Album Review: Lacuna Coil - Delirium

Lacuna Coil's past few albums were so middling, inoffensive even, they could almost have been called off for lack of interest from anybody bar the most devoted fans.

The House Of Shame's flirtations with metalcore and Epica bombast signalled Delirium's heavier take on the Italians' pop/goth/metal. The new tack and overhauled line-up largely works, although their riff bank's now overdrawn on utilising familiar ideas. Harsher male vocal passages often counterpoint charismatic Cristina Scabbia's soaring tones. Alter Bridge's Myles Kennedy lends a classy guitar solo to Downfall. There are clunkers (You Love Me 'Cause I Hate You), but overall they're seemingly on track to creatively mattering again.