Lacuna Coil - Delirium (2016)

In my review of Lacuna Coil's last album, "Broken Crown Halo", I stated that the band was satisfied with their current status, not willing to change too much about their music, which to me meant that they did not have the will to expand their music. So naturally, I expected their new album "Delirium" to be a true continuation in the band's discography, so you would imagine that I got quite a shock when the first song of the album started up. While "The House of Shame" does have typical Lacuna Coil elements in it, it comes off as one of the heavier songs the band has created. In short, it almost sounds like a light version of The Project Hate MCMXCIX, which definitely got me excited.

After that though, it is back to the same old tricks, simple hard rock with some gothic elements in it, and a healthy mix of both male and female vocals. Here they go opening up the album with a heavy and innovative songs, just to go back to the safe sally attitude, which seriously pisses me off more than it should. I actually got my hopes up during that opener, just to see it shatter once the second song started.

In the digipak version, there are a total of 14 songs in this album, spanning a total play time of 57 minutes, which is quite a lot for this band. Personally, I would have liked the band to cut out two or three songs, because there are so many mediocre fillers in this album that just takes up unnecessary space. It is just one long exhausting jungle of slow tempo, bland riffing, and over exposure for the male vocalist Andrea Ferro. Yes, he is once again stealing a lot of the spotlight from Cristina Scabbia for no apparent reason. While Ferro does a great job in several tracks, I still think that Scabbia is under used to almost a criminal level. You have a fantastic female vocalists, so use her!

While most of the Lacuna Coil albums do sound the same, there has always been some variation to the music, something that makes the albums more dynamic. This is unfortunately a trait that "Delirium" is missing, because everything sounds more or less the same. Same structure, same tempo, same strategy on about 85% of the songs. I am starting to feel like Stanley Ipkis in that one episode in the animated show "The Mask" where he is forced to relive the same hour over and over and over again, because there simply is no progression when you listen to "Delirium".

So are there any positive notes over this album? Well, some ideas are mildly intriguing, and the album is one of the heavier Lacuna Coil albums I have heard, but besides from the opening track, there really is not much too cheer about in this album, it is just the same mediocre alternative rock that we have gotten used to with this band. I can take the fact that they have been through some line-up changes (they don't even have a guitarist at this moment), and when all of that is sorted out, I hope that a lot of new inspiration gets injected into the band, because it is badly needed.

"Delirium" is a disappointment in many ways, mostly because it lacks steam, feeling sluggish and bland. Besides from the opening song and a couple of small ideas here and there, there is not much to take from this album that is worth your while. Lacuna Coil has done several other albums that are better, cooler, and fresher, so go bother with them instead, because "Delirium" is not worthy of filling your free time.

Songs worthy of recognition: The House of Shame, "Blood, Tears, Dust", My Demons

Rating: 4/10 Downfalls