Lacuna Coil and Poison Black at Birmingham Academy - Sunday 8 October 2006  | | Lacuna Coil photo: Simon White |
The black clad masses have gathered for Italian goth-metallers Lacuna Coil and are ready for some serious noise. Poison Black First however, we are treated to Finnish metal band Poison Black who go down extremely well with the crowd. Some big riffs courtesy of Janne Markus and Ville Laihiala set the mood for what is to follow. They are much heavier than their more famous contemporaries HIM, sounding more like early Paradise Lost in places. Songs like The Darkest Light and Illusion Delusion are particuarly striking. Lacuna Coil
 | | Lacuna Coil photo: Simon White |
Lacuna Coil take to the stage in masks, apart from vocalists Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro who are the last to arrive, both wearing white shirts and black ties. Cristina's vocals hit you straight away because they are so powerful and ring clear above the heavy guitar and bass. Throughout the show her vocals are just as good, if not better than on record. Her co-vocalist Andrea's voice works as a good contrast to Cristina's and they both bounce around the stage, putting everything into their performance. A great deal of material from their new album Karmacode is played such as Fragile and Fragments Of Faith. Closer, their forthcoming single, is a favourite with the crowd.
 | | Lacuna Coil photo: Simon White |
Tracks from proceeding album Comalies are mixed in well and the beautiful Entwined provides a mid-set high point. Cristiano Miglione's guitar solo in the track 1:19 from 2001's Unleashed Memories album proves what a great guitarist he is. In fact, all of Lacuna Coil are extremely talented and a pleasure to see live. They are very humble towards their fans, constantly thanking the crowd for coming to the gig, which is refreshing in a world of arrogant rock stars. The encore consists of their cover of Depeche Mode's Enjoy The Silence, the anthemic Heaven's A Lie and Our Truth, and you can certainly trust in Lacuna Coil to have a good night.
 | | Lacuna Coil photo: Simon White |
There will be no rock star strops or any doubt that they will do exactly what it says on the tin, and do it well. They are a band that have always done it their own way and carried on regardless of trends. Now with their style of music coming more into the mainstream, it looks like they are finally getting the recognition they deserve. | 
