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August 28, 2008 |
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01. Fragile
02. To The Edge
03. Our Truth
04. Within Me
05. Devoted
06. You Create
07. what I See
08. Fragments Of Faith
09. Closer
10. In Visible Light
11. The Game
12. Without Fear
13. Enjoy The Silence (Bonus Track)
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"Karmacode" is an album that will surprise many fans by LACUNA COIL's semi-drastic style change. It is certain that numerous people will have trouble identifying this as a LACUNA COIL album if not for the vocals of Christina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro, who remain as the only two original band members left from their self-titled debut EP. During "Karmacode"'s short life, fans and detractors alike have widely ridiculed it as LACUNA's entrance into Nu-Metal and/or Mallcore, giving way to oh-so-cleaver joke titles such as "LaKoRna Coil", "LACUNA KoRn" and "KarmaKorn". The KoRny KoRnucopia of such jokes are quickly becoming as welcomed as the latest cutesy celebrity couple names like Bennifer, Bradgelina and TomKoRn. The point of the matter is; is it true?
The stylistic change is definitely there. Many of the slow to mid-paced gothic-tinged melodies are absent and replaced with faster tempos, more predictable and formulaic song arrangements and most worrisome, has more of an overall American flavour poured in. LACUNA COIL's beginning as a skewed perspective on Gothic Metal has rapidly dissipated into an over-commercialized caricature of what they used to be. However, the essence of Nu-Metal is hardly there and those that will tell you otherwise either have very little of an understanding of the genre or just use it to describe something they hate. What's more accurate is that LACUNA sounds like a hollow departure rather than the next SLIPKNOT.
Even the departures from "Karmacode"'s rudimentary sound, such as the ballad "Within Me" and the throwback "In Visible Light" fall short of their full potential. The frail concepts and passionless execution combined with the suffocating production suck whatever vivacity may be present under a different presentation. It's not until the cover of DEPECHE MODE's "Enjoy The Silence" are we treated with superior songwriting that LACUNA thankfully fails at turning into a mockery.
Christina Scabbia's work is easily the strongest aspect of the album as she is reaching her full potential as a lead vocalist. Andrea Ferro's vocals are used with a much more regularity in "Karmacode" than in the past couple of releases; however this is somewhat of a hindrance rather than an attraction. While Ferro's vocals are present more than in any of the band's other full-length albums, he and Christina fail at working together. The dichotomy of the two exists on different planes and rarely relates to one another effetely enough to justify their simultaneous usage, and end up sounding like two people singing concurrently rather than playing off one another and simply does not work.
The overall quality of guitars is mixed. The guitars are often muddied and at points sound as blurry as the low-fi guitars in early Black Metal. At other points, you'll get something just crunchy enough that one would expect to hear in a Death Metal band. Lead melodies are pushed way too far back in the mix while chugging guitars are pushed to the forefront. Then, LACUNA throws in some nice sounding clean guitars melodies and simplistic low-key riffs just to confuse you.
The bass and drums, though clearly audible, are unspectacular and do not merit any further mention. There are some keyboards every once in a while, however, if they were to vanish altogether it's not likely that many would notice their absence in most of the areas they choose to use them. Their addition garners just a tiny amount of added depth and seems perplexed as to what role its inclusion plays within the full sound of the band.
A good album should contain more good songs than bad, an original or at least distinctive style or concept and a production that fits the style. LACUNA COIL has more or less failed in all of these aspects without needing to point out the unglamorous musicianship. While top quality bands rebound effectively from offerings that critics and fans label as duds such as HYPOCRISY's "Catch 22", LACUNA COIL's questionable and inconsistent past material will stand as a big question mark as to whether or not they'll be able to recover from this so-called KoRncoction.
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