Life of Agony’s Alan Robert on River Runs Red and The Beauty of Horror

So today we welcome to the show Alan Robert, bassist and songwriter of the alternative metal band Life of Agony.

Alan, great to have you on.

It's always funny when people say alternative metal.

What is alternative metal?

What would you call Life of Agony?

You know, it's hard to throw us in a bucket, but it's a mixture of metal, hardcore, punk.

I mean, it's all the above, you know.

I never knew what alternative metal, what other alternative metal bands are there, right?

I was speaking to Kenny Hickey of Typo Negative last week, and I was kind of saying that between Typo and Life of Agony, those were the two most unique hard rock metal bands, whatever you want to call them, that come out of New York in that 90s period.

And he threw in there Biohazard.

He said, you got to put Biohazard in there, too.

Yeah.

And all of it spawns from Pete Steele and Carnivore, really.

You know, we're all You know, and we're in awe of his greatness and the doors he opened for all of us, you know.

You yourself have built this career and it's kind of this intersection of heavy music, horror, visual art.

And, you know, not many people that I speak to can kind of state that claim.

But maybe going back to those early days of Life of Agony, I mean, you kind of started the band and you kind of have been that primary songwriter and visually shaped the band's identity.