Hope is an amazing punk/hardcore band straight outta Moncton, New Brunswick Canada! They have been around for a few years and are just getting better with time. "Feeling Like A Buck Fifty," Hope's second full length release on LameAss records is a very good punk record. It contains some great catchy tunes, as well as some amazing lyrics.This album has it all, great guitars, great drum fills, awesome lyrics, and most importantly good independent music.
Their album kicks off with probably one of the best songs "I'm Not Home." It is a fast paced awesome song, it is a great way to start off this album. The album continues then with "Good Housekeeping," which is your average hardcore song. Then tracks three to ten are amazing. All catchy, all melodic, each in their own way, great tunes! Of this great set of songs, my favorites would be "Leave" because it is probably the best song on this album, "Original Cover" is probably the second best song on this release, "True Confessions Of A Maritimer" is great if for nothing else, the lyrics. Myself being a maritimer like these dudes, I can definitely relate to that song. Then we get to track eleven, which is an acoustic song called "Drowning." It was very weird to hear this band doing an acoustic song, but never the less, it turns out to be a good change of pace to this album.
Tracks twelve and thirteen "Stinkin', Cryin', Beggin'" and "Lost" are your average punk songs. "Take A Look Around" the fourteenth track on this release, is another amazing song. This song sounds alot more mainstream then the others, but it just shows their great style range. Finally, the last two tracks to close this album are "Bad Ad," which is probably one of the only weaker songs on this album, and "Into The Sunset" closes this amazing release, itis a great way to bring the album to an end. But wait! There is more.... yes, that's right, a secret track. The secret track is actually definitely one of my favorites on this release just because of the lyrics. It basically just says how so many mainstream bands sound the same, and it is very easy to duplicate their sound. This song has a very poppy, mainstream sound to it, to just add to the point of the lyrics. Some lyrics in this song to prove their point are "I wanna show you how simple it is to write these songs, it dosen't take much of my mind because I've heard it before, and everyone keeps on eating it up, why, why? Backstreet Boys, Blink 182, Sum 41 and 'In Too Deep' I didn't like too , N'sync whoa, the kids have gotta know, but they must keep fucking up, because they keep beating it up..." The lyrics to this song demonstrate their attitude and style towards what the punk and music scene has come too. But this band keeps it real with some good punk/hardcore songs on this release. I definetly recommend anyone to pick up either this album, or Hope's debut album "It's Not My Fault Your Ugly," to hear some good independent punk music. Oh and by the way, Hope will be playing almost all of this year's Vans Warped Tour, so be sure to check 'em out there!