Broken Hope is an American

death metal Death metal is an extreme metal, 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 death growl, growling vocals; aggressive ...

band from

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History

Broken Hope was founded in 1988. They were known as an accomplished mid-paced style

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 art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define sing ...

), Jeremy Wagner (rhythm

guitar The guitar is a stringed musical instrument that is usually fretted (with Fretless guitar, some exceptions) and typically has six or Twelve-string guitar, twelve strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming ...

), 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 ...

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 database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

reviewer John Book compared ''Swamped in Gore'' to

Death Death is the end of life; the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain a living organism. Death eventually and inevitably occurs in all organisms. The remains of a former organism normally begin to decompose sh ...

's 1987 debut album '' Scream Bloody Gore''. Following the release of ''Swamped in Gore'',

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records (often shortened to Metal Blade) is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982 based in the U.S. state of California. The label primarily focuses on heavy metal. History Metal Blade Records was ...

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 (wikt:obit#Etymology 2, obit for short) is an Article (publishing), article about a recently death, deceased person. Newspapers often publish obituaries as Article (publishing), news articles. Although obituaries tend to focus on p ...

, Decrepit Birth, Jungle Rot, and Encrust. ''Omen of Disease'' was released September 27, 2013 via

Century Media Records Century Media Records is a German heavy metal record label with offices in Germany, the United States and the United Kingdom. In August 2015, Century Media was acquired by Sony Music for US$17 million. Background Century Media was founded by R ...

. Former band drummer, Ryan Stanek, died in

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on March 1, 2015 from a heart attack. He was 42 years old. Broken Hope's seventh 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

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