CANDLELIGHT RED and STOLEN BABIES to Open Select Dates

Marking their first U.S. live performances in over 10 years, 90’s alt-metal band COAL CHAMBER is pleased to announce that they are back in action and kicking off a co-headline tour with Sevendust this spring. The tour will also feature special guests Lacuna Coil as direct support on each date, as well as Candlelight Red and Stolen Babies opening on either half of the run (see the split below). See below for a full listing of North American tour dates.

Each member of COAL CHAMBER had words to share about the announcement.

“I’m STOKED to be bringing COAL CHAMBER back to the United States,” exclaims vocalist Dez Fafara. “These shows are going to fucking rule! The line-up is perfect! Hope to see you all there!”

“The past has fuelled the fire to bring COAL CHAMBER back stronger than ever,” adds drummer Mike Cox. “I couldn’t be more excited to tour the states on an amazing tour. HERE WE GO!”

“I’m really excited and grateful to be a part of such an awesome bill! We will be slaying it across America and the world,” adds guitarist Meegs Rascón.

Bassist Chela Rhea Harper states, “America is where COAL CHAMBER started; where the music first came to life.  The entire experience in Australia and South America has been so surreal up until this point, and to be able to continue this adventure on the band’s home soil is an honor. The support from all has been tremendous.”

Tickets go on sale this Friday, January 18^th! See below for all currently confirmed tour dates and stay tuned for more ticketing information.

COAL CHAMBER with Sevendust, Lacuna Coil, Candlelight Red and Stolen Babies:

3/28 – Tempe, AZ @ The Marquee*

3/29 – Los Angeles, CA @ Club Nokia LA Live*

3/30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom*

3/31 – Sacramento, CA @ Ace of Spades*

4/2 – Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theatre*

4/3 – Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion*

4/4 – Oklahoma City, OK @ Diamond Ballroom*

4/5 – Sauget, IL @ Pop’s*

4/6 – Milwaukee, WI @ The Rave*

4/8 – Minneapolis, MN @ Mill City Nights*

4/9 – Joliet, IL @ Mojoes*

4/11 – Ft. Wayne, IN @ Piere’s*

4/12 – Detroit, MI @ Harpo’s*

4/13 – Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy**

4/14 – Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater**

4/16 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium**

4/17 – New York, NY @ Best Buy Theater**

4/18 – Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory**

4/19 – Hampton Beach, NH @ Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom**

4/20 – Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom**

4/22 – Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live!**

4/23 – Charlotte, NC @ The Fillmore**

4/24 – Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle**

4/26 – Houston, TX @ Warehouse Live Ballroom**

4/27 – Corpus Christi, TX @ Concrete Street Amphitheater**

4/28 – Dallas, TX @ The Palladium Ballroom**

*feat. Candlelight Red

**feat. Stolen Babies

Lacuna Coil
DARK ADRENALINE

Being a fan of this band, it’s not easy to watch them disintegrate from a band that once had an edge and offered something very different from everything else to a middle of the road pop rock band. That’s exactly what’s going on here. By no means is this a bad album, but it’s just another album that proves the creativity that came up with “Heaven’s A Lie” and “Our Truth” does not exist anymore.

Again, DARK ADRENALINE is not a bad effort by any stretch. Every aspect of this release is polished to a bright, shiny gleam – maybe too polished. With all the edge of an orb, DARK ADRENALINE puts forth 12 tracks that are hardly memorable and really don’t do much for the listener.

As always, the focal point of the band is vocalist and primary lyricist Cristina Scabbia. She sounds as good as she’s ever sounded here. Her haunting, clean vocals are solid as always and set the mood for most songs. On songs like “End Of Time”, she croons with her flowing voice overtop of the song and in stark contrast to the band’s other vocalist; the more growly Andrea Ferro. She sounds fine, but a bit too polished and just lacking any emotion at all. While she’s never been one to really spew emotion into songs, most of the songs here are very paint by the numbers for Scabbia. For Ferro, he’s also tuned it back a bit, taking away the jagged opposite edge of the vocals that dominated early albums. Having given this 10 or 11 listens, it’s clear that something is missing here vocally, but I can’t quite put my finger on it. That said, songs like “I Don’t Believe In Tomorrow” are fairly tepid in their vocal mix.

To be fair, the band sounds really good here; specifically guitarists Cristiano Migliore and Marcos Biazzi. Unlike anything since COMALIES, the guitars are a lot more vibrant and loud in the mix. At times, like on the aforementioned “I Don’t Believe In Tomorrow”, they seem to have reached back a decade and channeled Korn for their tone and direction, but for the most part the guitars have a big, thick Drop-D sound that carries the bulk of the songs. Their sound on “Intoxicated” is remarkably similar to something Disturbed has done in the past, but don’t read that as a bad thing. It mimmicks Disturbed in that it sticks in your head a bit. They play well overtop the thick foundation laid down by drummer Cristiano Mozzati and bassist Marco Zelati.

As I stated before, the problem really isn’t the band for the most part. It’s the lack of edge to the sound itself. That’s a twofold problem. First, it really appears as if they are writing material with much less bite than they did on previous albums. There’s the occasional song with some energy (“The Army Inside”), but for the most part, the songs are all similar, all hard rock/pop metal instead of darker Gothic like they used to do, and seemingly written to give program directors a lot of choice on what to play. The other problem is that producer Don Gilmore has rubbed the edges of this band until it’s as sharp as a marble. Their unique cover of REM’s “Losing My Religion” is a great example of this. The arrangement was great, and the pattern between Scabbia and Ferro was well thought out. Yet, when you listen to it, it’s dull and more like a hard edged Madonna song than anything a metal band would have ever done. In short, song after song just comes off way too slick and polished.

PITRIFF RATING – 64/100 - Over the last two albums, Lacuna Coil has transformed themselves from the better, edgier femaled fronted goth metal band to the “other band like Evanescence”. For some, that may be a good thing. For me, it just doesn’t feel right. If you were happy with SHALLOW LIFE last time, you will probably enjoy DARK ADRENALINE as well. If you were disappointed with it, don’t expect much of a rebound. It’s technically decent, but far from great.

Chris Akin

AMAZON CD
Amazon MP3
Lacuna Coil – ITunes