by Halloween arrives early this year, on July 24th to be exact. Not really, but that’s when Life of Agony bassist, Alan Robert, will see his adult coloring book, The Beauty of Horror, Volume 3: Haunted Playgrounds, hit shelves.
Robert’s last two coloring books landed coveted spots on the New York Times best seller list, and given his artistic prowess and penchant for all things creepy and spooky, he is sure to make the list a third time with The Beauty of Horror, Volume 3: Haunted Playgrounds. In fact, The Beauty of Horror has become its own established brand name, being distributed by the titans like Walmart and Target, in addition to Amazon.
They say that lightning doesn’t strike twice, but in the case of Life of Agony’s Alan Robert, it didn’t just strike twice, but at exactly the same time, forcing him to choose a career between his two passions: art and music.
During his senior year at New York’s School of Visual Arts, where he studied under Marvel Comics’ Thor artist Walt Simonson, Life of Agony was offered a coveted record deal by RoadRunner Records. The band’s newfound opportunity and success resulted in Robert putting his artistic aspirations on hold, something that he had pursued since the age of 10. Robert explained to Revolver Magazine:
The band was building great momentum and you could just feel that something was going to happen. There was a definite aura about it. There was something really special going on with the band that I couldn’t ignore.
However, passion is a fire that isn’t easily snuffed. Nearly two decades after Life of Agony dropped their debut album, River Runs Red, Robert released his first ever comic book via IDW Publishing, Wire Hangers, a four-part horror/conspiracy miniseries entirely penned and illustrated by Robert himself. Since then, Robert has gone on to release two other original comic book series (Crawl to Me and Killogy), as well as two critically acclaimed macabre adult coloring books, which were some of the best-selling adult coloring books in 2016 and 2017, each earning 5-star ratings on Amazon!
With the recent release of the first new Life of Agony album since 2005, A Place Where There’s No More Pain, Robert has now found a balance between his visual arts and music. Despite a copious amount of touring and writing new music, Robert has kicked his coloring book into high gear, releasing not one, but three books this year! In addition, his comic book Crawl to Me is currently in development to become a live-action feature film.
Rock Hard \m/
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