Home Gigs Gig Review : Lacuna Coil – Limelight Belfast

Gig Review : Lacuna Coil – Limelight Belfast

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Review by Richard Henry for MPM

Well what else would you be doing on a Tuesday night sure, its a two gig set up tonight, with both the Limelight 1 and 2 hosting bands, we are in the bigger room tonight for Lacuna Coil, and by the looks of it I would say we are about 75% full, 700 odd in here so not a bad turn out!

Blood Tears Dust – Kicking off with a track from 2016s Delirium album, its a heavy slow groove to kick things off tonight, bit of moving from the crowd as well, straight in with the heavier vocals in the chorus an then a heavenly voice hits you as Cristina comes in with the chorus vocal, love that stuttering riff after the chorus as well, love that middle with the guitar riff and then the solo comes in, very interesting use of certain scales for the eastern sounding part, then back into a driving part with Andrea singing nearly clean but with a load of grit before it breaks down to Cristina and a synth backing before the chorus bangs right back in again, epic!

Reckless – We are hitting 2019s Black Anima album for this one, with the industrial intro before a massive detuned riff just comes at you, that is way down there in tuning, just the weight of it coming through the Pa its so heavy, thats a hard vocal to do from Cristina with Andrea peppering it with the growls around the chorus section, love the solo in there as well, some nice shredding and octave slides and some arpeggio action before we get the breakdown and you know what comes after that, yeah bang, right back into that chorus again, crushing track!

Trip the Darkness – 2012s Dark Adrenaline album now for this one, really slamming intro riff to this one and that should have a bit of a pit going to it, again I love when Andrea gives us the more melodic vocal and when it splits between the two of them in the verse its a really cool sound, then the chorus is down to Cristina before that riff slaps you down hard again, that build up in the middle before it sort of just goes right down to just bass, vocal and orchestral before the stabs come in and thebans is back into the chorus, these guys sound so on form tonight!

Apocalypse – Black Anima album again for this one, big opening to this with the vocal and keys coming in before Andrea comes in with the vocal and the riff joins in with him, that bass really drives the verse on this one, with Cristina on a much lower vocal for the verse, the vocals just climb again for the chorus, its a formula that works, I mean they do it in some variation in every song and it still sounds different every time, I love the solo on this one, again its so melodic but with little bluesy twists then a bit of tapping and some more lovely phrasing before it breaks down to the intro again before we hit the last chorus!

Oxygen – Hitting the new album due next year with this one, thats one heavy ass groove right there, almost reminds me of like Soulfly in a way before the light comes in with Cristinas vocal in the chorus, used to great effect to split up the track, its a real bouncy riff though, but that chorus is sublime, there’s a real banger of a riff right before it breaks for the solo vocal, going to be honest I haven’t heard any of the new tracks yet so this was a really nice introduction to the new album!

Layers of Time – Black Anima for this one, as it winds up into a really class groove, everything following the double kick pattern, thats a real headbanger of a riff and then a really thrash sort of verse, that is a serious groove right there before it hits the chorus and as much as it gets lighter with the vocal there is still a heavy groove and some nice little double kick parts in there, then the break down with the vocal and a little looping guitar part before that double kick groove comes back into it again, proper heavy track right there!

Our Truth – Back to 2006 Karmacode album for this one, coming in with the orchestral and the snare drum groove before the riff comes in, and the vocal melody over the top of it, good few bouncing about to this one in the crowd around me, great sound as well from where I am, love that stop start riff on the verse, then the chorus is just absolutely massive on this one, I forgot how good this one is, haven’t listened to it in years, that sort of tribal drum breakdown in the middle with the bass before the guitars start to build into it then the little break back into that chorus, fantastic!

Entwined XX – Off to 2002’s Comalies album for this one, clean guitar kicks in with the synth before this massive sort of doom riff comes in which is amazing sounding, then. When it breaks to Cristinas clean vocal verse its like a warm blanket before she sores up and into the chorus with the distorted vocal perforating it as well, just adds to the chorus part, really nice solo in this one as well I have to say, not a lot of them at times but some nice playing on this one, I just love the vibe of this track, its so slow and deliberate in a way, my favourite track so far!

Now or Never – Black Anima again, almost Beatles intro, as in like the mellotron sort of thing, not the heavy ass groove that comes in with the screaming vocal, with he driving double kicks, its ominous sounding right enough, then the guitars stutter away on their own, now that verse for me is Derrick Greene era Sepultura without a doubt, it so reminds me of that until it gets to the chorus when Cristina comes in, again its easy to miss the little speed up and slow down part there with the double bass as well, Richard is really doing a lot back there and it could easily go unnoticed, love that middle riff following the snare roll and then it hits in, thena. Really class solo comes in, nice dissonance in it before we break to synth and vocal and then back into the chorus again!

Heavens a Lie XX – Back to the 2002 Comalies album, love the guitar and synth sort of counterpoint going on before the slow groove comes in on this, its crushing live I think because its such a slow song, but then again we break to the vocal, bass and a clean guitar with a synth part running along with it, before it picks up pace slightly in the chorus with the gritty vocal joining before the whole band comes in and its nice to switch to the distorted vocal leading the chorus with Cristina then being a counterpoint to that, lovely melodic solo comes in, great guitar sound by the way as well, then breaks into the clean vocal before it slams back into the chorus, great use of dynamics on this one and live it really crushes!

In the Meantime – Back to the new album again, love that twisty almost djent riff that crashes in on this one, the breaks between the riff just slap you in the face right before the chorus, yet again Cristina soars above it all on the chorus section of it, having the two vocalists really is the ace in the hole for these guys and having that contrast on the songs just adds the melody to the brutality, loved this track!

Veneficium – Back to Black Anima album for this one, very opera style intro to this one vocal wise before the riff comes in, massively syncopated with the drum groove on this, love the dangling synth in the background just adding that element of suspense, also love when Andrea comes in with the more pushed singing parts, its nice to get the change with him being more melodic as well, that double bass push for the chorus is lovely, Richard on the drums just changing the subdivision of the groove, then we hit that huge melodic chorus, love the solo in this, really soaring and nice arpeggio work to build up into it, really tasteful, another masterpiece of a track!

Hosting the Shadow – Really industrial sounding opener to this one, again this is off the new album coming out next year, really sort of almost In Flames sort of bounce to it with the way the synth line goes before it drops right into a slab of a riff for the verse, your missing the Randy Blythe vocal but live you don’t miss it, again the band do what they do and the clean vocal is like a ray of sunshine through the clouds!

Enjoy the Silence – Karmacode for this one, now for those that don’t know, this is a cover of Depeche Modes song, most people will know this but I am sure some people will maybe think it is their song, its a great version of it, adding the heft and then with the two vocals it really just makes it their own, I always really enjoyed this version, good few people having a bit of a sing along on this one as well as a little bounce, great cover!

Never Dawn – Hitting the new album again, almost middle eastern vibe to that opening wouldn’t be out of place on a Nile album, that is almost like a Monuments riff, again I have this thing about not listening to albums until they are released so I haven’t heard any of these new tracks yet, absolutely love that verse with the screaming vocal, its a serious groove and yet again they sort of bring it back for the chorus and it gets less cluttered and more direct to support the main vocal from Cristina but Andrea has some set of lungs on him as well, savage delivery from both on this one, love the whole build from the orchestral as well right in the background, short and sweet, another great track from the new album!

Aeon/Tight Rope – One/Two punch from the Comalies album right here, we get the intro from Aeon with the synth and then the vocal coming in before we come into Tight Rope with the piano intro before a big hefty riff knocks you down and gets the heads moving in the crowd, I love the chorus with the chugging riff and the distorted vocals from Andrea before Cristina comes in and follows it up, then yet again that huge chorus which is what this band excels at, just absolutely massive sounding, that middle section with the drum fills is class and then right again into a huge soaring vocal!

Swamped – Comalies again, for me this is the bands most well known song, well for me anyway, that grinding riff with Cristina’s soaring vocal over the top of it, before hitting that middle eastern sounding verse with an almost spoken/sung vocal from Andrea, that chorus, oh that chorus, it is so memorable and its 22 years old that album, which makes me feel old because I remember this coming out the first time and not the 2022 reissue, I don’t know what else can be said about this song apart from this is the Lacuna Coil song for me!

Nothing Stands in our Way – Last track of this evening, its been a good setlist but we are off to 2014s Broken Crown Halo, and this one really hits hard at the start but then just breaks into a really lovely verse section with the clean guitars and vocals before the band slams into the chorus with the two singers coming in with each other to reinforce the message of the chorus, great track to close out the set on!!

Great set, lots from Comalies and the new album and then a peppering of others, great energy and sound from the band, really enjoyable gig and a decent turnout for a Tuesday night, lets hope we welcome them back again soon!

Photography by Darren McVeigh for MPM

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