Lacuna Coil

Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro
Background information
Also known as	Ethereal
Origin	Milan, Italy
Genre(s)	Gothic metal Alternative metal
Years active	1994 – present
Label(s)	Century Media
Website	www.lacunacoil.it
Members
Cristina Scabbia Andrea Ferro Cristiano Migliore Marco Biazzi Marco Coti Zelati Cristiano Mozzati
Former members
Raffaele Zagaria Claudio Leo Leonardo Forti

Lacuna Coil is a metal band from Milan, Italy formed in 1994.^[1][2] Formerly known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal, the band was inspired by gothic imagery and gothic metal music, and the members have been known, musically, for composing midtempo songs consisting of guitar lines overlaid with prominent keyboard work, and contrasting dual female/male vocal harmonies to help create a melodic detached sound. Much of the band's recent material, however, sees a more down-tuned style, featuring a more distinct bass line and a higher mixing of the guitars within the songs. According to the band, they are and have been influenced by Paradise Lost, Tiamat, Anathema, Septic Flesh, Black Sabbath, Type O Negative, Imago Mortis, Depeche Mode, In Flames and Amorphis amongst others. They have played among the world's biggest heavy metal festivals on the main stage including Ozzfest, Bloodstock Open Air, Wacken Open Air, and are scheduled to play with Megadeth on their Gigantour tour this November. The band's 2006 release, Karmacode peaked at number 28 on the Billboard 200.

Biography

Andrea and Marco formed Sleep of Right, but soon changed their name to Ethereal, and signed to Century Media at the end of 1997.Finding that the name Ethereal was already taken, they changed their name to Lacuna Coil, which means empty spiral.^[3] The band consisted at that point of co-vocalists Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro with bassist/keyboardist Marco Coti Zelati. The band recorded a self-titled EP released in 1998, and went on tour supporting label-mates Moonspell. The band was accompanied for this tour by guitarist Cristiano Migliore and drummer Cristiano Mozzati. Following a second European tour, the band recorded their debut full-length album, In a Reverie, and added second guitarist Marco Biazzi. The band supported the album with another European tour, co-headlining with Skyclad.

Lacuna Coil performing at the Heineken Jamming Festival 2006.

Following another EP in the form of "Half-Life" in 2000, and album entitled Unleashed Memories in 2001, the band released Comalies in 2002, an album which received acclaim and rave reviews from certain corners of the metal world.^[4][5][6][7] Over a year later, the first single from this album, "Heaven's a Lie", began to receive radio and media attention and pulled the band into the mainstream. The second single, Swamped, was played in heavy rotation, and was used in the video game "Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines", both in one of the game's fictitious clubs and along with the game's endgame credits. Music videos were filmed for both songs and broadcast on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball.

Cristina Scabbia singing for Lacuna Coil in Oxford

By 2004, Comalies had become the best-selling CD in Century Media's history. The band appeared at Ozzfest in between headlining club tours in America and Europe. In an effort to best take advantage of Lacuna Coil's ascendant popularity, the band and label postponed the release of their highly-anticipated follow up to Comalies, Karmacode, to early 2006. According to the band's website, this made it possible for more time to be spent on production while also avoiding the crowded summer 2005 release schedule for metal albums. On December 23, 2005 the band announced via their official web site that all recording, mixing, and mastering had been finished and that Karmacode is complete. It was then announced that Karmacode would be released in USA on April 4, 2006. One of its tracks, "Our Truth", is the first single (and video) and is featured as well on the soundtrack of the movie Underworld: Evolution in stores on January 10, 2006. The video has had rotation on MTV. During their 2005 European Tour, Lacuna Coil performed two new songs (working titles "A2" and "Antonio") at selected concerts. "Our Truth" is one of these songs, tentatively referred to at the time as "Antonio", while the song "A2" has been renamed to "Fragile", and is the opening track on Karmacode. Karmacode debuted at #28 on the Billboard Charts. It received critical acclaim from music critics and magazines. Corresponding with the release of the new album, Lacuna Coil went on tour with Rob Zombie throughout North America in early 2006 also making an appearance at Ozzfest 2006 on the main stage. The band also played at the 2006 Download Festival, a three-day festival in England's Donington Park which was headlined by Metallica, Tool, and Guns N' Roses. They are also scheduled to play one night in the UK at Sheffield Corporation on October 17th. This December, Lacuna Coil will be teaming up with In Flames for a US Tour, though they are currently on board the Blackest of the Black 2006 tour with headlining act Danzig, and bands like Asesino, Belphegor, and The Haunted In March 2007, Lacuna Coil joined Stone Sour and Shadows Fall on the Jägermeister Music Tour. In May, they toured the US with Within Temptation and The Gathering on the The Hottest Chicks in Metal Tour 2007. Departing from the original tour dates, Lacuna Coil made a stop in Raleigh, North Carolina in early April to play with area bands Wounded Soul and Blatant Disarray, and with Shadows Fall. They again departed from the tour schedule in Albuquerque, New Mexico in late April and played at the Sunshine Theater with Stolen Babies, Beneath the Sky and Shadows Fall. In October of 2007 Lacuna Coil will play for the first time in their career in Japan during the Loudpark Festival 07 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City. In November they joined with Megadeth, Devildriver, Static-X and Bring Me The Horizon for the Australian Gigantour. Their song "Closer" is featured as a bonus song in the video game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock. Lacuna Coil are currently working on their follow-up to Karmacode. Kerrang! has stated that the new album is due for release in September. ^[8]

Members

• Cristina Scabbia - Female vocals (Contralto) (guest in Rezophonic, guest in Megadeth, guest in Apocalyptica)
• Andrea Ferro - Male vocals (Tenor)
• Cristiano "Pizza" Migliore - Guitar
• Marco "Maus" Biazzi - Guitar (guest in Rezophonic)
• Marco Coti Zelati - Bass guitar and keyboards
• Cristiano "Criz" Mozzati - Drums and percussion

Former members

• Raffaele Zagaria - Guitar (Cayne)
• Claudio Leo - Guitar (Cayne)
• Leonardo Forti - Drums and percussion

Live players

• Steve Minelli - Guitar (March/April 1998) (ex-Node, ex-Death SS)
• Alice Chiarelli - Keyboards (March/April 1998) (Alice in Darkland)

Discography

Main article: Lacuna Coil discography

Albums and EPs

Singles

References

External links

• Official website
• Lacuna Coil at MySpace
• Karmacode
• Profile at Century Media Records
• Empty Spiral - Official worldwide fan club
• Lacuna Coil Italia - Official Italian fan club
• Lacuna Coil discography at MusicBrainz
• Interview at Room Thirteen
• Cristiano interviewed by Brian D. Holland - Ultimate Guitar