LACUNA COIL is back with their fifth studio album ‘Shallow Life’ and it continues where ‘Karmacode’ left off. With their musical progression shifting from the gothic metal style (Anything up to and including ‘Comalies’) which set them aside and more individual, to the more commercial mainstream style of rock and metal, which was first attempted with last opus ‘Karmacode’, although not as much on offer here. However, with groovy, catchy riffs here, there and everywhere, and a diversity of songs and styles on this album, it seems there is something here for everyone.

Album opener ‘Survive’ is definitely classic LACUNA COIL but with a hint of evolution to make it more catchy and appealing to a wider crowd, and thus is a just opener for the album to ease the listeners in. Following on from that is ‘I Won’t Tell You’, which just shows the diversity on this album. It’s more upbeat, catchy, and goes into the more mainstream rock style (too much for my liking). However, it will more than likely get your head nodding to the beat, and you won’t be able to help it!

‘I’m Not Afraid’ sounds extremely similar to what you would get off a LINKIN PARK album. Something I would not have expected to hear on a LACUNA COIL album, whilst the likes of ‘Underdog’ has tinges of southern rock style intertwined with it, and it works well. The first single from the album, ‘Spellbound’, is something more akin to what you would associate with LACUNA COIL, only evolved a little again. The atmosphere is not as dark as before and the catchy riffs and tune is extremely good. It’s one of those tracks you can’t help but nod your head to, and will be stuck in your head for days on end after hearing it (something I can’t say I’ve experienced before with a LACUNA COIL track).

Cristina Scabbia’s vocals are superb as ever, but Andrea Ferro takes over too much for my liking on some of the tracks and that causes the downfall of some of them (an example of this is ‘The Maze’), although he sounds better on this album than in past efforts. Another thing I have to say concerning the vocals is that they do seem to be to overpowering for the tracks, so much so that guitars, bass and drums are less audible over vocal sections compared to other albums I have heard.

There is also a more melodic slower side to this album in the form of title track ‘Shallow Life’ and ‘Wide Awake’, where in the latter Scabbia is given a chance to perform by herself and it sounds so much better with her on her own, and there is definitely more of an emotional feeling to this just listening to her voice.

All in all, this is an average album with a couple of standout tracks (which coincidentally happen to be the two you would associate most with LACUNA COIL’s original style, i.e. ‘Survive’ and ‘Spellbound’), but with the radical change in style on offer here, I’m not sure how the fans will react to this. There are still elements of the old LACUNA COIL on this album, just few and far between. For me, I’ve always liked LACUNA COIL’s individuality and style, but their sound has changed too much on this album, and this just isn’t what LACUNA COIL was. They have changed their style drastically to search for a more commercial, radio friendly style album. They have lost their individuality and gothic style which won them their fans in the first place. They will definitely win more fans with this record, but the real question is how many will they lose because of it? That, we will have to wait and see, but I can’t see the original fans appreciating this as much as the teenage and early twenties crowd who think that EVANESCENCE and LINKIN PARK are ‘heavy’, ‘cool’ and ‘metal’.

Rating: 2.8/5.0

Review By Adam Fredericks