Customer Reviews

Life of Agony: River Runs Again - Live 2003

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Life Of Agony is one of the magical bands that have attracted so many die hard fans over the years. They started out young, in their teens, and to this day, after a six year break up, are back, and bigger than ever with this double live CD/DVD companion set. The fans are out in full force, sporting their LOA tattoos and singing along with every song that vocalist Keith Caputo so honestly wails. Joey Z has all his chops down, along with the pounding rythym section of Alan Robert and Sal Abruscato. They blast through 19 songs that cover their three studio albums, hitting all the great songs, and leaving none behind. What a treat this recording is! The evergy never dies as the band shows its fans that it's back to stay. The CD's are great, but don't capture the intensity of the night that the DVD shows. Professionally shot at NYC's Irving Plaza, the band is as intense as ever, and at one point you can see Joey Z in tears as his cousin Keith sings about his dead mother in How It Would Be. We even get some tunes form their third album Soul Searching Sun...nice to hear Keith singing these tunes live, as he'd never toured with the band after the release of that third CD. LOA is back...enjoy this live collection of heavy hits!

I first saw LOA about 11 years ago, opening for Type O Negative at Asbury Park's legendary Stone Pony. My interest in the band fluctuated over the years, especially after they brought in Whitfield Crane to replace Keith on vocals. I was still saddened when the band broke up in 1999. In the intervening years between the band's demise and resurrection, LOA has achieved a legendary status that few bands ever know. This DVD captures everything about the band we ever loved: the pure emotion of the lyrics and the raw dychotomy between Keith's delicate vocals and the anger of the music. Don't just watch LOA, LISTEN to LOA. That's the only way to understand what drives this band. Then you'll see what makes older fans like myself keep flocking to their shows and younger fans connect with them.

I'm a long time loa fan since their first album back in '93. At the time (unfortunately presently) the only radio station that played LOA in the NYC/Newark metro area was/is WSOU 89.5 FM Seton Hall's GREAT hardrock radio station. That's why 92 KSUCK blows cause they don't play LOA or Type O Negative great bands that ARE from Nu Yawk! But because of this treasure of a radio station -that you can stream on the net, (www.nj.com/wsou/) I was able to sample, then become a die hard fan of Keith Caputo's haunting wail & the hard driving screech & blast from Joey Z & the boys .

These boys -ahem, now men ! ; pour their soul's out in concert. When I heard they reunited after six years, I was ecstatic! I missed them the 1st time around, & when I got the opportunity to see them cause I won tickets from SOU; I was in pig heaven. I missed the Irving plaza show cause I heard the tixs sold out in minutes and was really bumed. I heard that it was going to be a farewell reunion. So when I showed up at the now departed Birchill club (RIP 2003) in Jersey: I was so psycho. They did not disappoint me. So buying the "River Runs Red Again" on blind faith is not a concern. These guys ROCK! And what so cool about LOA is they attract a lot of babes! Unlike a Slayer concert which is a leather boy convention (Just kidding Slayer fans!).

If you like your hardrock with passion & soulful vocals. Life of Agony is your band. Keith Caputo is one of music's (not just metal) great singer & songwriter ; his solo cd effort sees to that. You cannot go wrong with this purchase. Buy the way, my cousin won tickets from WSOU to see LOA this time in Sommerset NJ on Jan 24th. He's gonna break his LOA concert cherry. We are so there. Ain't my cuz & I some lucky motherf@#%ers !!!

I give the live portion of the cd five stars, but the solo projects song choices brought the rating down a star. caputo's solo work is awesome. I strongely recommend his Died Laughing cd and/or his Died Laughing pure cd. They are a welcome break to his loa work. As for the album and dvd, I was actually at the show the night it was recorded and it did an awesome job of capturing the night. unlike most live albums, this one actually sounds live and isn't overly polished like so many others. This is a definite must for loa fans everywhere and fans of loud agressive music. If after listening to the cd you aren't convinced that loa has the most dedicated fans, then pop in the dvd and you'll be convinced.

been an inspirational group of musicians to me. Anyone who wasn't lucky enough to be able to go to their two reunion performances earlier this year at Irving Plaza can rest assured that LOA's energy was captured amazingly in this DVD. If you love Life of Agony there shouldn't be any second thought involved in buying this DVD. The bonus interviews, the sound quality, and the picture are great. The camera work is great here, which I think is ultimately how most live DVD usually fall apart. Why are you still reading this?? Buy! If not here then from the band's website, although Amazon is about $5 dollars cheaper after shipping.

I am a little upset about the vocals pn this dvd. It does not even come close to the album "river runs Red". The music is not bad.

FIRST OFF, LET ME SAY THAT LOA IS NOT A HUGE BIG NAME BAND, BUT THEY SHOULD HAVE BEEN. IN THAT TIME FRAME, PANTERA AND WHITE ZOMBIE WERE THE RULERS. NOW THAT WE HAVE A DVD TO TAKE US BACK TO THE OLD DAYS, IT REMINDS US OF HOW MANY GREAT BANDS OUT THERE GOT OVERLOOKED. IF YOU LIKE METAL, THEN YOU LIKE LOA!! ITS THAT SIMPLE. AS TO THE DVD, THE AUDIO IS ALMOST PERFECT, THE VIDEO IS CLEAN AND IN WIDESCREEN, WHICH IS RARE. THE SONGS PERFORMED READ LIKE A GREATEST HITS CD, NO GREAT SONG IS LEFT OUT. THERE IS A VERSION OF "LET'S PRETEND" IN ACOUSTIC STYLE. I CAN'T THINK OF A BETTER CONCERT DVD TO COME OUT IN A WHILE. IF YOU'VE NEVER HEARD OF LOA, THEN SPEND YOUR 20 BUCKS HERE AND FIND OUT WHAT THEY ARE ABOUT, YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED, I PROMISE. AFTER 15 YEARS, I STILL APPRECIATE THEIR MUSIC, AND I WILL PUT MY REPUTATION ON THE LINE RECOMMENDING THIS TO YOU ALL. PLEASE MAKE SURE YOU "LISTEN" TO THE LYRICS, THEY ARE VERY DEEP, TO THE POINT YOU MIGHT CRY, BUT HEY, THATS WHAT TRULY GREAT MUSIC IS ABOUT RIGHT? PS IF AMAZO RUNS OUT YOU CAN FIND IT IN OTHER PLACES.............ROCK ON LOA!!

when you go to a live rock show, you want to party and get your fans wilded up, not put them to sleep. This dvd expands their whole disography, but shys away from river runs red, the concert sags in the middle to the point of the worst song ive ever heard by this band, is it called tangerine? dumb! i think it was songs liek these that shows why this band faded away with time. Anyway, It has aenough heavy stuff on it to make it worth buying, although, like myself, you might think something is missing. Deffitly would a good qaulity dvd, just a little boring in spots.

Life of Agony is back and all original members.
I have been a fan since The River Runs Red album.
I have to disagree with a reviewer on here who
said they like the second album "Ugly" better.
This reviewer also said it was heavier.
River runs red was the heaviest album they
ever recorded.All my friends who like the band
even agree that River runs red is their best
and heaviest album ever.

Although I have not seen the DVD yet,but
I am sure it's worth buying.

I do not like Life of Agony with out
the original singer.Life of Agony is
better off being all original.They are
still young and they have so much more
to offer.I think this will not just be a
reunion tour but hopefully they will not
break up again and continue making mucic.

I rated this DVD 4 starts because I'm sure
it's a great DVD,even though I haven't seen
it yet.