Broken Hope

The Chicago-based death metal outfit Broken Hope originated when vocalist Joe Ptacek joined forces with guitarist Jeremy Wagner and drummer Ryan Stanek after the breakup of their prior group, Crypt. With the subsequent addition of lead guitarist Brian Griffin and bassist Ed Hughes, early demo recordings quickly secured a deal from Grind Core Records, resulting in the 1991 release of their debut album Swamped in Gore. Moving to Metal Blade, the band delivered Bowels of Repugnance in 1993. After Ed Hughes departed, ex-Sindrome bassist Shaun Glass took his place, and the revised lineup produced Repulsive Conception in 1995, then Loathing two years later. Ryan Stanek and Shaun Glass both left before the recording of Grotesque Blessings in 1999, at which point drummer Duane Timlin and bassist Sean Baxter joined; that album marked the final appearance of founding vocalist Joe Ptacek, who took his own life a decade afterward. Broken Hope disbanded in 2002, yet Wagner and Glass revived the project in 2012 alongside an entirely new roster that featured vocalist Damien Leski. Now signed to Century Media, they issued Omen of Disease, their first studio album in thirteen years. Glass exited in 2014, leaving Wagner as the sole remaining original member. Under Wagner’s leadership the band returned with its seventh album, Mutilated and Assimilated, in 2017.