Shallow Life

In the magazine Rock Sound, it was announced that Lacuna Coil's fifth studio album would be produced by Don Gilmore, and would have some Arabic influences. Cristina Scabbia announced to Rock Sound, "It's different, but it's our style. We haven't done anything absolutely different from our style, because that wouldn't be natural, that would be weird - it wouldn't be us. The songs are definitely more powerful, more complete, more intense, more straight-to-the-point".

Andrea Ferro told Rock Sound,"We've put more attention on the real meaning of the songs, so the vocals are a bit more prominent. We've worked a lot with Don Gilmore on the pronunciation of the words in English, so people really understand the meanings of the words. There are strong choruses, where people can relate and really understand what we mean".

On December 13th, 2008 it was revealed that the new album would be titled Shallow Life. The album was released in Europe on April 20, 2009 and in the United States on April 21, 2009. It debuted at #16 on the Billboard Top 200 Album Chart, and became Lacuna Coil's first Top 20 album in the U.S. As of September 2009 It has sold nearly 70,000 copies in the United States.

In February and March 2009, Lacuna Coil played at the Australian music festival Soundwave alongside metal acts including DevilDriver, In Flames, Lamb of God and Nine Inch Nails. The festival spanned five capital cities, at which they performed their single "Spellbound", from Shallow Life for the first time. Later in July 2009, Lacuna Coil embarked on the American Spellbound Tour, alongside Kill Hannah, Seventh Void and Dommin. This was Lacuna Coil's first U.S. headlining run in over two years, and the first tour the band has been on since the Music as a Weapon Tour IV alongside Disturbed, Killswitch Engage and Chimaira in early 2009.

Karmacode

The band and label postponed the release of their follow-up to Comalies, Karmacode, to early 2006. According to the band's website, this made it possible for more time to be spent on production, and to avoid the crowded summer 2005 release schedule for metal albums. On December 23, 2005 the band announced on their web site that all recording, mixing, and mastering on Karmacode had been completed. It was then announced that Karmacode would be released in the USA on April 4, 2006.

During their 2005 European Tour, Lacuna Coil performed two new songs (working titles "A2" and "Antonio") at selected concerts. "Our Truth" was referred to at the time as "Antonio". "A2" was re-named "Fragile", which is the opening track on Karmacode.

Karmacode debuted at #28 on the Billboard Charts. It was acclaimed by music critics and magazines. Corresponding with the release of the new album, Lacuna Coil toured with Rob Zombie throughout North America in early 2006, it also appeared at Ozzfest 2006 on the main stage. The band also played at the 2006 Download Festival (a three-day music festival in England's Donington Park), which was headlined by Metallica, Tool, and Guns N' Roses. It also played one night in the U.K. at Sheffield Corporation on October 17, 2006. That December, Lacuna Coil teamed up with In Flames, The Sword and Seemless for a U.S. Tour, as well as The Blackest of the Black 2006 Tour (with headlining act Danzig, and bands likeAsesino, Belphegor, and The Haunted).

Four singles were officially released from Karmacode: "Our Truth", "Closer", "Within Me", and a cover of Depeche Mode's "Enjoy the Silence." "Our Truth" was the first single released, and had a music video produced for it. The single peaked in the top forty on the U.S. Mainstream Rock charts.

In March 2007, Lacuna Coil joined Stone Sour and Shadows Fall on the Jägermeister Music Tour. In May, it toured the USA with Within Temptation and The Gathering, on the The Hottest Chicks in Metal Tour 2007. Departing from the official tour dates, the band stopped in Raleigh, North Carolina in early April to play with local bands Wounded Soul, Blatant Disarray, and Shadows Fall. It again departed from the tour schedule in Albuquerque, New Mexico in late April to play the Sunshine Theater with Stolen Babies, Beneath the Sky, and Shadows Fall.

In October 2007 Lacuna Coil played for the first time in Japan, during the Loudpark Festival '07 in Saitama City's Saitama Super Arena. In November 2007 they joined Megadeth, DevilDriver,Static-X and Bring Me the Horizon for the Australian leg of Megadeth's Gigantour.

Comalies

The band was in for a change for the better when its breakthrough album, Comalies was released in 2002; it received high reviews from certain corners of the metal world. A significant player on Europe's metal scene for nearly a decade at this point, the band was virtually unknown in the U.S.A. until it began touring there. Uranium gave the band some of its earliest U.S. exposure; over a year later, the first single from Comalies -- "Heaven's a Lie" -- began to receive radio and media attention, pulling the band into North America's musical mainstream. Networks such as Fuse played the song's video, for example. In early 2005, "Heaven's a Lie" won in The 4th Annual Independent Music Awards for Best Hard Rock/Metal Song. The second single, "Swamped," was played in heavy rotation and used in the video game Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. It also appeared on the soundtrack for the movie Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Music videos were filmed for both songs and broadcast on MTV2's Headbanger's Ball, which also had the band perform a live, acoustic rendition of "Heaven's a Lie".

By 2004, Comalies had become the best-selling CD in Century Media's history. The band appeared at Ozzfest in between headlining club tours in the U.S.A. and Europe.

A bonus, extended version of Comalies was released both in stores and on iTunes. This version consisted of both live and acoustic versions of the songs "Heaven's A Lie," "Swamped," "Unspoken," "Aeon," and "Senzafine" from Unleashed Memories.