Lacuna Coil vocalists Cristina Scabbia and Andrea Ferro guide us through the creation of their milestone tenth album, ‘Sleepless Empire’, out February 14 via Century Media Records.
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Over three decades into their career, Lacuna Coil are no strangers to the realities of band life. Settled into the usual routine of writing songs, heading into the studio, releasing an album, and touring the world – after unleashing 2019 album ‘Black Anima’ into the world they were ready to repeat the familiar cycle. However, the world had other plans.
“So many things have changed,” vocalist Cristina Scabbia reflects.
“We released ’Black Anima’, did three tours, and then the pandemic happened. In that period our creativity went downhill, because we absolutely needed to go on tour and absorb new experiences to write new music and be inspired. We were separated from each other too, and being together is another mandatory condition to write a Lacuna Coil record.”
In a creative lull and feeling more disconnected from one another than ever before, as the 20th anniversary of their 2002 breakthrough album ‘Comalies’ rolled around, they knew they needed to find a way to recalibrate. Picking the notepads back up, they set out to deconstruct and reconstruct their iconic record, working on an entirely rearranged recording titled ‘Comalies XX’.
“We decided to give it a proper tribute because that record has been so important for us,” Cristina explains.
“In doing that, we incorporated some stuff from the past that we didn’t think about or feel for many years. When you’re evolving, you don’t look back that much. We were singing vocal lines in different ways and Maki [Coti Zelati, bassist & producer] was listening to the old compositions and transforming them into a more modern sound.”
From there, a new era of Lacuna Coil was born. Revisiting the songs that first catapulted them onto the scene two decades ago, as the five-piece finally got back on the road together a creative burst surged through them. Absorbing every new experience and reminiscing on the old, the flickering embers of ‘Sleepless Empire’ came to life.
An album that embraces every twist and turn of the band’s career and stretches the limits of their cinematic vision, on their tenth studio album the Italian goth metal icons are surer of themselves than ever before. Eleven atmospheric songs that soundtrack an epic, emotional journey, Rock Sound sat down with vocalist duo Cristina and Andrea to explore how ‘Sleepless Empire’ came to be.
THE SOUND
“Coming into album ten, we had this vision of a full record,” Cristina nods.
“We love the idea of listeners taking one hour out of their day to listen to a full record. It should feel like a soundtrack… A journey.”
In a world encouraging us to consume music in shorter and shorter increments, there’s no doubt that the art of the album is often overlooked. Our attention spans decreasing as social media exposes our senses to more information than ever before, ‘Sleepless Empire’ is not just a collection of songs – but an invitation to slow down. Tapping into the darkness, the light, and all manner of shades in-between, it’s the kind of album that demands your full attention, sucking you into its world and refusing to relinquish its grip until the final note.
“It might not be the easy option, but when you have an honest message… People recognise that,” Andrea says.
“You can do something different to what everybody else is doing, as long as it’s what you feel in the moment. With this album we went with the flow and followed the music. If it felt heavy, we made it heavier. If a song wasn’t sounding like a single, we didn’t make it a single. We’ve learnt over the years that when you just try to give people what they expect, it’s not sincere. We did this because we like it, and I hope people will see the honesty in the music. Who cares what the rules are?”
Casting aside any expectations and taking the necessary time to refine every part of every song, each layer of sound on ‘Sleepless Empire’ tells its own story. Cristina and Andrea’s voices utilised as two extra instruments amongst the band’s arsenal, each new listen invites new perspectives to explore and more subtle touches to uncover.
“I would love it if whoever listens to the record takes the time to focus on each part,” Cristina nods.
“The ultimate dream for us is that people can take some time out of their lives to listen to these songs with good headphones, and to separate themselves from everything else – just for one hour.”
THE LYRICS
With our identities becoming harder and harder to separate from our social media presence, ‘Sleepless Empire’ captures the complicating realities of life in a modern world. A transition from an analogue to digital existence that the members of Lacuna Coil have witnessed throughout their career, as we find ourselves connected to one another in new ways each day – in many ways we are more divided than ever before.
“It’s an observation on what we see around us, especially after COVID and the lockdowns,” Andrea explains.
“Our generation has mostly been able to go back to a balanced life between the virtual and the real, but a lot of the younger generation have never experienced life without the internet. They’ve gotten stuck in this suspended place where they’re connected 24/7 and struggling to work out who they are outside of that. It’s a confusing time that we’re living in.”
“I think we have an analogue mentality in a digital world,” Cristina adds.
“Of course, we take advantage of technology, because there are some things that are made easier by it. As lyricists, we can find words that we want to use online rather than going through 10,000 dictionaries, which is great. It’s useful, and we love it, but we feel part of the sleepless empire. We are strongly connected to our communities through our smartphones, and we work with our smartphones. We appreciate technology, but the use that you make of it should be chosen by you. When it becomes out of your control, that’s when it’s wrong.”
Whilst there is undoubtedly a sense of dystopian darkness ripping through ‘Sleepless Empire’, it’s also impossible to deny the flickers of hope. From the raw vulnerability of ‘Oxygen’ to the stark resilience of ‘Gravity’, what binds each track together is a sense of power. Finding the strength to reclaim yourself and find connection in meaningful, healthy ways, it’s a celebration of the community Lacuna Coil have built over the last three decades.
“We have always had a very tight relationship with our fans. We are friends with many of them, we know their names, and we stay in touch,” Cristina nods.
“We get messages from people telling us that our music helped them get out of a dark time, and we totally understand that. I went through a bad period a few years ago, and music saved me. It was the only outlet that would allow me to scream from the inside and release the tension.”
“Even in the darkest songs, we like to give a positive message. We are very positive people, no matter how much black we wear or how much dark imagery we use. It’s important to give hope to whoever is listening, and to give them something fight for. I love that someone can listen to a song of ours, and it could change their lives. We understand the power that we have, so even though we don’t write for the listener, there’s a responsibility behind everything we sing.”
THE COLLABORATORS
Written and recorded entirely in northern Italy – between Lacuna Coil’s hometown of Milano and the nearby city of Como – bassist Maki once again handled production duties on ‘Sleepless Empire’. Having been at the helm on every release since 2016’s ‘Delirium’, it’s been a refreshing change of pace for the band.
“We have recorded in many different parts of the world, and each was pleasant in a different way,” Cristina explains.
“I enjoyed recording in places like Los Angeles, but honestly, it’s so nice to be able to come home and sleep in your own bed. In the past, I thought that going home between sessions would break the flow of recording, but now I feel way more relaxed. When you go back into the studio, you’re ready to do it again, but with a different mindset.”
With a peaceful, familiar environment to work within, knowing that they had full control over whatever came out of the process, as the five-piece listened through demos – it became clear that something was missing. Andrea and Cristina’s dual efforts ensuring they’ve never been short in the vocalist department, bringing onboard guests had never been at the top of their to-do list, but two names naturally came up in conversation.
“This is the first time that we’ve had guest vocalists, because we already have two distinctive voices in the band,” Cristina nods.
“When we started to think about it, we immediately thought about Randy [Blythe, Lamb Of God]. He’s a friend, he’s a beast on a microphone, and he’s a great performer. We were sure that he would add something special to ‘Hosting The Shadow’, and he was super into the idea. He’s such a tremendous, charismatic singer, and he added so much to the song. I hope we get to perform it live one day.”
“The other collaboration, we already have performed live!”, Andrea grins.
“We were looking for a voice that wasn’t too clean or too operatic, more of a rock voice, for ‘In The Mean Time’. Ash [Costello, New Years Day] was perfect for the part that we had written, and she did a great job. She added some harmonisation on the vocals with a bit of an American flavour, which was something we wouldn’t have thought of ourselves. I absolutely love what she did with the song.”
THE TITLE & ARTWORK
In an increasingly digitized world providing access to infinite information, things often move much quicker than we are able to process. With little opportunity to switch off and constant pressure to create and be productive, as Andrea and Cristina explored the lyrical themes of the record, the words ‘Sleepless Empire’ resonated deeply.
“The society that we live in is full of inputs. It’s very rich in content, and in possibilities,” Andrea says.
“Every day you have thousands of new songs, new bands, and new TV shows to take in, and every outlet has its own things to offer. We’re always connected, but we just scroll to the next thing without even enjoying the last. We don’t even enjoy life anymore because we are overloaded with information and possibilities.”
With a title locked in, the responsibility of outlining the album’s visuals came down to Italian artist Roberto Toderico. His name jotted down after having flicked through his portfolio at a comic convention, the band fell in love with his distinctive style, asking him to hand curate the artwork to match their vision.
“His work can represent the darkness in an abstract way, and he approached it with his own specific touch and style. He’s a metalhead too, so that helps,” Cristina explains.
“There was a lot of back and forth between us, which was amazing on a human level. He created all of the artworks as drawings, using ink on paper. We used technology to scan the designs and edit them, but the ideas were all an expression of a human being. The album’s cover actually comes from an idea Maki had of this crowned skull with two skulls added on the side. He did the sketches, and then we handed it over to Roberto to refine it. The end result is stunning.”
THE FUTURE
Starting out in Milan during the mid-nineties with simple dreams of signing a record contract and touring across Europe, every part of Lacuna Coil’s career has surpassed expectation. Three decades spent shaping their country’s metal scene, paving the way for countless other bands, each evolution in their sound has tested the limits of what’s possible in the genre – and ‘Sleepless Empire’ is no different.
A triumphant achievement from a band consistently unwilling to rest on their laurels, as they continue to put one foot in front of the other and seize every opportunity that appears before them, Cristina and Andrea’s focus remains firmly fixed on the future.
“One day, we’ll stop and realise how much we’ve done over the last 25 years,” Andrea nods.
“Now though, we are in the present. We’re looking at what’s going on right now, we listen to new bands, and I’m still discovering bands that I can fall in love with. That’s probably why we’re still making records, because we never want to repeat the same formula.”
“It’s crazy to think that this is our tenth album, because it doesn’t feel like that much time has passed,” Cristina smiles.
“We feel like we only started this band a few years ago, which is great because it means we still love what we do. We still love music, and we consider every record as a photograph of a specific period. We don’t feel tired after doing ten records, and as long as you have something to say there is no expiration date to a band. As long as you keep the passion, you can go on for forever.”
