Talk about being pleasantly surprised….Lacuna Coil’s 5th album is arguably one of their best- terrific songs, all bringing a heavy impact to the mix- with down-tuned riffs encompassing the whole.

Yes Cristina brings a lot of moxy to the front lines- terrific singing with a true passion to all of the songs…but you definitely can’t overlook the heavy duo guitar combination of Cristiano Migliore and Marco Biazzi- they definitely punch up the songs with a heavy flavor that leaves you wanting more… A lot of thought went into the production, the “clean-ness” of the sound and the overall concept of the album, dwelling in superficiality and just plain bullshit that we are naturally up against.

I like how overall, the band delves deep into the songs, adding key interplay, even when it appears, at least on paper, that it could all be just mundane- or “been there, done that”. Absolutely positively not the case at all, and of course most of the accolades must go to Cristina, her dynamic vocal range dexterity and interpretation of the lyric being absolutely riveting to listen to…even over repeated listens..

I believe it unfair to continue to lump this band into the gothic rock, or heavy gothic rock genre- this brings to mind Evanescence and Amy Lee for that matter- and in no way is Lacuna Coil anything like them at all-PERIOD.

You’ve got to like the spirit and passion of this band…maybe the close-knit feel springs from their Italian roots..whatever- they are a damn good band writing damn good songs…go enjoy!!

I have to say that even though it’s not another “clunker”, it’s nothing earth-shaking either…it starts off fair enough, with a blippy intro going into “In Chains”, with Dave Gahan singing mournfully and seductively as always…but I want something more…I want to hear this band dance and swing like I know they can..good driving music with a steady backbeat…this is what is in my head prior to hearing the actual album…instead I’m hearing slowed down keyboard arrangements, except for a handful of tunes, like “Wrong”, and “Fragile Tension”…”In Sympathy” is quite captivating…but-but…I don’t know..I’ve listened to the album in its enirety 4 times now over the past week, thinking maybe I’ve got it wrong, or listening with an open mind…yet, I can’t get that phrase out of my head: “Another Clunker”..

It’s really hard to not listen to a band fronted by de la Rocha without thinking about Rage Against the Machine, this being both a good thing for RATM and a bad thing for de la Rocha. The voice and attitude is the same, the band backing him is not.

My fanatical views of Rage Against the Machine aside, I call this a buy, you can never go wrong with listening to Zach put his heart and soul ( and anger? ) into his song and Jon Theodore on the drums is just as amazing and doesn’t let the power of Zach overshadow him.

Links:

One Day as a Lion
Myspace

Fortunately, there are a LOT of more-than-noteworthy acts to experience. Here are some of the others we are looking forward to, and some of the songs that grabbed our attention:

The Black Keys (Friday 8/1 4:15) – “Psychotic Girl” – Attack & Release

Battles (Saturday 8/2 6:30) – “Atlas” “Prismism”- Mirrored

MGMT (Saturday 8/2 3:30) – “Electric Feel” “Time To Pretend” – Oracular Spectacular

The Gutter Twins (Saturday 8/2 2:30) – “Idle Hands” – Saturnalia

Saul Williams (Sunday 8/3 5:00) – “Sunday Bloody Sunday” (yes, cover of the U2 classic) – but from an album called The Inevitable Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust…it definitely got our attention (in a good way).

Oh and YAY for the return of old musical friends!

Toadies ( Saturday 8/2 7:30)

Love and Rockets (Sunday 8/3 6:15)

Other acts we wish would be making an appearance:

Vampire Weekend

Grand Ole Party

She & Him

Rilo Kiley

The Bees

Peter Bjorn & John

Nine Inch Nails has 20 plus years in the industry, and show no signs of ever slowing down, creating music that different generations since their inception have loved and rocked out to. As one of the legion of fans I don’t know if I can be completely objective but I will try.

The Slip – as the new album is named starts with a short intro named 999,000 at a minute and a half (roughly) it starts with a quiet dreamy and mechanical voice slowly crescendos into the next song 1,000,000 which jumps right into a heavy electronic guitar line. This track is Nine Inch Nails at its core, heavy electronic rock with trent belting out the lyrics, and backup vocal tracks, I definitely don’t like the choice of vocal layovers at the end, It feels disjointed and out of place. The next track Letting you keeps along the same lines, increasing the overall tempo. Discipline the single from The Slip is a great catchy tune and its obvious that it was meant for radio play. Echoplex is a good track but compared to the other songs it might just be forgettable, I will hold my judgement completely until I’ve heard it 20 times or so. Head Down has a great feel to it, and brings the tempo of the album down to a more brooding feel. Lights in the Sky is a soft melodic song, which if my guess is correct must be Trent on the piano reminiscent of the acoustic version of Something I Can Never Have from Pretty Hate Machine. Corona Radiata is a quiet Electronica instrumental track, my first reaction as I was listening to it on the plane back from San Francisco was that it reminded me of something off of a Stephen King movie, which can be a little disconcerting while on an airplane! The Four of Us are Dying, another instrumental track is less haunting but still a decent enough track, to tell you the truth this one just felt like a bit of a filler, it might just be that the instrumentals were right next to each other. Finally, Demon Seed, finishes the album strong with the same hard electronic rock sound.

Overall this new release by Nine Inch Nails, outside of the statement being made by Trent to the record companies and the fact that it was released for free to the fans, is well worth it even if they were charging full price, and I think that at a future date they will set a price to purchase with physical media, and I expect quite a few people to do so even if they already have downloaded the free option.

Photos:

Mentioned in this post:

Nine Inch Nails – The Slip [free to download]

Nine Inch Nails – Pretty Hate Machine