LIFE OF AGONY
i first encountered Life Of Agony in the winter of 1993/1994, when River Runs Red had just come out. i was aware of the band only because they were on roadrunner and that the drummer had been in Type O Negative. i still remember the location i first listened to most of the record, which oddly enough was at high school. at the time i was doing a radio show and a friend, who had bought the record, brought it in to play some tracks off of it. it was different than the usual fair of metal that i was listening to at the time as it mixed in elements of hardcore. at the time the only hardcore band i really had any interest in was Sick Of It All. most of the bands that i know now from that time and prior to be hardcore, i simply lumped in with punk since i mostly listened to metal at the time and didn't know any better. RRR dealt with real issues, had the whole weeklong storyline skit tracks mixed in with the songs on the record. it was one of those albums that i heard once and i was hooked.
the second album, Ugly came out in 1995 and it was around this time that i was able to see Life Of Agony live for the first time. i saw them open for KMFDM at the aragon and Anthrax at the vic in fall of 95. the next year they came through a couple times on their own headlining tours, which i was able to catch. they played a good mix of songs from both records every time i saw them and for a short time LOA were one of my favorite bands and in some ways started that bridge of taking my musical tastes from mostly metal and crossing back into the world of hardcore.
i first encountered Life Of Agony in the winter of 1993/1994, when River Runs Red had just come out. i was aware of the band only because they were on roadrunner and that the drummer had been in Type O Negative. i still remember the location i first listened to most of the record, which oddly enough was at high school. at the time i was doing a radio show and a friend, who had bought the record, brought it in to play some tracks off of it. it was different than the usual fair of metal that i was listening to at the time as it mixed in elements of hardcore. at the time the only hardcore band i really had any interest in was Sick Of It All. most of the bands that i know now from that time and prior to be hardcore, i simply lumped in with punk since i mostly listened to metal at the time and didn't know any better. RRR dealt with real issues, had the whole weeklong storyline skit tracks mixed in with the songs on the record. it was one of those albums that i heard once and i was hooked.the second album, Ugly came out in 1995 and it was around this time that i was able to see Life Of Agony live for the first time. i saw them open for KMFDM at the aragon and Anthrax at the vic in fall of 95. the next year they came through a couple times on their own headlining tours, which i was able to catch. they played a good mix of songs from both records every time i saw them and for a short time LOA were one of my favorite bands and in some ways started that bridge of taking my musical tastes from mostly metal and crossing back into the world of hardcore.
From there the band kind of went downhill in my eyes, writing more accessible songs on their next record, then losing Keith, and finally breaking up. they've gotten back together in the past few years and done a new album which i find kinda blah. i haven't seen them since the reunification, but those first two records are still personal favorites of mine and have a permanent spot on my ipod. this past week i got around to picking up both albums on vinyl, which is the main reason LOA ended up being picked here. Life of Agony is one of those bands that affects me in the same way at age 30 as they did when i first heard them at age 16. theyve gotten me through some bad periods of my life, and im glad that i will always have their music in the future for bad periods still to come.
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