The Hope Conspiracy - True Nihilist (Review)

Fuck yeah! I was suprised to find this 7" from Deathwish in the mail today, I kinda forgot I pre-ordered it a few weeks ago. After listening to those three songs for about an hour non-stop, all I can say is: They still know how to do it.
But let's start with the packaging: The cover is actually a small poster, full-colored print on the front and on the back, printed on thick, rough paper. On the back you'll find the usual infos about who did what and so on. To be honest, I was quite surprised to find out that Jacob Bannon did the artwork, I don't know, I wouldn't have expected this "style", but I mean, it looks amazing.
So the music - I really like every single song THC did in their existence, I love every record and listen to them on a regular basis. I was really happy when they released the "Death knows your name" full length after their break, and I still think it's an amazing record, but in my opinion "Endnote" is really their "Sgt. Peppers", a record everybody who claims to be into Hardcore should know. For everybody who thinks the same about this, here's the good news: I think those three new songs on this EP sound a lot more like "Endnote" songs than "Death knows..." songs. Of course they have a little more rocking feeling, so I'd say soundwise it's 70 % "Endnote" and 30 % "Death knows...", which is great, at least in my book. The production's good as always, drums, bass and guitars sound great, the leads are amazing, and the vocals are just... perfect. Pissed off, emotional and angry. When speaking of perfect things, I have to mention the lyrics as well. War, death, religion and pain are the main topics I'd say, but you have to read the lyrics yourself to get the clue. Just a small example: "Dark days are here/The chaos is the prayer/and your hell/religious persistence/Christ bastard son of heaven/we believe in nothing/only the strength of self" (from "The dismal tide"). So, final words: Can't wait for more + I hope for at least one more Europe tour so I can see them once again.

The Hope Conspiracy on myspace.com