LACUNA COIL Dark Adrenaline RSD Vinyl LP

Milan's finest gothic metal export has been doing the heavy lifting for dark music since 1994, and Dark Adrenaline is one of their most uncompromising records, balancing Cristina Scabbia's cathedral-wide vocals against Andrea Ferro's low-end snarl with genuine menace. No apologies, no awkward mainstream concessions, just the machine grinding forward.

This Record Store Day pressing on aqua blue vinyl is worth owning not just for the colour, which looks genuinely otherworldly on a shelf, but because Dark Adrenaline holds up. Tracks like "Trip the Darkness" and "End of Time" remind you why Lacuna Coil were a gateway band for half the alternative and gothic metal community coming up in the 2000s and early 2010s. If you've been running the CD into the ground, this is the upgrade.

Full length LP on aqua blue vinyl, RSD release, pressed in 2012. Country of origin: Italy.

Fans of: Evanescence, Within Temptation, Nightwish, Epica