Broken Hope
Swamped In Gore

After a break due to exams, we now return to the eighth episode of the most beloved series among metal fans, "Discovering Forgotten Death Metal"; this time we might also make a small exception and talk about forgotten Brutal Death metal. The definition is a bit tight for Broken Hope, not so much because they are forgotten (in fact, no one more forgotten than them who's kept releasing albums without anyone talking about it) but because they don't have much Brutal Death in them: but that little they have is enough to make them "level up" and propel them, as they say, out of the frying pan into the fire. Although no one ever talks about them, at the beginning of the last decade they were also there trying, in vain, to make their filthy voice heard; unfortunately, at the same time, there were also all those other bands that we all know, and the Chicago group never experienced a real boom. The peak of their career is indeed represented by signing a three-album deal with Metal Blade Records, after which they went back to struggling before breaking up in 2001.

For those who don't remember exactly, in 1991 some works were published that were destined to change the game for Death Metal: we're talking about "Effigy Of The Forgotten" by Suffocation, "Butchered At Birth" by Cannibal Corpse, "Dawn Of Possession" by Immolation and, to a significantly lesser extent, "Considered Dead" by Gorguts and this "Swamped In Gore". What was different about these records? Well, for the first three, we could say they were faster than a normal Death CD, darker, infinitely more technical, more complex and, more than anything else, they upended the classic Metal song structure (Thrash, Death, Heavy or whatever it is) which included the verse, pre-chorus, chorus, etc., etc. (this has already been said by someone else, so I won't repeat it). To put it briefly, these groups took something from Grindcore (the super-fast tempos and complete absence of eighties Metal elements) and most of Death (the heaviness of the riffing and some of the structures) to then enrich everything at a strictly musical level. The result was a new genre, Brutal Death, little appreciated by purists but much loved by hotheads and by all those who didn't want to take it lightly.

Broken Hope debuted with their eponymous album in 1990 and released their first decent LP a year later. The album sits midway between the two currents and retains elements of classic Death (the guitar arrangements and drum use) combined with more extreme elements (the deeper vocals and absence of song structures): what comes out is an album still in its incubator, comparable to the aforementioned "Considered Dead". The riffing is not very complicated but already tends to veer away from Thrash clichés, becoming more compact and gloomy. The solos occasionally may remind one of Traditional Death albums, but they are given much less space and are no longer the most anticipated part of the song: the guitars are increasingly lower, the chords become more distorted and full-bodied, the production is filtered "Yes, so that it seemed that the air trembled." The drums occasionally provide some surprises, which does not only mean accelerating using Blast Beat, but also daring some slightly more unusual timing that Death traditionalists would never have dreamed of. Finally, how can we not mention the bass breaks? I specify that not many were using them at the time, and even though they aren't very difficult, they represent an attempt to stand out. As if that weren't enough, the themes become even more gruesome, and the singer's growl (not far from that of Chris Barnes) plunges even deeper into the low frequencies.

Do you still have doubts that, at least partially, "Swamped In Gore" can be defined as a Brutal Death album? Obviously, the most crushing possible slowdowns are not missing; in short, whether we like it or not, "Swamped In Gore" is a classic, indeed, it is not only a classic it is also a good album (this is to say that unlike others I have reviewed in this cycle, it has ontological dignity regardless of its publication date). Unfortunately, alongside destructive episodes like "Gobbling The Guts" or "Cannibal Crave", there are more repetitive and boring tracks like "Dismembered Carcass", and here I take the opportunity to point out the tenderness of these titles.

Broken Hope has always proven to be a very valid (Brutal) Death band, even after their debut; however, although their work improved over the years both technically (already the subsequent 1993 demo was better and more properly "Brutal") and compositionally, the band never became successful. This is a clear injustice because, like it or not, our five American boys influenced the way of playing Death at least in the underground: and an underground band that manages to live ten years producing five LPs deserves a lot of respect.

PS: I want to propose to the staff to include the term "Brutal Death Metal" among the de-genres. Philosophically, I could prove that Brutal Death is a degenerate and degenerated genre (or de-genre), thus deserving a place among the de-genres (even among those that are not degenerate).