My evening spent watching Lacuna Coil was quite excellent. Six years ago I picked up their 2002 album, Comalies, on my matriculation day, on a whim based on a 4/5 review I'd seen the previous week in Kerrang (Note for official, image-savvy biography: I never used to read Kerrang).

Since then, it has remained my album of choice to play when I have company - metal, of course, but drenched in gothic and softened by the incredible voice of Cristina Scabbia. Hearing some of those songs live tonight was a real treat - Swamped, Daylight Dancer, Entwined, Tight Rope (YouTube them all), and of course, Heaven's a Lie during the encore. The newer stuff - the big sing-along cover of Depeche Mode's Enjoy the Silence, closer Our Truth and the slower Within Me only added to the fun.

I think what sets them apart from most of the goth metal bands, especially those with a female front-person, is that despite being incredible accessible, they aren't particularly compromising or playing around with catchy pop melodies and choruses. The dual vocals of Scabbia and Andrea Ferro offer the perfect counterpart to each other - his rough barks, her soaring solos. Their songs are dark and atmospheric, their drums are stomping, and the impact of their music comes not from easy shortcuts but from this sheer unrestrained energy.

It was good, is all.