Against All Hope

We have a long history of showcasing standout indie artists, but with this special we take it one step further and showcase standout indie artists that are making it happen on their own. 

While the goal for most DIY bands is to get their music out on their own and not wait for that "record deal", the record deal is usually the ultimate goal. And when an artist takes it upon themselves to go the DIY route with a self-release and succeed, it actually makes it easier for a label to see the wisdom of signing them. That is usually when labels will take a chance on a band that doesn't fit nicely into a little "current trend" box.  We here at the antiMusic Network wish the artists featured here nothing but success, whether it is a total DIY affair or they ultimately use their DIY skills to land a deal. 

The artists featured in this series all cover different areas of rock. The last time we looked at the debut album from Long Beach Rockers Twelvehourmary. This time we venture half-way across the U.S. to central Indiana to check out metal monsters Against All Hope. 

(Somewhere in Indiana) Out here in the middle of nowhere little burg I call home, I think the following story should help establish what a cool anomaly the thrash band Against All Hope is for a place like this. There is a gigantic billboard hanging along a road I drive, sponsored by one of the many country music stations that infest my fair town. On it is a larger than  life guy in a black cowboy hat leering down at the drivers as they cruise by. I assume it's either one of the DJs, or some big famous country dude. I have no idea, they don't have any information on that billboard besides the station number & call letters, smug in their belief that every single person that ambles by will know exactly who he is. In this seething hot bed of NASCAR aficionados & big famous country guys that need no identification is a band that must not have been born & raised here to produce a sound this intense. They thrash so hard & well that I've decided they all must be from someplace with an actual thrash music scene. Allow me tell you about their new self-produced album, Revenge of Me.

As I listened to this album the first time, 2 questions occurred to me. 1) Would I be as impressed with these guys if they didn't hail from Redneck Central? 2) How can a band that's missing a bass player release a thrash album? The answers soon followed, lightning speed. 1) You'd have to be from around these parts & not only know who the black hat guy is, but have a huntin' dawg in the bed of your pickup truck that barks out a greeting to the mysterious huge country dude as you pass to not be impressed with the raw talent & excellence saturating this CD. 2) The drummer, guitarist & vocalist fulfill their roles in life so well you literally don't hear any musical shortcomings. Every song amazed me initially for those 2 reasons. Fortunately, there is enough depth here to have impressed me enough on other levels to write about them.

Against All Hope are obviously influenced by the thrash metal cream of the crop, but rather than blatantly ripping off their idols, they have their own unique sound. I detest music that attempts to sail in on someone else's talent, I like anything that smacks of freshness & originality no matter what metal genre it falls into. These guys respect their metallic influences enough to leave other people's riffs & hooks alone & come up with their own. That deserves heaps of praise. The musical ability & talent in this little band screams out for notice. I just can't say that enough different ways. The guitar work is fast & creative & unlike anything else I've heard in a long time. The weight of not having a bass player falls heavily on the drummer, and man, can that guy jam! Some drummers can play lickety split, sacrificing brute power for speed. Some can pound 'em with an intensity that almost registers seismic shock waves on a Geiger counter. This guy does both! The singer can not only actually sing, but scream along with the best of them. The last song features not only the back & forth between such vocal diversity, but the rest of the band demonstrating that the singer is not the only musical chameleon in the band. 

Hopefully this hillbilly town in the middle of nowhere doesn't annihilate the thrashin' spirit that's so alive in Against All Hope, & they are able to escape this living death we call home. Maybe one day they'll be the anonymous guys on a billboard on a road I drive... Nah, what was I thinking? The Clear Channel Radio Cartel jockeys that musically strangle this town from afar with their fetid 3 Doors Down and A Perfect Circle might have an embolism & die if they ever heard anything much harder than Slipknot, unfortunately. 

Check out http://againstallhope.tk/ for more info, to purchase Revenge of Me, or to apply for a job as their bass player. If the latter, you better rock, otherwise your presence is entirely unnecessary.