OMEN OF DISEASE ALBUM REVIEW PUBLISHED OCTOBER 8, 2013
BROKEN HOPE
Feel like listening to some gut wrenching, face melting Death Metal but just too bored with the classics like Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation? Broken Hope isn't exactly a newer band (actually they've been around just about as long as Cannibal Corpse and Suffocation) but they've got that fresh taste of Death Metal that we all have been craving for. With a new line up, a new label and a new album, Broken Hope has rise from the ashes after ten years of silence.
Now bursting into full throttle, Broken Hope has released their new music baby Omen of Disease on October 1st and have begun a North American tour along with Deicide, Disgorge and Necronomicon. Broken Hope has learned a few new tricks on the way and came out with a photo campaign for their new album which features the band looking like they have just come come down with the plague. As far as their music goes, some say it hasn't changed all that much but with a new line up change is inevitable.
The opening track "Septic Premonitions" begins with eerie techno beats that die down to give way to a heavy fast paced beat and the low drawn out growls of Damian Leski. I personally like a tad bit more pronunciation to my growls much like Joe Ptaceks, former Broken Hope vocalist. But Leski's deep reverberating growls grew on me after a few tracks. The differentiation in the vocals also give the songs a different feel from earlier Broken Hope, marking off the old from the new.
Along with a change in vocal style is a tighter set up in general which leaves the band open to creating faster songs with a bit more versatility in their arrangements. Tracks like "Rendered Into Lard" demonstrate this with quick changes within the song from blast beats to slower, fist-pumping beats all mixed with guitarists Jeremy Wagner and Chuck Wepfer showing off their skills with multi-layered solos.
Broken Hope has always been considered a "technical death metal" band and its nice to see how that translates into the current metal scene where being technical is taken to an extreme. With their personal knowledge of old school death metal, Broken Hope has made an album that keeps up with what fans want to hear. To say the least Broken Hope's singles off of Omen of Disease, "The Docking Dead" and "The Flesh Mechanic," are fast-paced, heavy songs that will make hair fly at shows.
Though there isn't exactly anything new in how Broken Hope manipulates the genre within this album, that's exactly what makes it the type of Death Metal that fans love. You get absolutely everything you want from them in Omen of Disease.
Come back to check out our live show review of their October 8th 2013 Toronto show!