Let's start with the most obvious thing about the Hope Conspiracy. Naming an album Death Knows Your Name is pretty much amazing. It's cartoonish in its excess. Also, it makes the 16 year old hardcore kid in me freak out a bit, which is embarrassing, but whatever, it's happening.

Biggest criticism: I think the cymbals have a bit too much treble on them and while that helps them pierce through the clutter and add a layer of crashing static, it can be grating at times. It's hard to get a good mix on a hardcore album, especially one that's as heavy as Death Knows Your Name. The riffs are brutish and a thin guitar sound or light distortion wouldn't allow these very long breakdowns to flex with the same authority. Here it seems like The Hope Conspiracy sought to avoid sounding like a muddy mess by thinning out the very present and active cymbals and it works in most instances. Further, I can't really articulate why it doesn't work at certain points, so maybe it's not really the cymbals that are the offender here.

"They Know Not" is the opening track off the album and, appropriately enough, it comes equipped with a slow, sorta-of-maybe-dramatic lead in. It's been on repeat the past day and a half because it's pretty much everything I want in a hardcore song right now. The slow march of the snare and the pounding crash never give way to a faster, punk tempo and the heavy guitars never break from the downbeats. The song lives and dies with its ability to stretch a very simple and intense breakdown towards the 4 minute mark without becoming boring or arduous. I think the few pauses they add help with that, but ultimately, this is just very well done. Then again, maybe I'm just a nerd.

Hope Conspiracy - "They Know Not"