LACUNA COIL - Comalies XX
REVIEW by MATTHEW HAUMSCHILD
Official info:
"An entirely new version of “COMALIES” – deconstructed, remade, re-recorded and transported into the year 2022!"
Released October 14th 2022 on Century Media Records
“Comalies” was originally released on October 29th 2002
LINKS
https://www.facebook.com/lacunacoil/
photo credit: https://www.facebook.com/cunenephoto
TRACKLIST
CD 1:
1. Swamped XX
2. Heaven's A Lie XX
3. Daylight Dancer XX
4. Humane XX
5. Self Deception XX
6. Aeon XX
7. Tight Rope XX
8. The Ghost Woman And The Hunter XX
9. Unspoken XX
10. Entwined XX
11. The Prophet Said XX
12. Angel's Punishment XX
13. Comalies XX
CD 2:
1. Swamped
2. Heaven's A Lie
3. Daylight Dancer
4. Humane
5. Self Deception
6. Aeon
7. Tight Rope
8. The Ghost Woman And The Hunter
9. Unspoken
10. Entwined
11. The Prophet Said
12. Angel's Punishment
13. Comalies
As sad as it sounds (because I feel old typing this), I was there when the original Comalies was released in 2002. I had just turned 22 years old, I was not even a year into my first “grown up” job working for a major local cable TV operator in Saint Paul Minnesota USA, I had my first serious (as serious as one could get at 22) romantic relationship, the leaves had fallen off the trees, it was cooling down significantly outside, and Lacuna Coil just released their most successful record to date. Well, it would become successful in the next 6 months to a year. I listened to this album hundreds and hundreds of times over the last twenty years. Ive included tracks on many mix CDs (the precursor to playlists) to hand out to my friends or just to listen to in the car. I probably purchased three different versions of that album over the years.
Needless to say, I’m very familiar with the music, lyrics, band history and everything in between on the subject of, “Comalies” and the album does mean a great deal to me because it brings me back to a time where I was younger and just learning how life was going to be and it had a great impact on me.
Fast forward twenty years later in Lacuna Coil’s history, they’ve released several albums since then, rotated band members, travelled around the world, playing hundreds of shows, and have gained plenty of experiences. The band were in their mid to late 20’s when they wrote “Comalies” and yes, they had toured the world with the previous two releases, but they were still young and eager, and they had a sound a formula that worked for them and their fans. Time happens however, and with time new experience and fan tastes change. It’s 2022 and Lacuna Coil isn’t the same band they once were, which isn’t a bad thing, it’s just different. Lacuna Coil has a history of changing their sound and its evident in each album. Even from “Unleashed Memories” to “Comalies” there’s a difference, but not that large. Now, to compare “Comalies” to “Delirium” or “Comalies XX” would be akin to comparing night and day. For the remainder of this review, I will not compare the original release to this one for a few reasons: 1: Half the band was replaced, and it wouldn’t be a fair comparison, 2: The albums sound completely different from each other, the only thing they have in common are the lyrics. 3: If you have’t heard the original, I would invite you to after you’ve listened to this one.
Welcome to the reimagining and refit of the album, “Comalies.” It’s dark, it’s heavy and it’s for the next generation of metal fans yearning for quality-heavy-music. Although I will not go track by track, I wish to cover three tracks that everyone should listen to:
“Unspoken.”
I recognize that over the last few albums Andrea Ferro has really stepped up with his growling and letting Christina Scabbia sing the clean parts. In previous album, he sings clean in spots but mostly he screams. Musically, it starts out slow but it’s deceptive, it picks up when the singing begins. The kick drum really hits hard in this song and when the chorus kicks in, the drums become far more evident in terms of setting the overall tone. The best part of this song is on how it was mixed. The quality of the singing, the synth, how the guitar was recorded and how the bass really fills out the low end make give this song lots of colors to imagine while the listener is listing to this.
I found the lyrics for this track to be interesting. On the surface it seems that one person is leaving the other after the other person couldn’t grow out of their envy or jealousy over the other but they have a hard time moving forward because she cares about him still. It leaves some interesting interpretation, given how old they were when they wrote this song and that English (although I have spoken to the band from that era) is a second language to them, they wrote some very compelling lyrics.
“Self Deception”
I like that the introduction to this song is completely different from the rest of the song which starts at the 20 second mark when Andrea starts singing. The tempo and feel to the song is nearly unrelated, it as a deception. Down-tuned guitar and a catchy hook in the chorus make this song well worth listening to. I believe the song belongs in a movie or maybe the song itself is a movie? I think this would make an excellent music video because the music tells a story about someone who made a mistake and the person trying to figure it out. It brings the listener on a musical journey and it’s a great song to listen to while driving.
“Ghost Woman and the Hunter”
It was right around this song where I became nostalgic for what things were like verses where I am today. I say this with in the most complementary way humanly possible, this song makes me sad. Perhaps I hadn’t listened to this song for quite some time, but I knew every note as it was played as if I had listened to it yesterday. I believe I get more out of this song today than I did 20 years ago. The words to this song (like any other song) can be interpreted in so many ways, but I take it as if someone lost someone they loved. Naturally, most people think it’s a significant other, but the way I read the lyrics it could be any loved one and it doesn’t have to be romantic. Musically, this one stands out more than all the other songs on XX, silmply due to the context of the song itself. The band wrote this song in their mid to late 20’s and they wrote the song based on their experience which at that age, isn’t nearly as deep as someone older. I can hear it in Scabbia’s voice when she sang these lyrics again, she’s singing straight from her heart, all that experience, all that heartbreak, loss, being away from home for months on end, that pain…I could hear it when she’s singing the chorus. I will have
The rest of the album and my final thoughts.
The rest of the album sounds as I’ve stated above, darker and heavier than its predecessor although my complaint about doing that, the other songs have less meaning and they don’t take me to a different place like the original had. The recreations (because that’s what they are) are reinterpretations that try to freshen up an old product and the rest of the songs, although are well done, lose that essence the original had. I sincerely hope that there are newer and younger fans that will appreciate this album the same way that I appreciate the original. Long live Lacuna Coil, go listen to this album and go see em live if you haven’t already.
Matthew Haumschild
For GryphonMetal’s original review of “Comalies” : http://www.gryphonmetal.ch/LacunaCoil.html
VIDEO Tight Rope XX