This year saw a release of Sleepless Empire by Lacuna Coil, and the gothic alternative metallers are out promoting it. If I am not mistaken, it’s been quite a long break from playing in Oslo (6 years?), and this time they once again play in Vulkan Arena. Somebody was definitely missing them - that merch queue is long. 

Groove act Nonpoint say they are Puerto Rican, the concentration of dreadlocks is high! With a massive influence from Korn (Jaysin Zeilstra looks like Brian “Head” Welch’s brother), pedals and pedals of exotic guitar effects, crusty bass, it is the vocals of Elias Soriano that make a huge difference. After Robb Rivera’s sample pad starts the backing track, the vocals totally steal the show. Elias is an outstanding frontman! 

To me, Nonpoint was a definite highlight of the night, even though they are the openers. Not a typical alternative, sometimes even Slayer-ish vocals and exotic music vibes. Being a total antipode of Ghost, Elias urges people to use phones, even takes phones from the audience to shoot live instagram stories as he sings. He is teaching us how to pronounce the band name letter by letter, joking and constantly making eye contact with people, urging the audience to scream (some little lady right behind me screams louder than a GW sound system). 

A very entertaining band and quite a long set. I hope to be able to see them live once again in a venue with better sound. I suspect this is a symptom of playing at Vulkan - the mix is always lacking bass and is very plain in general. 

Lacuna Coil have big drums with cool overhead mic holders. As the music starts, my concerns about only one guitar are neither confirmed, nor disapproved - there is almost nothing in the mix that is dominated by the back track, drums, and some bass.

Andrea Ferro is the first vocalist to start, and his microphone strangely was the only one to get the line check. And then Cristina Scabbia is on. I mean, Scabbia!!! Well, Lacuna Coil is essentially Scabbia. She is so dominant in the mix and also so flawless in the place where I stand that I even have a thought whether it is really live. As the harsh vocals are a bit off, and the instruments are sinked, it is the flawless Scabbia’s voice that is the key element of today’s programme. 

Lacuna Coil appeared in a very right time capturing ears of a slightly older generation - the audience is dancing and singing their words. They have obviously hooked a big chunk of listeners that remained in the time of Lacuna Coil’s grace.  But has the band really passed the test of time? I do not know if I can figure out if anything actually stands out -the songs are consistent, but somehow very similar. 

I note that the drum parts are more interesting than it seems when you hear the whole song, but if you focus on the drums alone, Richard Meiz has quite captivating breaks. As for the rest, as I said, - it is just too buried and I start to suspect this is the general issue of Vulkan. 

It is awesome that Vulkan arena visitors are having a great time, but with Lacuna Coil nothing stands out for me apart from the Scabbia's voice, and it is quite far from the energy of Nonpoint.