Lacuna Coil – Delirium

It will, in fact, make you delirious.

When it comes to the aesthetic stigma that’s tied to Gothic metal, people tend to fall into one of two categories – extreme appreciators and fervent despisers. Keeping this in consideration, Milan’s Lacuna Coil have still somehow managed to make the dramatized genre work for them since their formation in the early 90s, maintaining their steady fan base with the glum theatrics that come as part of the package. With Delirium, Lacuna Coil stay true to their melodic roots, yet don’t do anything spectacular or special with it.

“The House of Shame” opens up Delirium by establishing that it’s one of their more darker, heavier releases yet, but its execution in doing so is strange. Scabbia’s vocals hit a certain pitch at times that’s like Anthony Green’s in Circa Survive. Combine that with the gruffer Corey Taylor from Slipknot sounds of Ferro and the outcome is interesting to say the least.

“Broken Things” has that same vocality, yet “Delirium” sounds the most like their past efforts. “Blood, Sweat, Dust” teases industrial elements with an ohGr-esque intro, before it turns into the same album sounds. Delirium ends with the most metalcore sounding track on the album, “Bleed the Pain,” but even with the double bass drum pounding still maintains a lackadaisical production

The formula Lacuna Coil has followed throughout the years adds melodies and harmonies from vocalist Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro with a not incredibly heavy, not incredibly soft tempo. It’s worked for them, but with that same equation applied to Delirium, the album still somehow comes up short.

It’s more than possible that die-hard Lacuna Coil fans will wholeheartedly disagree, defending the band’s output with statements like, “Oh, but listen to how Marco Zelati shreds on bass and guitar,” or, “But it’s drummer Ryan Folden’s first album with the band!,” or even, “Look at all the guest guitarists they had come through!” While each of these is true, not even guest shreds from Myles Kennedy or Mark Vollelunga can do much for Delirium.

All of this is relative to the listener. Different variations of metal are appreciated by incredibly varying fan bases, so those leaning more towards EYEHATEGOD’s side of things might find more “pop chart friendly” bands distasteful.

For the sake of remaining fairly unbiased, Delirium does have many songs that could find themselves on the Billboard charts or on some algorithm of a Spotify playlist. If that’s what you’re looking for you’ll find no fault with the album or where it lies on the metal spectrum. For those that find themselves offended by the thought, surely Jim Breuer’s new band and album will put a smile back on your face.