The Hope Conspiracy – True Nihilist
After 2006’s Death Knows Your Name, one of the greatest achievements in the modern hardcore scene to date, Massachusetts natives The Hope Conspiracy left eager hardcore fans in speculation as to how they would follow such a formidable release. The hardcore quintet have always been credited for their powerful, aggressive sound, but with their latest release they proved themselves leaders of the genre, further expanding the new breed of anger that was birthed in the hardcore scene with Death Knows Your Name.
The True Nihilist EP features three of the most crushing hardcore tracks since 2008’s Cursed record, Three: Architects of Troubled Sleep. They grapple you by the throat from start to finish, hardly giving you time to breathe. “In the Shadow of God” opens this aural assault, instantly reminiscent of Deathwish colleagues, Disfear, with its pounding bass line and dirty D-beat rhythm. The thrashing quickly continues in “Greed Taught, War Driven, Born to Die”, the highlight of the record, which launches quickly from its thick, crust punk intro, to an Every Time I Die-like main riff that is fast and relentless. The album slows down on “The Dismal Tide”, but steadily builds to a climax reminiscent of Modern Life is War, making for one of the most emotional moments on the record, as vocalist Kevin Baker screams the title till his lungs give.
The only thing worth speculating is whether or not The Hope Conspiracy and Deathwish can do wrong at all, because the former just released their best work to date, and the latter lead the scene in quality bands. 2009’s True Nihilist will beat you to a pulp, and leave you “dying in the shadow of God”.
(8.7/10)
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"to an Every Time I Die-like main riff that is fast and relentless. The album slows down on “The Dismal Tide”, but steadily builds to a climax reminiscent of Modern Life is War"
Do you REALLY think a band full of guys in their mid 30's who were on tour and releasing material in 1999 are influenced by bands like Modern Life Is War who were probably in high school then? Is a "build up" really a Modern Life Is War type of thing? What the fuck is an "Every Time I Die-like riff"? Does that actually mean anything? Does any reviewer out there listen to music that was around before myspace? Nothing against either of those two bands but is there no better frame of legitimate reference?
well, the analysis does not explicitly state that they are influenced by the aforementioned bands. Keep in mind that this is a review, intended to shed light on facets of the particular sound by comparison with other musical peers. MLIW owe a lot of their style to Hope Con, (and ETID formed a year earlier then Hope Con, releasing their first ep just before "Cold Blue") but they are labelmates and as such, deserve the frame of reference. I myself try to avoid comparing a bands sound to others as a single means of description, but I think it works just fine here. A kid from Alaska whose record store only had Hot Damn! may be inclined to give Hope Con some money via this review. Cheers
The reason I bring up bands like the ones I did, is because as a reviewer I want to get modern music out there, and these bands deserve to be recognized.
Also, it's a perfectly legitimate frame of reference. Just because MLIW are younger it doesn't exempt them from being influential, and since when are bands not influenced by modern music? Tons of bands will mention new music they like, and to say that only older music influences them is ridiculous…I mean you can't always control what you're influenced by when you're writing music.
You seem to be thinking more along the lines of bands that molded their sound, when I was just making reference to a similar sounding part that another band incorporates. Obviously in the case of both the bands I mentioned, they didn't "create" that sound or anything, they just also use it, so it serves as a sort of convenient point of reference.
Understandable. I guess my point was that it seems irrelevant and uninteresting that a bands "part" sounds similar to another bands part. Perhaps the bands evolution and contribution to a genre of music is arguably more important and relevant in both the smaller and grander scope of things. I guess I should just leave you alone and write my own reviews. hah!
Hm, I think they're equally relevant. Though, you seem to know your stuff, other people may not, which is where using other bands as reference can come in handy.
Perhaps you'd enjoy reading me rant about the evolution of Hope Con haha (granted I wouldn't mind writing it), but the way I see it, my role is to give an outline of the release. It doesn't necessarily have to be brief, but when it's a 3 song EP we're talking about, I think it would be pretty unnecessary to write an essay.
By all means write your own, but feel free to discuss as well
Hope Con > hardcore > ETID.
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