HOPELESS HOPES

"Hopeless Hopes" is the debut full-length studio album by Canadian, Quebec based technical death metal act Martyr. The album was originally independently released in November 1997, but Galy Records reissued the album in 2006 giving it a better chance to be heard. Martyr formed in 1994 and released the 1995 "Ostrogoth" demo and the 1997 "Non Conformis" demo before opting to self-release "Hopeless Hopes". The latter mentioned demo is a pre-production demo featuring the album track "Non Conformis". The three demo tracks from the "Ostrogoth" demo have been re-recorded and included on "Hopeless Hopes" (along with the final version of "Non Conformis").

Stylistically Martyr are obviously greatly influenced by mid-90s Death (the band) and their sophisticated and technical death metal sound, and it´s fans of that sound who are the main audience for "Hopeless Hopes". But Martyr haven´t clearly defined their sound at this point, and there is a more brutal and direct death metal element found on "Hopeless Hopes", which at times remind me of a less pummeling and brutal Deicide. So while "Hopeless Hopes" is sometimes both technical and progressive in style (which is heard on the opening title track), it has this other more savage and menacing side to it too. The vocals also vary between a raw Chuck Schuldiner (Death) snarling and a more brutal shouting/growling Glen Benton (Deicide) type vocal style.

Martyr are a well playing band, but the sound production is slightly lacking in the power department, which makes "Hopeless Hopes" less effective than it could have been. All instruments and vocals are clearly defined in the mix, but there is a something about the levels and the mix which doesn´t work as well as it could have. Upon conclusion "Hopeless Hopes" is a decent quality debut album from Martyr, but while my blood occasionally boils while listening to it, the blatant mid-90s Death clone factor and the lack of power in the sound production are elements which drag my rating down. A 3 star (60%) rating is warranted.

(Originally posted on Metal Music Archives).

'Hopeless Hopes' - Martyr (7/10)

When I listen to music, technicality and instrumental prowess is something I will always notice, but I cannot always appreciate. It is one thing to respect a musician or group of musicians for being able to play things that I admittedly cannot, but when it comes to actually enjoying the music, alot of these technical bands miss their mark. Hence why I have never been big into technical death metal; the bands achieve marvelous things on an objective front, but the lack of feeling and melody leads it to be predictable for me. Martyr are indeed a tech death band, but they take the genre from a bit of a different angle than some of these other bands. Instead of attempting to wow the listener with an unrelenting foray of solos and mindless arpeggios, Martyr takes the core of songwriting as a necessary element of what they do. Martyr's work would improve over the course of their next two albums 'Warp Zone' and 'Feeding The Abscess', but from this album alone, I would consider Martyr already to be a clean step above many of the others.

The band that Martyr reminds me most of here is Death, the quintessential death metal band. Certainly having taken a few hints from the latter part of Death's career, Martyr's music on 'Hopeless Hopes' is executed with the prowess and precision of tech death, but without much of the mindless self indulgence that bands like Braindrill bring to the table. Martyr's debut picks up where Death's 'Individual Thought Patterns' left off; concise compositions with plenty of powerful riffs blistering away, and some solos that never ceased to impress me. The death vocals of Francois Mongrain are actually fairly comprehensible; you can actually hear what he is trying to say through his growls, which are quite powerful for the genre. Thankfully, all of this is done with a very nice coat of production.

One thing I could complain about with the album is the length, which feels about ten minutes too long. This is due to the band's sound being fairly static; it is always very impressive and well-executed, but Martyr does not bring anything more to the table than death metal, and being a listener who craves dynamic and variety in his listening experience, that was something that kept me from really loving what Martyr are doing here. As far as technical death metal goes though, this band is excellent, and they really shine at what they do.