Lacuna Coil

The atmospheric Italian gothic-metal band Lacuna Coil are a study in contrasts. That chameleonic quality is fuelled by the shape-shifting power of the band’s covocalists. On 2002’s “Heaven’s a Lie”, Andrea Ferro unleashes a keening hard-rock howl around Cristina Scabbia’s desperate wails. Musically, on the 2006 hit “Our Truth”, Scabbia croons and growls delicately atop chugging nu-metal riffs. The band formed in 1994 and cycled through the names Sleep of Right and Ethereal before settling on Lacuna Coil to release a 1998 self-titled EP and the 1999 full-length In a Reverie. Whereas those records established the group’s dramatic-metal bona fides, they have spent the past few decades refining their sound via savvy collaboration (working with producer Don Gilmore on the 2009 album Shallow Life) and by leaning into more pop arrangements (such as the explosive title track of 2016’s Delirium). The 2019 release of the elaborate Black Anima set the stage for Lacuna Coil’s next chapter with dense instrumentation and more sophisticated lyrics.