3/22/2025

Photo Credit: CUNENE

Lacuna Coil dropped a new album recently, ‘Sleepless Empire’, over on their longtime record label, Century Media Records. 

Over 25 years into their career, and Lacuna Coil sounds better than ever. With the production and the music itself sounding tighter than ever, ‘Sleepless Empire’ is a can’t miss album for 2025. When you go back and listen to Cristina and Andrea’s vocals on their first album, 1999’s “In A Reverie”, you can hear and feel the improvements and hear everyone's skills get tighter on each release. The leap from ‘In A Reverie’ to ‘Sleepless Empire’ is astounding, while still sounding like Lacuna Coil each release shows more polish and skill than the previous. 

This record opens with 'The Siege', which ramps up the orchestral intensity that really helps setup the mood, pace, and intensity of what else is to come. Which is 'Oxygen', probably my favorite song on the album. It has a sonic intensity behind that really leaves an impact.

'Wish You Were Dead' is the latest single off the album. This song, really this entire album, is unmistakably a Lacuna Coil song. With the orchestrations and guitars present in the song, along with Cristina's flawless vocals, will absolutely have you grooving and bobbing your head along to the beat. Hopefully there is no one you wish dead though, unless it's in your head. 

'Hosting the Shadow' is one of the heaviest songs on the album. That very well may be because of Randy Blythe, of the legendary Lamb of God. Randy really brings a tonal wideness to the song as a whole. Randy's harsh vocals cover such a range of frequencies, that it adds a unique layer of bass and grit to the mix. Founding vocalist said that Randy's inclusion and contribution on the album, was a family affair. 

"We met Randy when we did Ozzfest together back in 2004," he says. "We were on the same stage and we started a friendship and always stayed in touch – we toured together in so many different situations and at so many festivals, so we know each other – he's really like a part of the family to us. Finally doing a collab with him was both a natural thing but also a huge honor for us, as we're friends but also fans."

The title track, ‘Sleepless Empire’, is really the apex of album. It's not that everything slows down in the final 3 tracks. It moreso winds down, kind of like when you get home, get yourself a drink, and just chill out. That's what 'Sleepless Empire' does here, it's that coming home from work in the beginning, then ends with that drink in hand, just chillin' out. Which continues on through 'Sleep Paralysis'.

While 'In The Mean Time', which features Ash Costello from New Years Day, continues the cycling of neatly wrapping everything up. Ash and Cristina really compliment each other well in their duet. Ash brings that sound you know her for, and seamlessly meshes it with Cristina's signature soaring vocals.

In the end, this album is a can't miss for any fan of Lacuna Coil, or any fan of metal actually. It's a smooth listen and by the time it's over you're going to wish there was more. Every track from 'The Siege' to the final track 'Never Dawn' are absolute near perfect songs. ‘Sleepless Empire’ simply sounds amazing. Stefan Santi, who handled mixing and engineering, and Marco D'Agostino, who is also the band's bassist, mastered the album. Everything sits well sonically, and sounds absolutely huge.

Buy this album, listen to it from front to back, and enjoy it. 

If this album is this amazing, I can only wonder what Lacuna Coil will have in store for us next. 

4 out of 5 beards.