LIVE REVIEW: Life of Agony @ The Fleece, Bristol

It’s the season of all things spooky and sinister, and what better way to celebrate the night before Halloween than bear witness to a seminal alt-metal outfit and a true horror punk icon take Bristol by storm? Yep, LIFE OF AGONY are in town in support of new album Made Of Scars and, just to make the deal even sweeter, they’ve brought DOYLE along for the ride as well.

For reasons unknown, original openers EMPIRE EVOLUTION haven’t made it across the pond to play the tour, so their slot is being filled by a local band on each date. For Bristol, this is left to ZEPHER and, well, the nicest thing that can be said is that they at least showed up and played. Performing to a very sparse audience isn’t necessarily a bad thing if you connect well with them, but it becomes all too clear that this is never going to happen from the moment the band finish their opening song and one person claps, presumably out of pity. Again, things can be salvaged if you’re giving it a go and playing as if you’re in front of a sold out room, but none of the quartet are; it’s ploddy, generic, indie rock ‘n’ roll played with all the impact of a rice pudding and going down quicker than a lead balloon dropped from 50,000 feet. Those who stayed in the pub next door during this debacle made the better choice.

Rating: 3/10

With spirits needing to be raised quickly, DOYLE duly provides. Bathed once more in green light, therefore looking genuinely like The Incredible Hulk, the MISFITS guitarist does what he does best, which is nonchalantly churn out horror punk for a delighted audience all while blowing bubblegum. This isn’t half-assed music either; the only outfit capable of bettering DOYLE’s own material is the band he came from, with Cemeterysexxx and Beast Like Me the pick of tonight’s set. Much like the spirits of the dead coming out to play at this time of year though, so have the sound gremlins; prevalent feedback from the monitors and a bass guitar too high in the mix muddy the overall sound throughout and, just like when they headlined the same venue eighteen months ago, vocalist Alex Story is still trying to win people over by introducing each song as a love song that people can dance to if they want – and it’s still just as annoying. Nevertheless, the mood is considerably lifted, and for that, it’s job done.

Rating: 7/10

Tonight is a reminder of why LIFE OF AGONY were so loved in their initial heyday of the mid-90s. Most of the audience might now be 20-25 years older, but their passion for the New Yorkers hasn’t faded in the slightest and the band respond in earnest. Playing a career-spanning set that only omits material from 2017’s A Place Where There’s No More Pain, there’s as much fun onstage as there is off it, and it’s fair to say that the individual having the best time of all is Mina Caputo. Oozing charisma and class, she knows every punter is at her beck and call and plays up to it at every opportunity, messing about when introducing Weeds and getting up close and personal with the front row at every opportunity; in fact, the only person who might be less than impressed would be Doyle after she calls him her ‘menacing dandelion’ and generates plenty of laughs.

As for the set itself, there is a hefty dose of the latest record as one would expect and it all stands up strong, particularly a thunderous rendition of Black Heart. Somewhat understandably though it’s the older material that gets received better, especially when the band return to their debut, and prequel to Made of Scars, in River Runs Red, which makes up the majority of the set tonight and gives us huge singalongs to Bad Seed, Method Of Groove and the double salvo closer of Underground and Through and Through. The devotion shown to LIFE OF AGONY is such that, if they began to fade and venue sizes started shrinking, they would always have a room filled with hardcore fans to appreciate their output, and that’s a very heartwarming thought to take away.

Rating: 8/10

Check out our photo gallery of the night’s action in Bristol from Serena Hill Photography here: