Italian metal band Lacuna Coil will release its 10th studio album, “Sleepless Empire,” on Feb. 14, 2025, via Century Media Records. It will be the band’s first collection of new songs since 2019’s “Black Anima.” Pre-order the album here.
The band also has shared the new single “Oxygen.” Stream it here, and watch the music video below.
“‘Oxygen’ is a powerful exploration of emotional struggle and inner conflict,” singer Cristina Scabbia said. “The lyrics convey a sense of drowning in a toxic environment, both literally (in the video) and metaphorically, where attempts at salvation, represented by ‘oxygen’ are somehow futile. This song encapsulates the feeling of struggling to break free from what holds us down, when the journey is filled with difficulty. It’s a raw anthem of vulnerability, resilience, and the courage to face what seems insurmountable. Having to stay in the water for so many hours during the video shoot was cathartic for me, the realisation that the pleasant sensation of floating could in an instant become dangerous and deadly if I wasn’t careful was very fitting with the song’s theme.”
Inspiration to create “Sleepless Empire” came during the sessions for “Comalies XX” (2022), the remake of Lacuna Coil’s breakthrough record of the same title. Writing and recording took place in northern Italy between Milano (the band’s hometown) and Como, where SPVN Studios are located. As with the band’s previous albums, production was done in house with Marco “Maki” Coti Zelati at the helm, and artwork was curated by Italian artist Roberto Toderico. Lamb of God’s Randy Blythe appears on the song “Hosting the Shadow,” and New Year’s Day’s Ash Costello features on “In the Mean Time.”
As a token of the band’s love for the gaming world (which we’ve seen in past endevours such as its card game “Horns Up” and its collaboration with “Zombicide” for which they wrote the track “Never Dawn”), Lacuna Coil has created an oracle “game” to be played with custom made dice available only in the box set version of “Sleepless Empire.”
“‘Sleepless Empire’ captures, through our eyes, the chaos of a generation trapped in a digital world that never stops, where social media consumes identity and every day pushes us one step closer to becoming soulless zombies,” the band said. “We find ourselves in between, having witnessed a full analogic world and the modern one, confronting the evolution and searching for a true meaning of it all. Throughout every song, the journey is an undercurrent of rebellion, a desperate cry to reclaim oneself in an era that seems to have lost its sense of time and reality.”
“Sleepless Empire” is available for pre-order in the following formats:
- Ltd. Deluxe CD Box Set with symbolic dice oracle
- Ltd. CD Digipak
- Ltd. CD Digipak (US version)
- black LP & LP-Booklet
- black LP & LP-Booklet (US version)
- Ltd. white LP & LP-Booklet
- Ltd. deep blood red LP & LP-Booklet (exclusive Sony Music Entertainment Italy version)
- Ltd. Sparkle Rainbow LP & LP-Booklet
- Ltd. transp. glow in the dark LP & LP-Booklet (exclusive band version)
- black LP & LP-Booklet (US version)
- Ltd. ultra clear LP & LP-Booklet (US version)
- Ltd. silver LP & LP-Booklet (US version)
- Digital album
“Sleepless Empire” track listing:
1. The Siege
2. Oxygen
3. Scarecrow
4. Gravity
5. I Wish You Were Dead
6. Hosting the Shadow (feat. Randy Blythe)
7. In Nomine Patris
8. Sleepless Empire
9. Sleep Paralysis
10. In the Mean Time (feat. Ash Costello)
11. Never Dawn
Later this month, Lacuna Coil will embark on a U.K. and Ireland headline tour with Finnish nu metal band Blind Channel. Tickets are available here.
Tour dates:
October 12, 2024 – Lyon, France – Le Transbordeur Club
October 15, 2024 – Belfast, Ireland – Limelight
October 16, 2024 – Dublin, Ireland – Academy
October 18, 2024 – Bournemouth, UK – O2 Academy
October 20, 2024 – Manchester, UK – Academy
October 21, 2024 – Glasgow, Scotland – SWG3
October 22, 2024 – Wolverhampton, UK – KK’S Steel Mill
October 24, 2024 – Nottingham, UK – Rock City
October 25, 2024 – London, UK – Roundhouse
October 26, 2024 – Bristol, UK – O2 Academy
2025 festivals
June 6-8, 2025 – Metal Fest OpenAir – Czech Republic
August 8, 2025 – Bloodstock Festival – England
August 9-10, 2025 – M’era Luna Festival – Germany
Leave a Reply