It was around September 2005 and I was just into my second year at Uni. My taste had always veered more towards dance and indie with a touch of rock thrown in for good measure. I had developed a bit of a liking for Pontypridd’s (ahem) finest, Lostprophets after hearing The Fake Sound Of Progress. So I had popped to my local newsagent and picked up a copy of Metal Hammer as the Welsh boyos were gracing the front cover that month. On the front of the magazine, was a free CD. More out of curiosity than anything else, I gave it a listen. Nothing really caught my attention until I reached track 10. That track was ‘Heaven’s A Lie’ by Lacuna Coil.

I literally had heard nothing like it before. It was sumptuous and ethereal – gothic tinged metal with synths, with all kinds of instrumentation and the most beautiful, haunting female vocals which had the hairs on the back of my neck shooting skyward. I must have listened to it twenty times in a row that afternoon. The next day I raced to HMV to pick up the album and it is this masterpiece that opened my innocent eyes to the existence of the metal genre. It remains my absolute favourite album to this day: Comalies.

Just in case you aren’t entirely au fait with the band, here’s a very swift bio. Hailing from Milano, these hard working Italians have been around since 1994 and have always had a prominent following on the underground European metal scene. To this date, they have released five full albums and have a newbie (titled Dark Adrenaline) scheduled for an early 2012 release. Oh, and if you are male and have a pulse, you will probably have heard of/ seen/fell in love with the stunningly hot vocalist Cristina Scabbia.The music that they make crosses your stereotypical musical boundaries and has a distinct characteristic to it in the form of the dual female/male vocals which work to complement rather than drown each other out.

Produced by Waldemar Sorychta, Comalies was released in 2002 and is often referred to as LC’s “breakthrough” album as it was the record that saw the band begin to filter into, and subsequently break, the ever changing American market. And by the time I had got my eager mitts on the album, the band’s popularity in the UK was also on the rise. Not only did they clinch a spot at Download ’05, they also made my year with a five date tour and I finally got to see them live at the Wulfrun in Wolverhampton. Hell. Fucking. Yes.

I remember how struck I was with the front cover of the album with it’s vivid sunflower design, wondering what it’s relevance could be, but thinking how it’s centre looked like a piercing eye staring right back at me. It’s definitely one of the more unusual album artworks I’ve come across.

Before I begin, I will wholeheartedly stick my neck on the line and state that there is not one duff track on here. The production is flawlessly arranged. Opening track ‘Swamped’, with its orchestral strings and thumping guitar riffs, sets the tone for the entire album. Male vocal counterpart Andi entices you in with his melodic rasps while Cristina’s soaring vocals on the incredibly anthemic chorus cement your attention.

Debut single ‘Heaven’s A Lie’ takes an introspective look at human nature and the freedom of ideas. It’s bombastic and equally catchy. The use of both acoustic and electric guitars on ‘Aeon’ and vocal editing on songs such as ‘Humane’ bring a new dimension to the musical table. The use of synths and samples on the criminally underrated ‘Tight Rope’ (my personal highlight of the album) and eerie ‘Angel’s Punishment‘ create a real sense of drama and instill the desire to punch the air with your raised horns. I will challenge anyone not to be moved by the evocative ‘Entwined’. You can feel every ounce of emotion that is poured into this track and the yearning of the vocals (“And you take me/ over/ over again”) is almost too much to bear. Another real standout for me. Beautiful.

I’m not trying to profess that this is a “heavy metal” record. It’s not. And like a lot of things, it won’t be to everyone’s taste. But if you’ve grasped even a microcosm of the reason why it rocks my socks off then my work here is done. What I love most about this album is the journey it takes me on when I listen to it. It reminds me of the people that have come and gone in my life and how much I’ve changed as a person. There is a song on here for every emotion and this album has got me through the toughest of them. But perhaps most importantly, it introduced me to a whole different range of metal sub- genres (from gothic to symphonic, melodic to death) and for that I will be eternally grateful to the guys and gal from Milan. Sophie Maughan