A Time To Hope is a French post hardcore band loaded with thick potential going by debut EP Full of Doubts, an encounter wearing familiar genre colours but equally offering a fresh creative confrontation that warrants attention. It is a sonically roaring introduction to their potent sound, a strong and tasty first glimpse of the Montpellier quintet and a strong base for them to leap on from.
Since forming towards the rear of 2014, A Time To Hope has earned praise and a healthy reputation through a live presence which has seen them play with bands such as POLAR, Light Your Anchors, and Zephyr 21 amongst many. Their first music video for the song Sweet T has also lured good attention which is now being increasingly courted by the Full of Doubts EP.
Influences to the band are said to include the likes of Dance Gavin Dance, Emarosa, Architects, and Slaves; many you can sense across the EP starting with RosaRosa. A lone guitar teases initially as skittish beats surround its distant tempting, that bait soon full in ears as its enterprise swiftly expands. Vocalist Franck.D quickly makes a strong impression with his emotively varied tones whilst the guitars of Vincent.P and Anthony.C dance with sonic suggestiveness on the imagination. It is a highly pleasing start which only strengthens as band and song weave recognisable post hardcore textures into their own adventure.
The following Sweet T picks up the pace and invention next, the song from its initial web of guitar an agitated yet welcoming proposition on a more aggressive skeleton of beats from Guillaume.B. Diversity of voice again works well within the heated maelstrom of sound, it all grounded by the great earthy tone of Shango.W’s bass amidst the spidery resourcefulness of guitar. It is easy to see why it made a strong impact with its video release, the enjoyably busy and at times sonically muggy track growing in drama and persuasion with each passing minute before making way for the instrumental suggestiveness of VII. Melancholically draped in the sense of loneliness, it also warms ears and imagination with its poetic charm and melodic heat, setting up the listener for the similarly toned Lemon Cupcake. It too has a sorrowful air to its melodic caress, though it soon bursts into a tempestuous climate of raw emotion and sound. Alluringly more volatile and antagonistic over time, the track is a mighty trespass on the senses and treat for the ears with a steel and metallic snarl that is less forceful elsewhere on the EP.
Ending with the emotional volatility and sonic ferocity of Catfish, a bracing track featuring Robin Renard, Full of Doubts provides a powerful and highly enjoyable first incitement from A Time To Hope. Major originality is still to come with the band’s sound but already the promise is there in the way they sculpt and unleash their ideas meaning we can only look forward to their next offering with eagerness.
The Full of Doubts EP is out now and available via https://atimetohope.bandcamp.com/releases or http://atimetohope.bigcartel.com/
https://www.facebook.com/atimetohope
Pete RingMaster 06/01/2016
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