With ’90s nostalgia in full bloom, it’s no surprise that Life of Agony has released its first album in a dozen years. This intense Brooklyn band helped define alternative metal with albums like the 1993 debut River Runs Red and 1997’s Soul Searching Sun by walking the fine line between melodic hardcore, grunge, rock and metal. No wonder the aptly named Life of Agony—whose songs often focused on band members’ own struggles with addiction, abuse and grief—shared stages with Foo Fighters, Black Sabbath and Metallica. For A Place Where There’s No More Pain, all four original members reunited, and while the sound is a slight update on what worked well in the past, the biggest change involves vocalist Mina Caputo. Formerly known as Keith Caputo, she came out as transgender in 2011 but still sounds like a male when singing. Her haunting journey is recounted in the piano ballad “Little Spots of You,” which eerily recalls Kurt Cobain at his most vulnerable.
