It’s hard to believe that it’s been twelve long years since we were last blessed with a Life of Agony album. A band that has always worn its collective heart upon its sleeve, the bruising riffs of Joey Z underpin the dark lyrics of singer Mina Caputo whose emotional turmoil and fierce intelligence feed into an incisive lyricism that adds considerable depth to the music. Meanwhile, the rhythm section of drummer Sal Albruscato (ex-Type O Negative) and bassist Alan Robert keep things grounded, their taut interplay giving each song punch and drive. It is no secret that he band have had a somewhat turbulent and well-documented history and despite meeting with considerable success on their first reunion, the band appeared to have called it quits for good in 2013. As such, their return has come as a welcome surprise and, on ‘a place where there’s no more pain’ the band have continued their evolution from the dark gothic overtones of ‘River Runs Red’ to the lighter, more Alice in Chains-oriented sound that first appeared on ‘soul searching sun’. The result is an album that packs a fearsome punch whilst allowing plenty of room for Mina’s intricate harmonies to breathe.
Kicking off with backwards masked weirdness, ‘Meet my maker’ sees the band announce their presence with a riff of gargantuan proportions. Mina’s deftly layered vocals add emotional depth to the song and it’s an impressive start to the album, capitalising on the sweet heaviness that has always made the band stand out from their peers. Similarly powerful is ‘right this wrong’ which slips from a punishing riff to a more slithery, bass-led sound on the verse that propels the music to a darker plain. Mina sounds phenomenal, her voice always tuneful, but with a nasty sting hidden amidst the tightly coiled harmonies. Recalling Layne Staley’s exceptional performance on ‘dirt’, an album with which ‘a place where there’s no more pain’ bears comparison, Mina’s vocal work really is phenomenal here and the band keep pace with her every step of the way. Refusing to let up, the band plough into the title track next, the elastic riffing and punchy rhythms belying the simple pop melodicism of the chorus, the latter sticking to the tongue like peanut butter on the brain. An album highlight, ‘dead speak kindly’, with its processed vocals, is built around a riff of restrained ferocity, held tightly in check but ready to explode at a moment’s notice. It’s a tense, hard-hitting song with plenty of metallic heft, but always the dynamic interplay between guitar-based power and Mina’s vocal melodies keeps things memorable and emotionally challenging. The first half of the album concludes with ‘a new low’, a song that juxtaposes the crystalline riff of the chorus with Alan’s thunderous bass on the verse, only adding extra weight to the former when it breaks free from the latter.
Building from a haze of feedback, ‘World gone mad’ is a fast-paced track with a high octane riff that is guaranteed to set the pit alight, but it’s the fuzzy miasma of ‘bag of bones’ that really draws the attention. A very different track, it strips the verse right back so as to shine a spotlight both on Mina’s incisive lyrics and astonishing performance only to bring the heaviness when it’s most needed. A longer track, it keeps the listener on their toes whilst still managing to draw in a typically addictive chorus. Heavy as hell, ‘walking catastrophe’ is a straight-up bruiser with a keen chorus that leads nicely to the carefully restrained fury of ‘song for the abused’, a track that slowly builds as the bile becomes too bitter to internalise and Mina finally lets loose a howl of “you bring out the worst in me” as the guitars continue to grow to a screaming crescendo. Ending on a quiet note, the piano-led ‘little spots of you’ is a hypnotic rumination that sees Mina’s voice left naked and alone as the disc spins to a halt.
‘A place where there’s no more pain’ is a welcome return from Life of Agony. Although heavier than ‘soul searching sun’, it still maintains the melodic edge that that record bought to the band and the focus is very heavily laid upon Mina’s dark harmonies. Those seeking riffs will find plenty here with songs like ‘meet my maker’ and ‘world gone mad’ delivering powerful body blows, but there’s also plenty of depth to be found in songs such as ‘bag of bones’. Throughout, of course, Mina’s lyrics remain as thought-provoking and emotionally resonant as they ever were and the result is an album that is certainly worth multiple listens. Deep, dark and ultimately rewarding, ‘A place where there’s no more pain’ is a compelling, heavy record. 8
