Broken Hope
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Broken Hope is an American
death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...
band from
Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...
,
Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...
.


History

Broken Hope was founded in 1988. They were known as an accomplished mid-paced style
death metal Death metal is an extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. It typically employs heavily distorted and low-tuned guitars, played with techniques such as palm muting and tremolo picking; deep growling vocals; aggressive, powerful drumming, feat ...
band with low-pitched growling vocals. As a band, they were active for roughly twelve years, recording five albums between 1991 and 1999. The early lineup of Broken Hope was Joe Ptacek (
vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...
), Jeremy Wagner (rhythm
guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...
), Brian Griffin (lead guitar), and Ryan Stanek (
drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a she ...
s). They scored a deal with the then-fledgling Grindcore/RedLight Label and recorded their debut album, ''Swamped in Gore''.
AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...
reviewer John Book compared ''Swamped in Gore'' to
Death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...
's 1987 debut album ''
Scream Bloody Gore ''Scream Bloody Gore'' is the first studio album by American death metal band Death, released on May 25, 1987, by Combat Records. It is considered by many to be "the first true death metal record". Chuck Schuldiner, the band’s founder and lead ...
''. Following the release of ''Swamped in Gore'',
Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distrib ...
signed the band, who released their second album, ''The Bowels of Repugnance'', in 1993. The band's third album, 1995's ''Repulsive Conception'', reached ''CMJ New Music Monthly'''s Metal Top 25 chart, as did the follow-up, 1997's ''Loathing'', an album which explored topics such as political domination, necrophilia, and safe sex. The band moved to newly formed indie Martyr Records for their fifth album, ''Grotesque Blessings'', released in 1999. Rumors of the band's demise circulated at this time, this also marks the last album Joe Ptacek was on and in April 2002, it was reported by Jeremy Wagner that after the state of Broken Hope had been limbo for about a year, they had disbanded. In a 2007 interview, Wagner explained that several factors, including band dysfunction and a lack of support in Europe from Metal Blade, contributed to the split. Wagner added that the band members had met "face to face" for the first time in five years and discussed a possible reunion. On January 20, 2010, vocalist Joe Ptacek committed suicide. He was 37 years old. The band reunited in 2012 with returning members Shaun Glass and Jeremy Wagner, and new members Mike Miczek and Damian Leski, playing a North American tour with
Obituary An obituary ( obit for short) is an article about a recently deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on positive aspects of the subject's life, this is not always the case. Ac ...
, Decrepit Birth,
Jungle Rot Jungle Rot is an American death metal band from Kenosha, Wisconsin, formed in 1992. History Jungle Rot was founded in 1992 as a side project by Jim Harte and Joe Thomas, members of the Illinois thrash metal act, Prisoner. The band's name ref ...
, and Encrust. ''Omen of Disease'' was released September 27, 2013 via
Century Media Records Century Media Records is a heavy metal record label with offices in the United States, Germany and London. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by Robert Kampf and Oli ...
. Former band drummer, Ryan Stanek, died in
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
on March 1, 2015 from a heart attack. He was 42 years old. Broken Hope's newest album titled ''Mutilated and Assimilated'' was released on June 23, 2017.


Band members


Current members

*Jeremy Wagner – rhythm guitar (1988–2001, 2012–present) *Damian Leski – vocals (2012–present) *Mike Miczek – drums (2012–present) *Matt Szlachta – lead guitar (2014–present) *Diego Soria – bass (2014–present)


Former members

*Joe Ptacek – vocals (1988–2001; died 2010) *Ryan Stanek – drums (1988–1997; died 2015) *Ed Hughes – bass (1988–1994) *Dave Duff – lead guitar (1988–1990) *Brian Griffin – lead guitar (1991–2001) *Shaun Glass – bass (1995–1998, 2012–2014) *Duane Timlin – drums (1997–1998) *Brian Hobbie – bass (1999–2001) *Sean Baxter – drums (1999–2001) *Chuck Wepfer – lead guitar (2012–2014)


Session members

*Ryan Schimmenti – bass (1999) *Mike Zwicke – bass (1999) *Larry DeMumbrum – drums (1999)


Timeline

ImageSize =width:800 height:auto barincrement:18 PlotArea =left:100 bottom:60 top:0 right:10 Alignbars =justify DateFormat =mm/dd/yyyy Period =from:01/01/1988 till:01/01/2023 ScaleMajor = increment:3 start:1988 ScaleMinor = increment:1 start:1988 TimeAxis =orientation:horizontal format:yyyy Legend =orientation:horizontal position:bottom Colors= id:vocals value:red legend:Lead_Vocals id:lead value:teal legend:Lead_Guitar id:rhythm value:brightgreen legend:Rhythm_Guitar id:bass value:blue legend:Bass id:drums value:orange legend:Drums id:studio value:black legend:Studio_Album LineData= at:11/20/1991 color:black layer:back at:11/27/1993 color:black layer:back at:04/17/1995 color:black layer:back at:01/27/1997 color:black layer:back at:10/05/1999 color:black layer:back at:09/27/2013 color:black layer:back at:06/23/2017 color:black layer:back BarData= bar:Joe text:"Joe Ptacek" bar:Damian text:"Damian Leski" bar:Dave text:"Dave Duff" bar:Brian text:"Brian Griffin" bar:Chuck text:"Chuck Wepfer" bar:Matt text:"Matt Szlachta" bar:Jeremy text:"Jeremy Wagner" bar:Ed text:"Ed Hughes" bar:Shaun text:"Shaun Glass" bar:Brian2 text:"Brian Hobbie" bar:Diego text:"Diego Soria" bar:Ryan2 text:"Ryan Stanek" bar:Duane text:"Duane Timlin" bar:Sean text:"Sean Baxter" bar:Mike2 text:"Mike Miczek" PlotData = width:11 textcolor:black align:left anchor:from shift:(10,-4) bar:Joe from:start till:04/01/2001 color:vocals bar:Damian from:04/01/2012 till:end color:vocals bar:Dave from:start till:12/31/1990 color:lead bar:Brian from:01/01/1991 till:04/01/2001 color:lead bar:Chuck from:04/01/2012 till:04/01/2014 color:lead bar:Matt from:04/01/2014 till:end color:lead bar:Jeremy from:start till:04/01/2001 color:rhythm bar:Jeremy from:04/01/2012 till:end color:rhythm bar:Ed from:start till:08/01/1994 color:bass bar:Shaun from:08/01/1994 till:12/31/1998 color:bass bar:Shaun from:04/01/2012 till:04/01/2014 color:bass bar:Brian2 from:01/01/1999 till:04/01/2001 color:bass bar:Diego from:04/01/2014 till:end color:bass bar:Ryan2 from:start till:05/01/1997 color:drums bar:Duane from:05/01/1997 till:12/31/1998 color:drums bar:Sean from:01/01/1999 till:04/01/2001 color:drums bar:Mike2 from:04/01/2012 till:end color:drums


Discography


Albums

* ''Swamped in Gore'' (1991) * ''The Bowels of Repugnance'' (1993) * ''Repulsive Conception'' (1995) * ''Loathing'' (1997) * ''Grotesque Blessings'' (1999) * ''Omen of Disease'' (2013) * ''Mutilated and Assimilated'' (2017)


EPs

* ''Hobo Stew'' (1993)


Other releases

* ''Live Disease'' (2015)


Demos

* ''Broken Hope'' (1990) * ''Demo 2'' (1990) * ''Demo '93 (1993)


References

{{Authority control American death metal musical groups Heavy metal musical groups from Illinois Musical groups from Chicago Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups disestablished in 2001 Musical quintets Metal Blade Records artists