LIFE OF AGONY

If there is one band in the nineties that perfectly captures the zeitgeist of youth and young adults, it is New York hardcore metal band Life Of Agony. Formed in 1989 in Brooklyn (thus firmly influenced by NYHC bands such as Cro-Mags, Sick Of It All, Agnostic Front and Murphy’s Law), the foursome immediately put itself on the international map with its melancholy debut album ‘River Runs Red’ released on October 12 1993 and honored at this year’s Helldorado through an integral performance of it. The rest of LOA’s history must be familiar to a lot of you. After instant breakthrough album ‘River Runs Red’, the band delivers two more rock-solid albums – the more melodic ‘Ugly’ (with the hit ‘Lost At 22’) in 1995 and, two years later, ‘Soul Searching Sun’ which, due to added psychedelics, again shows a slight musical change of direction. With ‘My Mind Is Dangerous’ the band even brings its first real ballad. Frontman Keith struggled with serious gender dysphoria during those years, causing him to quit the band in 1997 before returning in 2003. In 2005, ‘Broken Valley’ is released but by 2012 the strain is gone and the band quits again. Two more albums follow, namely ‘A Place Where There’s No More Pain’ (2017) and ‘The Sound of Scars’ (2019). In the intervening period, the LOA band members are all active in other bands and/or solo projects and can be seen on European stages with great regularity.