Broken Hope
Thoroughly brutal musicians based in Illinois, USA, comprising Joe Ptacek (vocals), Jeremy Wagner (guitar), Ed Hughes (bass) and Ryan Stanek (drums). The group was formed in 1989 when Stanek first approached Wagner at a party, with the simple goal of becoming the heaviest of death metal acts on the local scene. Nursing a four song demo tape, which was traded throughout the fertile underground metal network, the founding members realised an addition to their sound was required and pulled in Brian Griffin as second guitarist, who abandoned his budding career as a studio engineer at Wave Digital. It was here that the group entered the studio in the summer of 1990 to record a second demo, which cemented previous impressions and led to several offers from independent labels. They eventually signed with new local imprint Grind Core International, for whom they made their long-playing debut in February 1992 with SWAMPED INN GORE. However, representatives of the more financially viable Metal Blade Records witnessed the band at the Milwaukee Metalfest VI, and when Broken Hope lost faith in their first home and looked for new offers, Metal Blade stepped in. The resulting BOWELS OF REPUGNANCE reinstated the band's belief in matching ferocious musicianship with clinical production standards.