‘In the garden of sorrow where nothing grows, haunted by faces I used to know, thorns of grief pricking skin, blood for roses that no longer bloom’ (Flowers For Ghosts)

A bleakly resonant bass line is enveloped in squalling feedback.  This subsides into mournfully roiling, darkly melodic guitar and sparsely restrained percussion.  Sombre spoken word evokes a stirring mantra to the power of community and collective action.  Another World Is Possible is quite the opening and one that Hope? do not squander.

Hell On Planet Earth sees Hope? following up on their 2023 7-inch, Your Perception Is Not My Reality.  As much as I enjoyed the latter, it barely prepares you for the sledgehammer fury of this, their debut full-length.  The Portland band have taken their trademark metallic crust and dialled up the intensity to the maximum, while also bringing a razor-sharp focus to their song writing.  It is a compelling combination.

There is a notable muscularity to the guitar, a fierce clarity amid the distortion as the riffage unfurls, alongside a d-beat fuelled rhythm section that locks in with an unrelenting precision.  From the surging Mycelium to the agitated Five Of Swords, by way of the haunting oscillations of Flowers For Ghosts, the velocity is savagely marshalled.  The defining force though is, perhaps, the vocals.  Harshly rasping, frequently duelling with the guttural roar of the guitarists, they lurk on the spectrum of sheer rhythmic vehemence somewhere between Flower and Sacrilege.

Lyrically, the album challenges the warped logic that builds a society based on human exploitation and planetary extraction.  Yet it is shaped throughout by an unquenchable defiance.  A defiance that recognises the importance of maintaining hope.  That recognises the power of creating alternative social networks.  And that recognises that nothing is inevitable, nor is power eternal.