Despite her industrial upbringing with
KMFDM,
Lucia's debut is total
Garbage. Like
Shirley Manson's band,
Lucia mixes the slick with the grit on
From the Land of Volcanos. She's a powerful, dramatic, sometimes sweet vocalist and with a little help from
KMFDM's
Sascha Konietzko, and former
Madonna collaborator
Patrick Leonard, a very good songwriter to boot.
KMFDM fans might be shocked; the album is powerful angst-pop with monolithic, Bat Out of Hell-styled drama, but
Lucia sounds confident and driven throughout, like this is the album she always wanted to do. She's urgent on the chaotic "Monkey Puzzle Tree," a dark sex kitten on "Little Rose," and a rock goddess on the excellent opener "So Clever."
Ian Stanley's elaborate production adapts to both the sheen on
Leonard's tracks and the wickedness of
Konietzko's, making the extravagant album hang together. If there's anything bad to be said about the album it's that the bombast covers up any hope of insight into
Lucia's world, and that too often it feels like she's playing a role. It's her debut, though, and that's when an artist is allowed to be over-ambitious. Taking that into consideration it's a striking debut with plenty of hints that this edgy diva could get deeper. [Before
Lucia was dropped from the Universal label, she issued a promo of her debut,
From the Land of Volcanos. The album would be released to the general public by The Control Group in 2004.] ~ David Jeffries