In late 2003, vocalist Chris Diamantis joined guitarists Nate Lane and Jared Colby, bassist Nate Fiske, and drummer Geoff Bahre to form the deathcore outfit the Hostage Heart in Worcester, MA. The five musicians, who had first performed under the name Sky Cutting Stars, promptly carried their ferocious heavy metal attack—marked by an unexpected blend of straight-edge and Christian principles—onto stages throughout the region. Before the year closed they issued a four-song EP, The First Signs of Worldly Cancer. In 2004 the six-track follow-up Where There Is Despair, Hope appeared as the inaugural release on the newly launched Five Point Records.
