Morning Again - Hand of Hope (1996)^{Release ID: 4874}

Oh wow! This is a huge positive twist in my rediscovery journey. After a couple sh*tty demo EPs from other metalcore bands, here we have a perfect compilation of demos from this band Morning Again, worth money from the buyer. There are 7 songs in 30 minutes, and I almost think of Hand of Hope as a full mini-album. So great with lots of heavy tracks! So where I do begin?...

Morning Again are legends in the metal/hardcore scene. At that time, their frontman was Damien Moyal, a straight-edge vocalist who was also in Shai Hulud at that time. It's thanks to those two bands that the Floridian music scene has expanded to more than just death metal and *shudder* Backstreet Boys and Disney, paving the way for other metalcore bands like Trivium. Morning Again broke up after one official album, but they've since reunited multiple times and released a couple more EPs. However, Moyal moved on to melodic hardcore band As Friends Rust, and he remained vocalist for that band except for those 6 years when the other members performed as Salem.

Now back to this Morning Again release... The first song "Turning Over" rockets towards you with a metalcore blast. I think talking about many of these awesome songs here won't do them justice, so I'll just note the highlights such as the aforementioned opener. And oh yeah, we have the grand 6-minute epic "Minus One" that marks the perfect blend of beautiful and heavy. The last of the 7 tracks, "God Framed Me" continues the hardcore intensity of blending violence with melody.

I think I just found a new favorite vocalist in Damien Moyal, almost rivaling Converge's Jacob Bannon. Props to Morning Again for this incredible work! If you enjoy Shai Hulud and other metallic hardcore, surely you wouldn't wanna miss this. It's an album of hardcore insanity!

Favorites: "Turning Over", "Minus One", "God Framed Me"