Keith Caputo
Died Laughing

THE REVIEW

These days, I've lost myself in listening to the first solo album by that small great personality named Keith Caputo. To most, his name will say little or nothing; to some, it will remind them he is the vocalist of a band with Metal-core origins from New York, the "Life Of Agony", somewhat of the younger siblings of the more fortunate "Type O Negative".

Released in 2000, it represents the first solo album of his career, followed by three more releases, taking advantage of the disbandment of the main band, which returned in 2005 and remains active. In his solo works, Caputo completely distances himself from the sound of the New York band, favoring acoustic and intimate sounds. Therefore, few guitar riffs but many melancholic and often minimal ballads with frequently autobiographical lyrics.

Keith Caputo is the product of a childhood one wouldn't wish on anyone. The son of parents destroyed and defeated by heroin, Keith had to build his life on his own strength, and in music, he found an escape and a response to his existence. Gifted with one of the best voices rock has produced in the nineties, Caputo vents his anger and existential thoughts in these twelve mature and never shouted songs.

With Life Of Agony, Caputo shouts his anger; as a solo artist, he tries to delve into the soul, producing pearls like the stunning "Razzberry Mockery", a song that deserved more. A ballad that gets imprinted in your mind with the bitter description of his sad childhood denied by certain things that, in adulthood, you either embrace with resignation or keep away with all your might, especially if these things took away your parents' lives.

There's little rock in this album, as I was saying, just the opening "Honeycomb" and the concluding "Lollipop" and "Upsy Daisy"". Songs with a strong grunge flavor and the only ones where electric guitars appear. Dedicated to a martyr of grunge is the almost jazzy "Cobain (Rainbow Deadhead)", almost as if to liken his life to that of Cobain. But Caputo would never compromise to such an extent with life; his desire to exist emanates from all the tracks, and seeing him, one cannot but feel admiration and sympathy for this small and almost funny man gifted with a unique voice.

Listening to the album, certain Caputo's loves for the Californian west coast surface, as in "Selfish", "New York City", "Home", or for the psychedelic Beatles as in "Just Be" and "Brandy Duval", where the use of string instruments and orchestrations make their appearance. An entirely intimate album that gradually gets inside you, performed with passion from start to finish, banning the use of electronics in favor of real instruments to make everything warmer and more enveloping.

Released by Roadrunner, also the label of Life Of Agony at the time, it went almost entirely unnoticed, much like the almost unknown Keith Caputo, an unrecognized talent. However, his musician friends remembered him. Therefore, we can find Caputo in the backing vocals of the successful Bloody Kisses by his friends Type O Negative (from whom Life Of Agony will snatch drummer Sal Abruscato) or dueting in the single by gothic metallers Within Temptation "What have you done". Roadrunner has not forgotten him either, calling him along with dozens of other artists for the compilation celebrating the label's 25th anniversary. Caputo wrote the lyrics and played the piano on the song "Tired'n'lonely".

Now it's up to you to discover him if you don't already know him.