{"id":331,"date":"2017-05-04T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-05-04T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2017\/2017\/05\/04\/hearing-aide-life-of-agony-a-place-where-theres-no-more-pain\/"},"modified":"2017-05-04T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2017-05-04T00:00:00","slug":"hearing-aide-life-of-agony-a-place-where-theres-no-more-pain","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dev.nysmusic.com\/2017\/2017\/05\/04\/hearing-aide-life-of-agony-a-place-where-theres-no-more-pain\/","title":{"rendered":"Hearing Aide: Life Of Agony ‘A Place Where There’s No More Pain’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"This year has been a great year for heavy metal releases,\u00a0and Life Of Agony<\/a>‘s\u00a0newest album\u00a0A Place Where There’s No More Pain <\/em>released by Napalm Records has\u00a0had some hype leading up to it\u00a0since it has been 12 years since\u00a0the previous album\u00a0Broken Valley.\u00a0 <\/em>But now things are different for LOA.\u00a0 For starters, Mina Caputo coming out as transgender, new record label, the band spent a few years apart with various bands and projects, so now was the perfect time for the band to be active again, reintroduce themselves\u00a0to the music\u00a0industry, and\u00a0be a force to be reckoned with.<\/p>\n

This album is by far LOA’s darkest album.\u00a0 As soon as you start it, opening track ‘”Meet My Maker” has a dark catchy rift pelted out from Joey Z’s heavy guitar, then you hear the vocals with the lyrics “Clinging on to what was then when what is now decides….” and you’re just like “fuck yeah. LOA is fucking back.”\u00a0 Yes, once again, for the 5th\u00a0time, the vocal style is completely different from the other albums, but you know it’s LOA.\u00a0 But it works. Mina’s vocals fit all the songs perfectly.\u00a0 The lyrics scratch deep.\u00a0 The music is hard.\u00a0 But what makes this album standout among the other albums is the dark gloomy, impending doomy atmosphere.<\/p>\n

There is an element in this album that has to be brought up.\u00a0 And that is producer Matt Brown.\u00a0 The mixing and producing that he did this for album is brilliant and masterful.\u00a0 I’m not sure of what other projects Brown has produced, but he is one of the guitarists and songwriters for LOA drummer Sal Abruscato’s other band, A Pale Horse Named Death.<\/p>\n

Those who have heard A Pale Horse Named Death’s two amazing\u00a0albums, are familiar with dark, doomy, gloomy, Type O style music.\u00a0 So it should come as no surprise that Matt Brown and Sal Abruscato’s style had a strong influence on this album.\u00a0 The best produced song on the album is “Dead Speak Kindly.”\u00a0\u00a0 It has all the elements that I just mentioned.\u00a0 But the song that stands out to me the most is the next track which is “A New Low.”\u00a0 That song is heavy and sludgy\u00a0as hell and really strikes a nerve and speaks to the soul.\u00a0 Then “World Gone Mad” goes fast and hard to get the mind rushing again.\u00a0 Perfect workout music.<\/p>\n

When you get to the end of the album,\u00a0 it ends strangely but appropriately with “Little Spots Of You” which was a soft piano lead track with Mina’s vocals going in a more gentle direction.\u00a0 It’s a great way to end a doomy album.\u00a0 Overall, A Place Where There’s No More Pain<\/em> is damn near perfect for where the band is right now.\u00a0 I would rank this easily the best LOA album since 1995’s “Ugly.”\u00a0 Easily this is another contender for the best metal album of the year, and that’s saying a lot considering all the great metal albums being dished out this year.\u00a0 A lot of these songs need to be played live.\u00a0 They can be live staples for this band for sure.<\/p>\n

Key Tracks: <\/strong>Meet My Maker, A New Low, World Gone Mad<\/p>\n