I’m not going to lie I missed pretty much the entirety of the Blood Runs Deep set. From what I did catch though they sounded like an October Rust Type O Negative and missing them made me feel very gloomy (I love Type O to death.) The memory of Type O being an untimely sentiment when thinking about when Sal Abruscato of Life of Agony was with the Brooklyn giants.
Aaron Buchanan & The Cult Classics with a kind of Britain’s Got Talent/Made For Cruise vogue – or a kind of magic – could take the room away with just their southern charm. They were surprisingly professional outside of the Butlins look they had going on. As in the lungs of vocalist Aaron are trained in the sacred art of delight. Breathing a fresh gust of fugue from the stage to the merch desk. While the room is in the process of being bedazzled by the bands’ fantastic cohesion and all round expertise. They appear like amateurs upon the stage. Humbled. Yet destiny awaits these guys to become all the rage.
Now not a lot of people know this but LoA, apart from being the acronym for headliners Life Of Agony is actually the collective name for the spirits of Voodoo. While the previous band had classics in their title Life of Agony bring classics to the table. Opening with material from first album River Runs Red they firmly assert that LoA are here, it is now and we, the crowd, are going to party like the venue is a hounfour with music as our magic.
The familiar riffs from Life of Agony are like mantras that set the floor alight. Vocalist Mina Kaputo is a mighty force who commands the spirits, or at least the mood, to excite and ignite the crowded space with charm, cheek and even with a little grace. Yet underneath it all is just a phenomenal front person who infuses soul within the mighty riffs and rhythms of Life of Agony. A group who have successfully capitalized on integrity and their performance reflects the authenticity of their music in every respect.
9/10
