Ah, I remember the first time I heard LACUNA COIL's Swamped. I had never really heard anything like it. It was like EVANESCENCE but with a better vocalist and on top of that, it actually rocked. As the years have gone on, LACUNA COIL have set the standard for Hard Rock and Metal groups with female vocalists. Now it seems to be the trendy thing to have a female vocalist. Sadly most of them are just gimmicks; eye-candy for lonely metalheads. However, anyone who has seen LACUNA COIL knows that Cristina Scabbia really can hit those high notes that she hits on the albums; one might go as far to say that the studio albums do not do her voice justice.

LACUNA COIL's first album came in 1999, but the buzz around the band began even before that with their self-titled EP from a year previous. Since that EP, the band has released five full-length albums as well as a live DVD. Since their 2002 album Comalies was released, the band's popularity has skyrocketed. I really think that Shallow Life will be the band's breakthrough.

As can be expected, Scabbia is the main attraction here, and she doesn't disappoint. Her voice carries songs like the title track, I Won't Tell You and the lead-off single, Survive. Her voice is soothing but can also convey power and emotion, which is rare among any singer, male or female, in Rock. You might notice that I refer to the band as being a Rock band. People expecting a heavier album will be disappointed. This is straight-up Rock with a few Hard Rock moments. Fortunately, the band does well with this lighter sound. They include a very catchy chorus in nearly every song. The songs are also remarkably consistent throughout. I kind of wish there was more soloing, though.

To those people that might be taken aback at hearing that the band is continuing in a lighter direction, I say to you: Did you really listen to LACUNA COIL for the heaviness anyway? Even during their earlier, heavier albums, the focus was still on the vocals, the guitar riffs were rather forgettable even then. By making themselves a Rock band, LACUNA COIL has essentially trimmed the fat. For anyone that can accept this, Shallow Life will not disappoint. I wish they would do more instrumentally than serve as a backdrop for the vocals. In order to become a great band, they need to do more than write songs with the same four power chords over and over again.