"The Ghost Woman and the Hunter" by Lacuna Coil from Comalies

"Staring in the sun… no rays down on me…"

Yep, another ghost story. One of if not my favorite song by Italian band Lacuna Coil, "The Ghost Woman and the Hunter" is the softest song I've heard by them. …Actually, it's probably comparable to "See Me in Shadow" in style, though the sound is different enough that you probably won't hear that unless you're looking for it.

Okay, the song's still normal Lacuna Coil, bit tricky to follow with an odd lyrical flow. Not that it's bad—it's just one that takes some major thinking to put the lines together in any sense whatsoever. Cristina Scabbia sings prettily if you like her voice, and there's no screaming in this song.

The questionable part of this song is when the ghost says "calling on your sins, you're here in my dreams." Evidently the Ghost Woman's hunter "wants to be" her. But he's passing beyond her so he'll never see the tears she cries. It's interesting, from the ghosts perspective. (I actually find it kinda cute, a lovesick ghost lamenting her living lover. Um… okay, I'm weird.)

The music is the usual lovely, well-mixed resonating mix Lacuna Coil does, with their usual instruments. It's a sound that can grow on you, as I found from experience.

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 5/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10

"Our Truth" by Lacuna Coil from Underworld: Evolution Soundtrack

Middle Easternish—no, goth rock—no…

Yeah, "Our Truth" is one of those style-mixing songs. But such genre-mixing suits the Underworld movies, which get a lot of bad rep from not being what they're not: run-of-the-mill movies with a straightforward genre. Now, this is a song review and not a movie one, so if you want my input on the movies, check out the post script.

With lyrics that are oddly understandable for me, considering my difficulty in comprehending Lacuna Coil, time's passing by and the song narrator is "trying to forget" what's happened, "stop the cycle, set free, run away". (I think.) No crude language appears in this song (nor any of Lacuna Coil's songs that I've heard).

However, with Italian Lacuna Coil's emphasis on "Lying to forget—telling more lies—we're raising our truth", it's humanistic with man defining truth. Christians might want to exercise caution and consider what they're singing. We are to trust in God's strength and Truth, not our own.

The music is… hard for me to describe, since I'm not the best at identifying instruments by ear, particularly with the resonating "wet" sound. It's mostly drum and electric guitar, but it's extraordinarily well melded. Even with the oddness of some of the combinations, how od they are may not hit you until later—rather like Nightwish's "Eva". Since this song also appears on Lacuna Coil's recent album Karmacode, it makes me want to check out more songs from that album.

Male singer Andrea Ferro's part in this song is limited; Cristina Scabbia sings this song, including the rather interesting opening and ending portion without words. (I'd call them "haunting", but that's the wrong word. It just… fits.) I have heard the complaint, before, that her voice is annoying; not that I agree. But it did take me some getting used to so I could vaguely follow what was being said, unaided by the non-intuitive lyrics.

I know I'm missing a major symbolic element of the music video. What I have gotten is that some children have shaken one of those little decorative snowing things and are presumably watching the band sing the song inside. What I don't get is what's up with the other, oddly-dressed and painted woman.

If you like metal and a "wet" sound to music, you might want to check this out.

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***P.S. I would not advise seeing Underworld: Evolution, but that's because of nudity, sexual content, and horrible plotting. Oh, and even the first—rated—one has enough language and violence that it that younger children should avoid it, but it's seriously cleaner than, say, Titanic if you find the mostly inaudible 5 f-words that pop in Underworld less offensive than Titanic's… painting. As I do.

The first (rated) Underworld is a action/adventure movie with a dual Romeo and Juliet theme and somewhat-redefined vampires and werewolves as the dueling families that, if you don't mind a little gore, (comparatively) mild language (for the R rating), and a heroine in a catsuit, you might enjoy watching. Particularly if you like complicated storylines that you have to think through.

Now, I'm going to criticize some common complaints about this film: the term lycan is a form of lycanthrope, werewolf in human form, so yeah it's going to be used a lot by the vampires to refer to werewolves in human form. Also, some characters use archaic language—hey, they're 500+. Fancy that. Last time I checked, my great-grandmother used some "out of date" language, too, hm…

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Lyrics: 4/5
Music: 5/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10

"Within Me" by Lacuna Coil from Karmacode

Lacuna Coil provided my transition/adjustment to metal pretty singlehandedly. As much as their songs tend to bewilder me, that they're not a hodgepodge is pretty obvious, regardless of how they sound. (Some songs sound like they end when they're really in the middle.) I'm willing to guess that some of the "odd" musical style is a matter of national differences: Lacuna Coil is Italian.

Their gothic metal is slower than much hard rock, and "Within Me" has a "wet" (resonating) sound, heavy on a melodic use of the electric guitar. It's a sound that might take some getting used to to like, though I've heard of people liking the music and not the vocals.

In the vocals, this song trades off between a guy and girl singing, Andrea Ferro and Cristina Scabbia. I happen to like the voices, but you may not. At least they actually seem to know how to sing, unlike many modern bands. They are a bit hard to understand unless you know what's being said, however. That's probably at least partially due to the lyrics' lack of intuitive flow.

Not that the lyrics were chosen randomly—no, they were obviously chosen on purpose to give a flowing impression of something. Maybe more, too, but I'm hopeless with symbolism. I think "Within Me" is speaking of the complexity, time, and sacrifice involved in a forging (and keeping) strong relationship. They admit it's not always easy; no, "some days it's harder. Let's face it: it's all about me". And the lyrics' vague descriptions appear to express the vagueness in trying to isolate the cause of emotions.

Overall, it's a fine clean song that can be a reminder of how selfish we can—and shouldn't—be.

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Lyrics: 5/5
Music: 4/5
Vocal(s): 4/5
Overall: 8/10