''Ugly'' is the second album released by American

alternative metal Alternative metal (also known as alt-metal) is a genre of heavy metal music that combines heavy metal with influences from alternative rock and other genres not normally associated with metal. Alternative metal bands are often characterized by ...

band

Life of Agony Life of Agony is an American alternative metal band from Brooklyn, New York City, formed in 1989 by singer Keith Caputo, bassist Alan Robert and guitarist Joey Z. The band has released six studio albums to date, most notably their 1993 debut '' ...

. The band incorporates a more melodic and less heavy alternative metal sound compared to the heavier,

New York hardcore New York hardcore (also known as NYHC) is both the hardcore punk music created in New York City and the subculture and lifestyle (sociology), lifestyle associated with that music. The scene established many aspects that are fixtures of hardcore ...

-influenced sound heard on their 1993 debut, ''

River Runs Red ''River Runs Red'' is the debut studio album by American alternative metal band Life of Agony, released on October 12, 1993, by Roadrunner Records. It is a concept album, telling the story of a teenager, from a troubled household, who ultimately ...

''. ''Ugly'' still features the band's trademark heavy riffing (e.g. 'I Regret', 'Damned If I Do', 'Fears'); however, elements such as "gang" backing vocals and double-bass drumming have been replaced by slower, more melodic moments (e.g. "Let's Pretend") and even acoustic guitar (e.g. bonus tracks "Coffee Break" and bonus Bob Marley and the Wailers cover track, "Redemption Song"). Lead singer

Keith Caputo Keith Caputo (born December 4, 1973) is an American singer who is lead vocalist and a founding member of New York City alternative metal band Life of Agony. Formed in 1989, Life of Agony has released six studio albums, the latest of which, ''T ...

opted for a more natural vocal delivery, eschewing the baritone howls heard on the previous record. The majority of ''Ugly'' was written by and even performed by the band during the extensive touring in support of their debut album. Known for his work with

Guns N' Roses Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1985 as a merger of local bands L.A. Guns and Hollywood Rose. When they signed to Geffen Records in 1986, the band's "classic" line-up consisted of vocalist Axl R ...

and

Metallica Metallica is an American heavy metal band. It was formed in Los Angeles in 1981 by vocalist and guitarist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, and has been based in San Francisco for most of its career. The band's fast tempos, instrume ...

, producer Steve Thompson was brought in to work on the album, which was recorded at Systems Two in Brooklyn, NY. Thompson also mixed ''Ugly'' with longtime partner

Michael Barbiero Michael Francis Barbiero (born June 25, 1949)Infidel Biography
. Infidel Records. Retrie ...

. ''Ugly'' was released by

Roadrunner Records Roadrunner Records is a Dutch–American record label focused on Heavy metal music, heavy metal and hard rock music. Founded in the Netherlands in 1980, it is now a division of Warner Music Group and is based in New York City. Formerly seen as ...

in 1995. That same year, Roadrunner Records issued a limited, European edition of the album in a custom, tin metal case. This edition featured exclusive artwork and two bonus tracks recorded during the ''Ugly'' recording sessions. Alternate mixes/versions of these bonus tracks were later released on the ''1989-1999'' compilation album. However the versions found on the European limited edition of ''Ugly'', are the original Steve Thompson and Michael Barbiero mixes and are exclusive to the metal box release. Original drummer,

Sal Abruscato Sal Abruscato (born July 18, 1970) is an American drummer, guitarist and singer, best known as the original drummer for Brooklyn metal bands Type O Negative and Life of Agony.Hart, Josh (2011)Interview: Sal Abruscato and Matt Brown of A Pale Ho ...

, left the band after the album's tour in 1996, due to, "creative differences", but later rejoined for LOA's first, ''River Runs Again'' reunion in 2003. Abruscato would ultimately leave the band for the final time in 2018.

Reception

Stephen Thomas Erlewine of

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

praised the album writing in his review "For listeners unaccustomed to blistering, noisy

metal A metal () is a material that, when polished or fractured, shows a lustrous appearance, and conducts electrical resistivity and conductivity, electricity and thermal conductivity, heat relatively well. These properties are all associated wit ...

, Life of Agony will be agonizing. However, fans of the genre will find the band to be among the best of the mid-'90s, capable of spitting out razor-sharp

riffs A riff is a short, repeated motif or figure in the melody or accompaniment of a musical composition. Riffs are most often found in rock music, punk, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, although classical music is also sometimes based on ...

. What makes Ugly work is the band's grasp of sonic texture -- they can make even their quiet moments menacing." Critically, the album performed well, but did not repeat the sales of ''

''; this can most likely be attributed to the album's considerable change in sound.

Track listing

Personnel

Life of Agony *

–

vocals Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

–

drums The drum is a member of the percussion instrument, percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel–Sachs classification system, it is a membranophones, membranophone. Drums consist of at least one Acoustic membrane, membrane, c ...

Alan Robert Alan Robert (born 1971) is an American musician and comic book creator. He is known as the bassist for the alternative metal band Life of Agony, his work on his graphic novels ''Wire Hangers'', '' Crawl to Me'' and ''Killogy'', as well as his ho ...

–

bass guitar The bass guitar (), also known as the electric bass guitar, electric bass, or simply the bass, is the lowest-pitched member of the guitar family. It is similar in appearance and construction to an Electric guitar, electric but with a longer nec ...

*Joey Z. –

lead Lead () is a chemical element; it has Chemical symbol, symbol Pb (from Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a Heavy metal (elements), heavy metal that is density, denser than most common materials. Lead is Mohs scale, soft and Ductility, malleabl ...

rhythm guitar In music performances, rhythm guitar is a guitar technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse (music), pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., d ...

Additional musicians *Ed Terry –

Keyboard Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Mus ...

s and

Synthesizer A synthesizer (also synthesiser or synth) is an electronic musical instrument that generates audio signals. Synthesizers typically create sounds by generating waveforms through methods including subtractive synthesis, additive synthesis a ...

s (on "Unstable") Technical personnel * Steve Thompson –

production Production may refer to: Economics and business * Production (economics) * Production, the act of manufacturing goods * Production, in the outline of industrial organization, the act of making products (goods and services) * Production as a stat ...

*Steve Thompson and

Michael Barbiero Michael Francis Barbiero (born June 25, 1949)Infidel Biography
. Infidel Records. Retrie ...

– mixing *

Mike Marciano Mike Marciano is a two-time Grammy Award-winning audio engineer, and six time Grammy nominated, multi-platinum and gold record award, GMA and Junos award recipient. He started his career in 1980, recording, mixing and mastering exclusively at Sy ...

, Eddie Reed and Jay Ryan –

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

*George Marino – mastering

References

{{Authority control 1995 albums Life of Agony albums Roadrunner Records albums