Hope
Light of the Salvation
5.6
Synopsis:
Even when I blindly sign up for demos to review, I still mange to score a Christian metalcore record....
Review:
I know, I know, with a band name like Hope and a demo called Light of the Salvation, I should have expected this, but give me a break - I did pick it randomly and they are Croatian not American.
Anyhoo, being a demo (albeit a full length, 9 track conceptual demo), Hope’s hopeful offering has all the expected pitfalls of a demo, namely weak production and slightly sloppy musicianship mixed with tentative song writing as the band tries find their niche; thrash or metalcore. That being said there are enough moments of promise on Light of the Salvation.
Hope smartly open with the demo’s best track, “Silver Gods” a bouncy melodic metalcore track with catchy if slightly unrefined guitar melodies that show Hope have got some skills and can pen a good, complete song. “Mind Over Matter” is almost as good but at “Jesus Loves You” things start to get a bit spotty as the band tries a sort of gritty, messy 80s thrash. The same can be said for “Just a Fantasy” and “Dream Your Dreams” which break up the moderately enjoyable melodies of tracks like “Light of the Salvation”, “Ad Aternum” and the introspection of “In Remeberance” and “Metamorphosis”.
The vocals also need work as Marijan Mikicc is pretty rough around the edges much like the rest of the band, but eager and certainly dedicated, (How many bands deliver professionally pacakged 9 song conceptual demos the first go around?).
I’m not sure how signable this group is until they tighten up a bit. Solid State or Tooth & Nail isn’t in their future just yet, but I will certainly be interested to see how Hope develop.
