Lacuna Coil

Lacuna Coil is an Italian gothic metal band formed in 1994. Formerly known as Sleep of Right and Ethereal, the band was inspired by the combination of gothic imagery and music, and the members have been known, musically, for composing midtempo songs consisting of guitar lines overlaid with prominent keyboard work, and contrasting dual female/male vocal harmonies to help create a melodic detached sound, heavily emphasized on their 2002 breakthrough album Comalies. Much of the band's recent material, however, sees a heavier and more down-tuned style, featuring a more distinct bass line and a higher mixing of the guitars within the songs.

The band's 2006 release, Karmacode peaked at number 28 on the Billboard 200. They have played among the world's biggest heavy metal festivals on the main stage including Ozzfest, Bloodstock Open Air, Wacken Open Air, and played with Megadeth on their Gigantour tour in November 2007.

Lacuna Coil
The two lead singers, Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro
Background information
Origin	Milan, Italy
Genre(s)	Gothic metal,[1][2] gothic rock[3]
Label(s)	Century Media
Website	www.lacunacoil.it
Members
Cristina Scabbia Andrea Ferro Cristiano Migliore Marco Biazzi Marco Coti Zelati Cristiano Mozzati
Former members
Raffaele Zagaria Claudio Leo Leonardo Forti

Beginning - Lacuna Coil EP

Andrea Ferro and Marco Coti Zelati formed Sleep of Right in Milan, Italy, 1995, and recruited Raffaele Zagaria on guitars, and Michaelangelo on the drums. After releasing two demos, Bleeding Souls and Noise of Bolgia, Claudio Leo became the band's second guitarist, and Leonardo Forti replaced Michaelangelo on the drums after his departure. The band asked Cristina Scabbia, a friend, to sing background vocals briefly, which led to her officially joining Sleep of Right.Soon after, the band changed their name to Ethereal, and signed to Century Media at the end of 1997. Finding that the name Ethereal was already taken by a Greek band, they changed their name to Lacuna Coil, which means empty spiral.

Lacuna Coil performing at the Heineken Jamming Festival 2006

Lacuna Coil released a self-titled EP through Century Media in 1998. Shortly after, there came the departure of bandmates Raffael Zagaria, Claudio Leo, and Leonardo Forti. As a result, guitarist Cristiano Migliore and drummer Cristiano Mozzati were recruited officially. At this point, the band was touring with Moonspell after the release of the Lacuna Coil EP.

In a Reverie

Following a second European tour, the band recorded their debut full-length album, In a Reverie, and added second guitarist Marco Biazzi. The band supported the album with another European tour, co-headlining with Skyclad. Allmusic rated the album 4 stars, saying it was "a fine debut by a band that bears watching." The band toured much more, participating in Milan's Rolling Stone venue, as well as a show headlined by a German band.

Halflife EP-Unleashed Memories

Following the debut, In A Reverie, Half-Life was released in 2000 with five songs, entitled "Half Life," "Hyperfast," "Stars," "Trance Awake," and a demo version of a certain future song, "Senzafine." "Senzafine" was added onto the band's next big project: their 2001 album Unleashed Memories. The studio album only had ten songs onto it, but a future release included the five songs from the Halflife EP. Allmusic rated it 3 stars.

Comalies

The band was in for a change for the better when their breakthrough album, Comalies was released in 2002 The beautiful, melodic metal album received acclaim and rave reviews from certain corners of the metal world. Major players in the European metal scene for nearly a decade, the band was virtually unknown in the U.S. until they began touring there. Uranium gave the band some of their earliest US exposure, and over a year later, the first single from Comalies, "Heaven's a Lie," began to receive radio and media attention and pulled the band into the mainstream. Networks such as Fuse played the music video, and the band had made their mark on the U.S. The second single, "Swamped," was played in heavy rotation and used in the video game Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, and also appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Music videos were filmed for both songs and broadcast on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball, which also had the band perform a live, acoustic rendition of "Heaven's a Lie."

Cristina Scabbia singing for Lacuna Coil in Oxford

By 2004, Comalies had become the best-selling CD in Century Media's history. The band appeared at Ozzfest in between headlining club tours in America and Europe.

A bonus, extended version of Comalies was released both in stores and on iTunes. This version consisted of live and acoustic versions of the songs "Heaven's A Lie," "Swamped," "Unspoken," "Aeon," and "Senzafine" from Unleashed Memories.

Karmacode

In an effort to best take advantage of Lacuna Coil's ascendant popularity, the band and label postponed the release of their highly-anticipated follow up to Comalies, Karmacode, to early 2006. According to the band's website, this made it possible for more time to be spent on production while also avoiding the crowded summer 2005 release schedule for metal albums. On December 23, 2005 the band announced via their official web site that all recording, mixing, and mastering had been finished and that Karmacode was complete. It was then announced that Karmacode would be released in the USA on April 4, 2006. "Our Truth" was the first single (and video) and is featured on the soundtrack of the movie Underworld: Evolution January 10, 2006. The video also had rotation on MTV.

During their 2005 European Tour, Lacuna Coil performed two new songs (working titles "A2" and "Antonio") at selected concerts. "Our Truth" was referred to at the time as "Antonio", while the song "A2" was renamed to "Fragile", and is the opening track on Karmacode.

Karmacode debuted at #28 on the Billboard Charts. It received critical acclaim from music critics and magazines. Corresponding with the release of the new album, Lacuna Coil went on tour with Rob Zombie throughout North America in early 2006 also making an appearance at Ozzfest 2006 on the main stage. The band also played at the 2006 Download Festival, a three-day festival in England's Donington Park which was headlined by Metallica, Tool, and Guns N' Roses. They also played one night in the UK at Sheffield Corporation on October 17, 2006. December, Lacuna Coil teamed up with In Flames, The Sword and Seemless for a US Tour, as well as The Blackest of the Black 2006 Tour with headlining act Danzig, and bands like Asesino, Belphegor, and The Haunted.

Four singles were officially released from Karmacode: "Our Truth," "Closer," "Within Me," and "Enjoy the Silence."

In March 2007, Lacuna Coil joined Stone Sour and Shadows Fall on the Jägermeister Music Tour. In May, they toured the US with Within Temptation and The Gathering on the The Hottest Chicks in Metal Tour 2007.

Departing from the original tour dates, Lacuna Coil made a stop in Raleigh, North Carolina in early April to play with area bands Wounded Soul, Blatant Disarray, and Shadows Fall. They again departed from the tour schedule in Albuquerque, New Mexico in late April and played at the Sunshine Theater there with Stolen Babies, Beneath the Sky, and Shadows Fall.

In October 2007 Lacuna Coil played for the first time in their career in Japan during the Loudpark Festival 07 at the Saitama Super Arena in Saitama City. In November 2007 they joined with Megadeth, DevilDriver, Static-X and Bring Me the Horizon for the Australian Gigantour.

Live DVD

Their first ever live DVD wil be released on November 2008, entitled Visual Karma (Body, Mind and Soul). The CD/DVD will be a retrospective of all things from the band’s “Karmacode” album cycle, the set features concerts filmed at Germany's Wacken Festival and at the Japanese Loudpark Festival on 2007.