Depression

In my view Life of Agony is a very difficult band to categorize, at least their early material sure is. Some swear on their life this is just straight New York hardcore, but it can be argued it's closer to sludge metal (which I personally hear more of), some say theyre a grunge/alt metal band which may hold true to their debut album and onward but when it comes to the 1991 Depression demo I think just calling it "misery music" is best.

This cassette consists of 8 songs with a runtime that borders on 40 minutes in length, and I just don't know where to begin with it, it can't be exaggerated how groovy Life of Agony's riffs are - the very hardcore punk-esque grooves complimenting the grittiness of a band like Eyehategod works so well. This is also Eric Chan's final release with the band, he only drummed on the previous demo and then dipped shortly after this was released. He works so well with these grooves it's kind of a shame he didn't stick around longer. Vocalist Keith Caputo's vocal style here is indeed very punk-ish, which I found to be the hardest element to digest. I've never really been a fan of that absurdist throaty punk vocal styling that bands like The Germs employ, but that's just me. I'd prefer if he sounded more tortured and screamed like most other sludge bands do, but I'm sure this probably sounded cool to the band at the time.

Lyrics are a really relatable venture of intense depression and anxiety. Despite some goofy (maybe even offensive) choice liners such as "Why is it so easy for those gays to get AIDS?" the young band really paints a picture acumen to their choice of a band name here. It's hard to find a lot of the lyrics for this release, but if you listen closely to the vocals you can make out most of what Caputo is saying and a lot of really shows he's being genuine with a lot of the statements.

I'm not necessarily a Life of Agony fan, but this demo had me coming back. It's a captivating venture of early 90s New York's underground music scene with a very dark and depressing undertone. I'm definitely not a fan of the vocals, but these riffs are quality enough to re-experience every now and then.