By John Batanchiev
What band would mix rock ‘n’ roll with a symphony and make a whole album out of it? No, this isn’t about Metallica’s S&M. This album is far better. Introducing Hope of the States. Their new album The Lost Riots is an impressive album of down-trot music to listen to when its just raining and you feel not like yourself. Pop this baby in and let the symphonies of sorrow heal your void.
The album starts off with “Black Amnesias,” a great instrumental piece that sets the tone of the album. It is impressive if not breathtaking to listen to. It is the first step of showing this band’s ability of great songwriting.
Hope of States uses many instruments that would be classified as non-rock instruments, such as violins. Not only do they use non-rock instruments but the instruments create a country/ folk like feel on some of their songs. Such as on “George Washington,” which not only gives the song a patriotic kind of feel.
Hope of the States are reminiscent of the Smashing Pumpkins’ Mellow Collie and the Infinite Sadness-era along with sounding similar to Rooney only darker. One of the reasons for the comparison to Rooney is due to the singer.
The singer, Samuel Herlihy, will remind the listener to Rooney’s singer. Specifically they both share the same vocal tone and ability. Unlike Rooney’s vocalist who does not sing over complex songs like the Hope of the States, Herlihy’s vocals lack in expressing the depth of the music this band creates.
At the end of “Don’t Go to Pieces” this kind of inability to fully express the vocals to the music can be heard drastically. While Herlihy’s vocals work in the beginning of the piece but just aren’t strong enough to really express the symphonic sorrow of the song at the end.
There hasn’t been a rock band that has incorporated symphonic instruments into their music with so much darkness and beauty at the same time. Hope of the States, does what Metallica wished they could have done with their S&M album. Their music is like dark beauty or a beautiful destruction of something immense; ultimately, the coming of a new rock band with as much punch as grace.
