Heavy, melodic, and relentlessly melodramatic, Italian goth-metal outfit
Lacuna Coil
's follow-up to 2009's
Shallow Life
bristles with the kind of nervous energy and well-honed theatricality that can only come from a band whose name translates to "empty spiral." Like
Leaves' Eyes
,
Nightwish
the Gathering
, and
Evanescence
, the band knows how to set a tone, and
Dark Adrenaline
, once again produced by
Don Gilmore
(
Bullet for My Valentine
Linkin Park
), doesn't disappoint. Bigger and bolder than the more radio-friendly
(a solid, yet calculated, mascara-drenched cover of
R.E.M
.'s "Losing My Religion" notwithstanding),
boasts some of the group's most explosive work to date, with highlights arriving via "The Army Inside," "I Don't Believe in Tomorrow," and the brooding first single "Trip the Darkness." Melodic and mercurial, immaculate and overwrought, it's not for everybody, but six albums in,
have proven themselves more than worthy of both the attention of commercial rock radio and the adoration of the progressive metal community. ~ James Christopher Monger