It’s 2005, and on a freezing cold December night in the Hollywood Hills, Lacuna Coil vocalist Cristina Scabbia can hear the sound of howling in the distance. She’s there to film one of four music videos for the Italian gothic metal band’s fourth record, Karmacode, and the production crew have warned them not to venture too far from the set in the dark, as there are mountain lions and coyotes in the hills.
Today’s shoot is for Our Truth, which is set to be the album’s lead single, and will become a mainstay of their live sets for the next 20 years. Fake snow floats around the singer like confetti as she artfully twirls a Japanese-style parasol, a nod to the song’s use of the traditional shamisen in its iconic intro. Destined for heavy rotation on MTV’s Headbangers Ball, Our Truth was the first “super-professional” music video the band ever made, according to Cristina.
“We became way more popular in Europe [after 2002 album Comalies] and everywhere else as a consequence of that,” reminisces vocalist and founding member Andrea Ferro about that period. “The band really took off and became a much bigger entity than it was before.”
Lacuna Coil’s third album, Comalies had indeed helped them go truly international. It broke into the US Billboard 200 at No.178, getting into the Top 10 of both the Independent and Heatseekers album charts in the country. Extensive radio play of single Heaven’s A Lie helped widen their appeal further, and they were ultimately invited to join the line-up of Ozzfest in 2004.
Chosen to perform on the tour’s second stage among the male-dominated line-up of Lamb Of God, Slipknot and Hatebreed, the bands took turns playing different slots each night, giving Lacuna Coil the chance to get top billing in front of a whole new audience.
“I remember that we got extra attention,” muses Cristina. “We were completely different compared to the other bands, because we weren’t Americans. We were bringing the European touch. After Ozzfest, we came back to Europe with a different level of attention on us, and a different kind of pressure. Everybody wanted us. Everybody was curious about our next move. And of course, we had the pressure of the next record.”
Our Truth was, in a way, the band’s direct response to that pressure; at a time when they could easily have lost their way amid the surge in popularity and demand, they dug their heels in and made a statement that they would keep their integrity intact.
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