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Broken Valley
Studio album by
ReleasedJune 14, 2005
October 17, 2005 (UK)
RecordedApril – December 2004
Studio Sunset Sound Recorders & Westlake Audio, Los Angeles
Genre
Length43:38
Label Epic
Producer Greg Fidelman
Life of Agony chronology
Soul Searching Sun
(1997)
Broken Valley
(2005)
A Place Where There's No More Pain
(2017)
Singles from Broken Valley
  1. "Love to Let You Down"
    Released: March 21, 2005 [1]

Broken Valley is the fourth studio album by American alternative metal band Life of Agony, released on June 14, 2005 by Epic Records. It is the band's first album in eight years, following 1997's Soul Searching Sun, and first with the band's classic, original line-up since Ugly in 1995. Epic Records elected not to issue Broken Valley in the United Kingdom upon release. However, the album was eventually released in the UK on October 17, 2005 through Sony BMG Music Entertainment under exclusive UK license to Hassle Records. The Hassle Records' limited edition included a special, bonus DVD along with a previously unreleased, bonus track from the Broken Valley recording sessions. [2]

Commercial performance

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic [3]
Blabbermouth8/10 [4]
Drowned in Sound9/10 [5]

Broken Valley debuted at number 147 on the Billboard 200, selling 7,689 copies in its first week. [6] [7] However, the album quickly fell off the charts, and by December 2005 it had only sold 28,000 copies in the US. [8]

The album's sales in the US were also damaged by the Sony BMG copy protection rootkit scandal, and was one of the affected albums selected for recall from retailers in November 2005. [9] [10]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Life Of Agony

No.TitleLength
1."Love to Let You Down"3:40
2."Last Cigarette"2:56
3."Wicked Ways"4:02
4."Don't Bother"3:30
5."Strung Out"3:59
6."Junk Sick"3:18
7."The Calm That Disturbs You"3:15
8."No One Survives"1:34
9."Justified"6:21
10."The Day He Died"3:19
11."Broken Valley"5:17
12."Room 244"2:22
Total length:43:38
No.TitleLength
13."DNR" ("UK Only" Bonus Track)2:20
Total length:45:58

Bonus DVD

Several versions of the album were accompanied by a DVD, in which the band discussed their break-up and why they got back together.

The DVD includes several easter eggs such as a studio rehearsal of "Junk Sick" and backstage footage.

Personnel

Life of Agony
Additional
  • Greg Fidelman – producer
  • Tony Zeller – engineer
  • Johnny Fairfax – engineer
  • Kevin Dean – engineer
  • Ted Jensen – mastering
  • Myriam Santos-Kayda – photography

Footnotes

  1. ^ BraveWords. "LIFE OF AGONY - Broken Valley Delayed". bravewords.com. Retrieved April 15, 2022.
  2. ^ Life Of Agony - Broken Valley, retrieved December 15, 2022
  3. ^ AllMusic review
  4. ^ Blabbermouth (June 13, 2005). "Broken Valley - LIFE OF AGONY". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  5. ^ "Album Review: Life of Agony - Broken Valley". DrownedInSound. Archived from the original on October 23, 2018. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  6. ^ Blabbermouth (June 22, 2005). "SOUNDSCAN REPORT: FOO FIGHTERS, STATIC-X, AS I LAY DYING, DARK NEW DAY, LIFE OF AGONY". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  7. ^ "Life of Agony". Billboard. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  8. ^ Blabbermouth (December 22, 2005). "LIFE OF AGONY's ALAN ROBERT Discusses Technique With BASS GUITAR Magazine". BLABBERMOUTH.NET. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
  9. ^ "CD’s Containing XCP Content Protection Technology", MusikWoche web site. Retrieved September 6, 2010.
  10. ^ "Are You Affected By Sony-BMG's Rootkit?", Electronic Frontier Foundation web site. Retrieved September 6, 2010.