MARCO COTI ZELATI Wanted To Take LACUNA COIL In A More 'Metal' Direction on 'Black Anima'

Allie Jorgensen of LA Metal Media recently conducted an interview with frontwoman Cristina Scabbia and bassist Marco Coti Zelati of Italian heavy rockers LACUNA COIL. You can watch the entire chat below. A few excerpts follow (transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET).

On the title of LACUNA COIL's new studio album, "Black Anima":

Cristina: "It has been a while that we wanted to include the word 'black' in the title. The idea was there for quite a long time, but we wanted something to represent the record that could work well with the word 'black.' We immediately thought about 'anima' because it means 'soul' in Italian. We combined even in the past some Italian words with English words. We are Italians and we just like to include something more of our roots. This record, if 'Delirium' was coming from a deep, sadness kind of moment, this record is the realization that sometimes it is okay to not be okay. Life is not perfect. We're all going through struggles. We don't have to be afraid to talk about them and we don't have to be afraid to show the lowest parts of our life. Because we are not alone. Other people are dealing with this stuff at the same time as we are dealing with it. Everything will eventually be okay because of yin and yang."

On describing the musical direction of "Black Anima":

Cristina: "It's hard because it's a very dynamic record."

Marco: "Actually, when I started to write songs, I don't think what I have to do. I just think…

Cristina: "He writes the majority of the music."

Marco: "I grab my guitar and start to play and what comes out, if I like it and especially, we have in focus the meaning of the album, in this case, 'Black Anima'. We work out, 'Okay, what is 'Black Anima' for us? What is it going to be? What do we want to give to the people when they listen?' In that way, usually, I wrote something that reminds me that connects me to 'Black Anima', then watching it grow, I start to play. This time, it happened, for example, 'Layers Of Time' is the first song I wrote on this album. The second one, 'Reckless' and it's fun because [we] get to choose two singles and they are completely different. There's not really a connection. The only thing I really had in my mind for us, in the beginning, is that I want to be more metal, more tight with the sound, and have something that is more for the live shows that we can have fun, and have that strength, power and energy, plus our melody and our way to make songs since day one. The melody, the strings, all the multiple vocals going on and on, the choruses. This time we have a Latin choir, like Gregorian singers. It's a mix of everything. That's why I'm really not thinking about, 'Oh, we need to do that. We need to do that. Let's do that. Let's do that.' When it comes out like a song like 'Reckless', it sounds very direct. Then I say, 'This one could be a single, so let's keep it this way. Let's make it very tight and strong.' Then we can think about lyrics."

Cristina: "The songs are really diverse. I would say, though, the best would be to listen to from beginning to end. I know that we are in an era where [people] stream music where you listen to a song and skip to another. For us, the best that would be for our fans is whoever has the chance to listen to 'Black Anima' would take one hour out of their day and just listen from the beginning to the end. We did an opening track and a closing track. And even though the songs are not connected, it really is a journey. We really put a lot of thought into the progression of the songs as well. We're still attached to the old-school idea of a record and not just single songs. We don't like to focus on one song to put out as a successful single and forget about the other songs because they are fillers. We don't think this way. For us, each song has a special meaning and we took care of that song with the same importance as all the other songs."

On LACUNA COIL maintaining a career for over 20 years:

Cristina: "It is our passion, but it is also our job. You kind of have to be wise on making some choices here and there. You have to make a selection of what you're going to do. You're going to do maybe less touring but more selected tours that make sense for you. Back in the day, it was, like, 'I'm going to tour everywhere and every place and every city.' That made sense back then, but now you have to consider a lot of things, like costs — mainly the costs. You can't be in different places at the same time. I think we've been really wise with our career and we have really amazing fans that have been following us since day one, and new people coming along. There are a lot of young kids at our concerts, which is amazing because that means new people are on board."

Marco: "Maybe it's because we're not following the way. We're still doing what we like to do after 20 years. We are going the opposite way. The new album is going to be much more heavier and stronger than the rest of the albums, and usually [bands] try to be more commercial to try reach radio and the album charts. Maybe that's the way."

Cristina: "Maybe that's the right direction."

Marco: "Maybe that's the way. If it's not going to work, we'll change. We have other albums to make."

Cristina: "We will never be able to play music we don't like just to become more appealing. We will never be able to cut the guitars to have more airplay on the radio. This is not us."

"Black Anima" was released last month via Century Media Records.

The deluxe edition of "Black Anima" comes with a limited-edition custom deck, created with the help of artist Micah Ulrich.