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Live Review from Underground 61:
Dressed in matching black shirts and looking slick with groomed haircuts, Ignite the Hope started out looking a bit emo, but soon made it clear that rock-metal anarchy rules. Bands with piss-take, misleading goody-goody names straight from a preacher’s mouth are always sooper-cool. (Shepherds the Weak are another awesome example and playing next Underground.)
ITH’s set was marked from start to end with ground-shaking bass and drums and big, discordant, punk screaming - with some strained higher end vocals - something the crowd went nuts for with some serious moshing and head banging going on in front of the stage. “R U fucking ready?” Yep, as good as we’ll ever be as Guns N Roses-style guitar riffs ricocheted off the walls knocking down everything standing in their projectile paths. Not so much a single line of melody, just an aggressive screaming lead guitar adding to the Great Wall of metal-rock.
The final song saw Innisfallen’s drummer guesting on vocals in a great move that added a brilliant dynamic to the band’s sound. That little guy in glasses is one kick-arse screamer delivering a burst of creepy hardcore metal vocals. (See Nick Spodac, you can’t judge a nerd by its cover.)
Ignite the Hope ignite the hope by smashing everything else around that is pussy.
Isobel S. Saunders
Live Review from Underground 43:
a bit more to the punk side of the rock spectrum with just a touch of death’s essence, they keep it coherent and logical while still making a fair amount of hopeful noise. they step into the rhythms and styles of quite a few types of metal and punk but never very far, instead largely sticking to fairly middle-of-the-road indie rock with just a bit of begging attitude. named ignite the hope, all i really pick up is optimistic despair. they’re very good at that though. with a different vocal style and a little more focus on all things dark and complex, they’d make a very respectable death metal band. an additional lead guitar would make them even more focused and excellent.
Amos
Performances:
Official Band Website: http://www.myspace.com/ignitethehope
