So I get this new Life Of Agony DC, Broken Valley. I'm expecting some resemblance to the dark, low and moody sounds more than ten years ago. After this long of a gap I expected them to have tempered that dark, brooding feel with at least some semblance of a tempo. After all, their sophomore effort, Ugly, was a far cry from rhythmic. Ten years can to a lot with a band. Life Of Agony is no exception. This may be the original cast of characters but they are a completely different band now. Gone are the days of dark brooding melodies. This is not the same band, not even close. If you want to hear that sort of music go buy their first album, River Runs Red.
Something of note here is that even though they aren't the same band they don't suck either. In fact, they have a pretty tight sound. No, that's not right. They have an extremely tight sound. From the way they arranged each piece it appeared they had locked themselves up for those ten long years and practiced at reinventing themselves.
The downside of that is that place they locked themselves up in had a full collection of Stone Temple Pilots CDs. On the first listen through of the album I counted about ten times I wanted to take the CD out of the player and verify I wasn't listening to an STP album; a damn good STP album at that.
Maybe it was just me but most of the songs sounded as if they were made to honor a different band. My wife picked up the first one, "It sounds like that alien song". Actually, it was Aerials by System Of A Down that she meant to say. I had to agree with her. Let me compile a list:
1. Love to let you down: Aerials - System of a down
2. Last Cigarette: STP
3. Wicket Ways: Veruca Salt - One Last Time
4. Don't bother: One time a thing occurred to me...wait...wrong STP song.
5. Strung Out: Completely Original
6. Junk Sick: Sugar teat?...more STP
7. The Calm That Disturbs You: Starts off like Robert Trujillo from Metallica then trails off.
8. No One Survives: Pink Floyd - The Wall or Dark Side Of The Moon
9. Justified: Starts off like Zombie from the Cranberries then trails off.
10. The Day He Died: Yet More STP
11. Broken Valley: Something off The Crow soundtrack - It Can't Rain All The Time
12. Room 244: The other LOA
Article comments
1 - Mad Max
Broken Valley is a masterpiece. LOA have delveloped into a flawless and timeless hard rock band that will easily school all of the new wannabe suckers that are filling our airwaves today.
2 - Pexotron
When I heard Keith i singing again with guys, I was trilled.....for a reason. This album is f****** great!!! Anyone who espects same hatred after 10 years is ..., anyway great songs. These new sounds like band can scratch their head after listening to this.
3 - Maya
Your "review" was not a review at all, just a comparison to other bands. Learn how to listen to music, and stop living in 1993.
4 - HollandGoddess
This review sucks..but that MAYA REVIEW sucked even worse. Sounded so fake like someone kissing ass.
Anyone find a good life of agony review please post it. Thank you