain is very catchy, and it's about the closest that the album comes to old-school Lacuna Coil.
The fourth track is titled "Victims" and is very different for the band. It's still the same horror metal that the rest of the album features (with lyrics such as "Stumbling, I almost fall walking blind in this decay. It's sending shivers down my spine again."), but Cristina has a part near the end of the song that comes pretty close to rapping, a new feat for the band: "People told me I was weak. I told them I'll never quit. I will never quit..." It's kind of more spoken than it is sang, and I love that part, but I don't much care for Andrea's refrain. "Die & Rise" and "I Forgive (but I Won't Forgive Your Name)" are two of the album's highlights, which makes sense considering the fact that both are singles. "Die & Rise" begins sounding electronic before the guitars come in, pumping the song up to Lacuna Coil's usual brand of metallic volume. Andrea chants, "Die! Die!" The song is very catchy; I find "Nothing Stands in Our Way" and "Die & Rise" to be the two catchiest songs on the album, in fact. I plan to use "Die & Rise" on my upcoming fanmade Buffy the Vampire Slayer soundtrack, in fact, because it's so perfect for it, with lyrics like: "Blonde hair in the red light, she's getting down, getting down. She'll never turn me down. Put another stake into my heart..." "I Forgive (but I Won't Forget Your Name)" will also be used on an upcoming release of mine, my Maleficent mix. Cristina's soaring vocals in the refrain are absolutely beautiful, and the song is basically about exactly what its title would suggest that it's about. The speaker seems to be saying that people hurt him or her (I can't say because both Andrea and Cristina sing parts) and he or she forgives them, but what this one particular person did was so despicable and heinous that he or she wants justice (or is it revenge?). My favorite part of the song is the breakdown when Cristina sings, "Let it rain, let it rain, let it rain into my heart..."
"Cybersleep" is an interesting one. It begins with Cristina's warped, autotuned vocals, which are fitting to the song. Like "Hostage to the Light," this is another one that, at times (especially during the refrain), reminds me of old-school Lacuna Coil. It's not very heavy in comparison to some of the other songs on the album, and something that I do really like about it is that it is sang entirely by Cristina; Andrea is not featured at all. I don't mean that as an insult to Andrea, but I tend to prefer Cristina's vocals. "Infection" starts sounding electronic with piano, and I really love this song. I really love Andrea's whispery vocals on top of which Cristina's singing is layered. It sounds to me like a song about a toxic relationship causing an infection, and it sounds very Karmacode-esque to me, and I just love the little bit of resonant piano in it. "I Burn in You" starts sounds very dark and almost creepy, almost like the theme to a horror film (something that is prevalent throughout the album on tracks such as "Nothing Stands in Our Way," "I Burn in You," and "One Cold Day"). I adore Cristina's refrain in this song as well as her crying notes out over distorted guitars. It ends with the dark with which it begins (it sounds like it might be played on a keyboard). "In the End I Feel Alive" features another dark instrumental accompaniment that I really love, but aside from that, it's really one of the album's weak spots. Its follow-up, "One Cold Day," is much better. There isn't a better way to describe "One Cold Day" other than to say that it is haunting, and it's a perfect way to end the album. Written in dedication of ex-band member Claudio Leo, who passed away, the song features a melody reminiscent of a music box with lyrics that speak boldly of grief: "Sometimes, it's hard to let go. It's hard to move along the scars of life. Memories are blooming in the gloom as I'm feeling so cold inside." Overall, Broken Crown Halo is a really fantastic album with very few weak spots. I give the album an overall rating of 7.5/10 stars.
