Signs Of Hope - Choices Made
Detonate Records
Review By Jordan A. Baker
Source: www.punknews.org
Whenever I see the words "choices made," I think back to the GOOD RIDDANCE song of the same name from Ballads from the Revolution (and also on the first volume to our "Broken Lamps and Hardcore Memories" compilation). I view that song to be archetypal of modern hardcore after the youth crew era of the late 80s. So with that mind, it's mildly amusing to me that SIGNS OF HOPE inspired youth crew hardcore with outlandish gang vocals, rumbling double-bass, and momentous guitars. The music is mix of TEN YARD FIGHT meets the more evolved musings of BANE's It All Comes To Down This, with less painstaking emotional agony. The best thing about SIGNS OF HOPE is that the band's songs are instantly sing-along friendly and their vocalist doesn't stand before everyone with a mouthful of marbles. One would think this wouldn't be so complicated, but how many recent hardcore bands have fallen by the wayside leaving plenty of hype, but no memorable vocals in their wake? Choices Made is only five songs, but the amount of heart in the music makes this EP feel so much bigger. Take warning.
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Signs Of Hope - Choices Made
Detonate Records
Review By Isaak
Source: www.saveyourscene.com
I guess you know Signs Of Hope. They come from CT and they always deliver straight, catchy hardcore the way all of the kids worldwide like it. The straightness of Ten Yard Fight and the feeling of Bane are almost perfectly combined in this new SOH release.
The band is clear that got more tight after the European tour and the tons of shows in the US, with Have Heart, Outbreak and Guns! Up among hundreds of others.
If you want your hardcore the way it should be, check this ep. Excellent artwork btw.
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Signs Of Hope - First and Foremost
Detonate Records
By George
Source: www.thehvscene.com
I first heard Signs of Hope in 2004 when they put out their demo. At the time I was pretty impressed; youth crew hardcore done well. The band hails from Connecticut, an area that has a storied hardcore history. In true CT fashion, Signs of Hope carry the torch proudly, following in the footsteps of bands like Palehorse, Death Threat and Fastbreak. If I were to describe their sound it'd be a mix between Ten Yard Fight and Fastbreak. Actually, everyone should take a second and listen to the TFY vs. Fastbreak split. As I stated earlier, SOH play standard youth crew hardcore and play it well. They aren't reinventing the wheel with this release but rather are rotating and balancing it. Fast paced songs that rarely clock in over two minutes. The production is great for a DIY release, everything is very clean but you don't get that over-produced, high gloss feel ala every band on Headbanger's Ball. It still has a gritty hardcore feel to it. The art work is what you would come to expect from a youth crew hardcore band; varsity lettering and a picture of a pile on. The lyrics have a very positive feel to them and touch on issues such as one's love for hardcore, positive forward thinking and all in all getting the most out of one's life. SOH clearly put time and effort into this release and you can definitely tell that these guys love hardcore. More power to them. Definitely check them out if they are ever around your area and most importantly continue to support good hardcore.
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Signs of Hope
First and Foremost
Detonate Records
Review by Jason
Source: www.scenepointblank.com
It wasn't more than twenty-four hours from the time that I started typing up this review that I was having a conversation with a friend of mine in the basement bathroom of Cheapo Records about the '88 styled hardcore resurgence that happened, for the most part, in Boston in the last part of the 20th century. He commented on how, although it was his favorite time in hardcore, he could never see another era in hardcore where kids rehashed one of hardcore more positive albeit cheesy times. He could just never see another In My Eyes or Floorpunch coming out of anywhere in the United States. The kids today with their urban street wear and their flat brims would find the athletic driven image to be way too over the top and just plain moronic and silly. Hardcore kids today want super slick slightly metallic hardcore with long-winded emotional outpourings of days of youth just spent. Or they want gloom and doom coupled with beards and Sabbath riffs. The last thing kid's want to hear is a band singing about being stoked on hardcore and moshing at shows.
Sadly, Signs of Hope won't be the jewel of any kid's record collection that happened to go their first show in 2003. However, for me, and my friend accompanying the lavatory in Minnesota's "last record store," we are all about bands reliving the past of bands that are reliving the past of bands before them. Signs of Hope are hopefully another start the third wave of youth crew, much needed in a time of stylized moshing, fests with an incredible number of like-sounding bands, and kids that wouldn't give a shit unless someone came and moshed them out a window.
First and Foremost is not the greatest '97 revival album, The First Step currently waves that torch. Nevertheless, Signs of Hope isn't anything to knock either. First and Foremost reminds me of the first Ten Yard Fight album without any of the football references. First and Foremost is just a fast, stompy, energetic hardcore album that can be a bit lackadaisical at times even though there isn't an original note played on it. However, I'd rather listen to Ten Yard Fight part two than Modern Life is War part eight or American Nightmare part 4,000,882,001. I don't need hear any more lyrics about small towns, broken hearts, and stitches. I want to hear more songs about not wanting to go to work and smashing the alarm clock with a baseball bat. I want to hear more songs with the word "Go" in it when it's not paired up with, "Go away, waa-waa my heart shreds." No, I want “Go” as in "GO!" - 1, 2, 3, fucking GO! Move, have fun, mosh, sing along. This is what hardcore should be all about anyhow.
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Signs Of Hope
First and Foremost
Detonate Records
By: Jeff Karbow
Source: www.siczine.com
This five-piece comes from Southern CT and their singer is the label owner of Detonate records. They formed in 2003 with the intentions of writing straight to the point youth crew hardcore with a positive message. Previously to releasing this full length, they released a 3-song demo.
There are ten short bursts of youth crew hardcore done the only way a CT band knows to; fast, sing alongs, some brief mosh parts and ultra-posi lyrics. The shit isn't bad but it's just so by the books. I will say this the drummer seems like he should be in a heavier band after hearing him shine in the last track, "Another Song" where the song ends on heavy breakdown with pummeling double bass, a complete departure from the rest of their material.
I'm not even going to bother going into detail about the lyrical themes of this album because if you have heard one CT youth crew album you've heard them all. The song titles are all the description needed: Look Inside, Breaking It Down, For The Core, By Your Side, Who You Are, etc,.
The album was recorded by Greg of Risk Taken at Silver Bullet Studios and mastered by Alan Douches (damn this dude must be a busy guy). Overall there is little to complain about, the guitars sound good, the bass tone is solid, the drums sound real good and the vocals are good. No complaints.
The layout looks like a modernized version of the typical youth crew album covers coming out in ‘88. The front cover is a blue silhouetted live shot of the band with a simple lighter blue text is used for the band logo and the album title right beneath it is in yellow. The booklet is standard; the lyrics are displayed over the three panels with not much going on in the background except for a barely visible live photo placed on one of the pages. The best part of the layout is the map of the bands hometown area in the tray. |
