LIFE OF AGONY
The sound Of scars Napalm
New York’s emotion-heavy metallers return to their narrative roots
over a lengthy 30-year career, New York’s Life Of Agony have been one of the most uniquely fascinating bands of our scene. Cult favourites from the point of classic 1993 debut album River Runs Red and beyond, they have never quite managed to attain the mainstream success that their beautiful and poignant blend of grooving New York hardcore, alternative rock introspection and the enigmatic x-factor that vocalist Mina Caputo brings to the band has deserved. While it may be too late for any kind of superstardom to come their way at this point, those in the know will surely be as excited for The Sound Of Scars as they are for any album released this year.
One of the best things about Life Of Agony is the uncertainty of exactly what it is you’re going to get when you press play on a new record – and The Sound Of Scars
is a very different album from 2017’s comeback album (technically second comeback album fronted by Caputo, after 2005’s Broken Valley), A Place Where There’s No More Pain. Whereas that felt much more like a personal confessional for Caputo, The Sound Of Scars seems to rely on a more character and conceptually driven narrative, giving it a very different vibe from much of their back catalogue.
Musically it veers away slightly from the core sound of Life Of Agony, with strings playing a large role in the fantastic closing rock ballad, I Surrender, but the groove of Joey Z’s guitars, Alan Robert’s thick, fat bass and those sublime, smoky, wistful melodies of Caputo are all still present and correct. Songs like Scars and Empty Hole sound like a heavier version of a band such as Stone Temple Pilots, and Lay Down opens like the true New
York hardcore of Sick Of It All, before Mina Caputo croons soulfully over the top. Another excellent addition to an excellent band’s canon.
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FOR FANS OF: Stone Temple Pilots, Prong, Helmet
STEPHEN HILL