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Ryan's Hope

Weighing What Matters (2002)
Self-Released

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Contributed by: greg0rb
(others by this writer | submit your own)

Published on January 28th 2003

Ryan’s Hope is still a virtually unheard of band outside of Chicagoland, with their hometown being Joliet, IL. But since their formation less than a year ago, they have been working hard to change that by playing a ton of shows and releasing good music like on this album. A short summary of their bio would be: hardcore guys fed up with that local scene decide to form a melodic punk band. They decided they wanted to make music that could include a wider range of their influences, and the result is a nice blend of great vocal melodies, fast rockers, slower/quiet intros and breakdowns, and the occasional hardcore riff.

Terry, the lead singer and guitarist of the Ryan’s Hope lists one of his favorite bands as the Smoking Popes, and you can really hear that coming through on a lot of the tracks, including “So Far,” which contains a Popes-like simple and effective vocal melody, a sweet guitar solo, and then a harder ending. “Nick Springer,” one of my favorite tracks, includes a great guitar riff in the bridge that is pulled off with ease even live, and songs like “Reasoning” showcase their hardcore C-tuning.

There are a few downsides to Weighing What Matters, like the length. With 9 tracks totaling just shy of 22 minutes, this is more of an EP than the full-length they claim it is. It leaves me wanting more, and I guess I’ll get it since they’re recording a 5 song EP next month. Another slight downside is the sound quality of the disc, even though it is quite good for being completely self-funded. Along the same lines, the disc isn’t that good looking, with a sticker label on the CD and booklets with an almost unreadable pixel-y font. Hopefully they’ll get a deal soon and put out a pretty-lookin’ disc.

Musically, Ryan’s Hope has a lot of what you look for in bigger bands, with their catchy melodies over of a wide range of volume/intensities and tempos. This is not the best album I’ve ever heard, but it’s really good for a band so new on the scene and I can only foresee them getting better.

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kirbypuckett (August 9, 2006)

I hope someone signs these guys.

- Kirby

;)

Anonymous (February 13, 2003)

Ryan's hope is the one of the greatest bands that I have ever seen play. I would bet that if anyone of you ever saw them live you would be blown away. every member of that band is amazing. The guitarist/vocalist is sooo talented. Not only are they talented as hell but they are really nice guys too. So I strongly recomend that you go see and meet them sometime soon.

Anonymous (February 3, 2003)

Now that I have safely returned from NYC, I will address that ass-pirate below...

The name is actually because of my love of both the film Trainspotting and Social Distortion. I changed it from sickboy to sickboi a few years ago when I couldn't get the original spelling on something, I can't remember exactly what. As for this band, I'm sorry they lost a friend of whatever, that really sucks, most of us know from losing someone. But the name still sucks.

-sickboi

Anonymous (February 2, 2003)

smoking popes is SO melodic hardcore.

Anonymous (February 1, 2003)

Good review, good cd. I saw this band live and their guitarist is amazing... look for many more good things to come with this band.

waste_elite (January 31, 2003)

"So i think that it was not really cool of you to put down there name when in fact the only name that should be put down it yours...sickboi???? is that from an mxpx song..come on."

wow, quite possibly the dumbest thing i've read all day

buy a social distortion record and quit playing in a shitty emo band

maverick (January 31, 2003)

Dear Mike-C-Net:
You are a fucking moron. "Sickboi," while covered [terribly] by MXPX, is actually a killer song by a killer band called Social Distortion.

Know where your scene came from.

-Scott

ambiotical_sophisticrat (January 31, 2003)

i listened to the mp3's.... its pretty boring and bland... they aren't the greatest musicians

Anonymous (January 31, 2003)

hey sickboi....Ryan, was a friend of theres that is not with them anymore because of a fatal car accident. So i think that it was not really cool of you to put down there name when in fact the only name that should be put down it yours...sickboi???? is that from an mxpx song..come on. ryans hope will take over the world one day.
-Mike-C-Net
www.safetynetmusic.com

Anonymous (January 30, 2003)

Me and my 2 best friends have been folowing Ryans Hope since they formed and i have to say they just keep getting better and better. We wait for their next show to come. The cd is great and they are even better live. And as stated in a previous posting the name "Ryan's Hope" means a lot to the group so don't hate on the name. And sickboi, i bet you haven't even heard their music so shut the fuck up. THE HOPE ROCKS!

plowro (January 29, 2003)

Who the fuck is sickboi? I get sick of seeing your name and nothing but jibberish next to it. Some people use this site as a tool to broaden their horizens musically. What the fuck do you do? I hope you die you putz fuckin shitdick. Smoke. I need to look into this ryan's hope.

Anonymous (January 29, 2003)

the band name "ryan's hope" has a lot of meaning behind it. the guys have lost some very important people in there lives and the band name is there way of remembering.

Anonymous (January 28, 2003)

Ryan's hope is an ok band, but a better band from around Chicago is The Invectives!

pope_schlomo (January 28, 2003)

worse band names: snowdogs, saturday supercade.

Ramo

Anonymous (January 28, 2003)

Not bad, wack name though.

Anonymous (January 28, 2003)

Yeah, puns are fun.

-sickboi