HOUR OF PENANCE

Brutal Death Metal / Technical Death Metal • Italy

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Hailing from the city of Rome, Italy, Hour of Penance is a 5 piece brutal death metal band, in the vein of most of the American metal Gods such as Nile, Hate Eternal, Immolation and heaps of other bands that play death metal at the speed of light!

Formed back in 1999 Hour of Penance started as a black-death cover band. The sound made by all those incredible bands from Florida, was what H.O.P. was trying to emulate. The band began to write songs, combining the sound of their different influences from Europe and USA.

In October 2000, H.O.P. release their first demo, which was recorded in only two days at the Outer Sound Studios (by Giuseppe Orlando of Novembre). The mini-CD is 20 minutes long, and includes the first song H.O.P. ever written, that gave the name to the band. It immediately made H.O.P. well known in Rome read more...

Thanks to UMUR, TheHeavyMetalCat, adg211288 for the updates

Hour Of Penance - "Sedition Through Scorn" (official stream/lyric video)
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HOUR OF PENANCE Discography

HOUR OF PENANCE albums / top albums

3.26 | 4 ratings

Disturbance
Brutal Death Metal 2003

HOUR OF PENANCE Pageantry for Martyrs album cover

4.07 | 3 ratings

Pageantry for Martyrs
Brutal Death Metal 2005

HOUR OF PENANCE The Vile Conception album cover

3.92 | 8 ratings

The Vile Conception
Brutal Death Metal 2008

4.12 | 8 ratings

Paradogma
Brutal Death Metal 2010

4.05 | 16 ratings

Sedition
Brutal Death Metal 2012

3.92 | 6 ratings

Regiside
Technical Death Metal 2014

HOUR OF PENANCE Cast The First Stone album cover

4.30 | 5 ratings

Cast The First Stone
Technical Death Metal 2017

4.12 | 4 ratings

Misotheism
Technical Death Metal 2019

HOUR OF PENANCE EPs & splits

HOUR OF PENANCE live albums

HOUR OF PENANCE demos, promos, fans club and other releases (no bootlegs)

0.00 | 0 ratings

Promo 2000
Brutal Death Metal 2000

0.00 | 0 ratings

promo 2007
Brutal Death Metal 2007

HOUR OF PENANCE re-issues & compilations

HOUR OF PENANCE singles (3)

3.50 | 1 ratings

Resurgence Of The Empire
Brutal Death Metal 2014

0.00 | 0 ratings

Blight And Conquer
Technical Death Metal 2019

0.00 | 0 ratings

Flames Of Merciless Gods
Technical Death Metal 2019

HOUR OF PENANCE movies (DVD, Blu-Ray or VHS)

HOUR OF PENANCE Reviews

HOUR OF PENANCE The Vile Conception

Album · 2008 · Brutal Death Metal

UMUR

"The Vile Conception" is the third full-length studio album by Italian death metal act Hour of Penance. The album was released through Unique Leader Records in February 2008. It´s the successor to "Pageantry for Martyrs" from 2005 and features a couple of lineup changes since the predecessor. Lead vocalist Alex Manco has been replaced by Francesco Paoli and bassist/guitarist Enrico Schettino has been replaced by new bassist Silvano Leone. All guitars on the album are performed by Giulio Moschini, except the guitar solo on "From Hate to Suffering", which is performed by Schettino (probably recorded before he left the band). Other than Moschini only drummer Mauro Mercurio remains from the linuep who recorded "Pageantry for Martyrs" (2005).

Lineup changes or not "The Vile Conception" sounds like the natural successor to "Pageantry for Martyrs" (2005). It´s brutal and technically well played death metal, which although it is undeniably very extreme and relentessly brutal and harsh, also features a more sophisticated dimension and a focus on memorable songwriting, which is rare on releases this extreme. In that respect it also follows in the footsteps of "Pageantry for Martyrs" (2005), which like this one is a surprisingly catchy brutal death metal release. The listener is treated to all the usual features of the genre in brutal riffs, incredibly fast-paced blasting drumming, breaks, tempo-changes, and a brutal growling vocalist in front. So it´s in the catchiness of the songwriting that "The Vile Conception" stands out.

"The Vile Conception" features a well sounding production, which is raw, powerful, and detailed, and provides the best possible conditions for the material to shine. The high level musical performances (including the well performed growling vocals) are great assets too, and upon conclusion "The Vile Conception" is a high quality death metal release by Hour of Penance. I don´t have a habit of calling artists underrated, as I usually respect that people have different opinions on what is great and what is not, but I´ll still make a case that in the vast sea of artists who play a similar style to Hour of Penance, this is a band worth your time. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

28 days ago
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Report #882371

HOUR OF PENANCE Pageantry for Martyrs

Album · 2005 · Brutal Death Metal

UMUR

"Pageantry for Martyrs" is the second full-length studio album by Italian death metal act Hour of Penance. The album was released through Xtreem Music in June 2005. It´s the successor to "Disturbance" from 2003 and features a couple of lineup changes since the debut as lead vocalist/bassist Mike Viti has been replaced by Alex Manco (on vocals). Guitarist Francesco De Honestis has also left and has been replaced by Giulio Moschini. No new bassist has been added to the ranks, so the bass parts were recorded by the two guitarists Giulio Moschini and Enrico Schettino. Drummer (additional screaming vocalist) Mauro Mercurio reprises his role from "Disturbance (2003)".

First off new lead vocalist Manco has a very similar sounding growling vocal style to his predecessor, so you probably wouldn´t be able to tell that there´s been a lead vocalist change if you didn´t know it. Manco has a brutal growling style with a slight aggressive edge to it, and his vocals work well with the instrumental part of the music. "Disturbance (2003)" was a promising brutal and technically well played death metal release, and while the promise maybe wasn´t completely fullfilled on that album, "Pageantry for Martyrs" delivers more fully on the promise.

The material is sharp, brutal, and gloomy, featuring loads of tempo changes, breaks, and good variation between blasting and mid-paced parts. It´s a crushingly brutal release in every way possible, but Hour of Penance still manage to incorporate enough changes and catchy brutal moments to their songs, to make "Pageantry for Martyrs" a strong and memorable release throughout. The raw yet detailed and brutal sounding production also helps the album to shine and the many powerful and skillfully played riffs and rhythms are great assets too. I hear an (early) Immolation influence in the music, but I´m sure Hour of Penance won´t mind being mentioned as their peers.

Upon conclusion "Pageantry for Martyrs" deserves to be mentioned much more than it does, when people discuss great brutal death metal releases, and Hour of Penance as a band too. I hate to use the word underrated because it´s a strongly subjective way of viewing a release, but "Pageantry for Martyrs" certainly deserves any praise it has gotten since its release and it definitely get a strong recommendation from me. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

3 months ago
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Report #881413

HOUR OF PENANCE Disturbance

Album · 2003 · Brutal Death Metal

UMUR

"Disturbance" is the debut full-length studio album by Italian death metal act Hour of Penance. The album was released through Xtreem Music in April 2003. Hour of Penance formed in 1999 and released a demo in 2000.

The material on "Disturbance" is technical death metal in the darker and more murky end of the spectrum. It´s not in Portal territory, but the first thing that comes to mind when listening to the album is how much some parts of the music sound like early Immolation. The sound of the growling vocals, the sometimes twisted riffs, and the way the blast beats are played. It´s not that Hour of Penance is a clone act, but there are quite a few similarities to the legendary US death metal act on this album.

Hour of Penance are a technically well playing act and the growling vocals are solid. The vocals aren´t the most interesting feature on the album though and they do get a bit one-dimensional along the way (although drummer Mauro Mercurio adds a few screams now and again to spice things up), but when that is said the vocals get the job done and suit the music fine. The songwriting is decent but the tracks aren´t easy to tell apart, and the album does become a little formulaic in the end. The only track which is a bit different from the high energy and blast beats of the other tracks is the 8:39 minutes long album closer "Blood Tribute", which is slower and heavier with an epic atmosphere. It´s not that the other tracks aren´t good quality material, but it´s nice for the listening experience and for the variation of the album, that Hour of Penance show that they are capable of slowing down a notch.

The sound production is raw, brutal, and gloomy. It´s a bit rough around the edges, but the production suits the music pretty well. Upon conclusion "Disturbance" is a good quality death metal release and certainly a quality debut album. It lacks in the originality department and you won´t hear much here that you haven´t heard before on other brutal technical death metal releases, but the performances are tight, the sound production decent, and the songwriting effectful and a 3 - 3.5 star (65%) rating isn´t all wrong.

3 months ago
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Report #881073

HOUR OF PENANCE Misotheism

Album · 2019 · Technical Death Metal

Kev Rowland

This Italian band may have no original members left, but guitarist Giulio Moschini has been there since before their second album, 2005’s ‘Pageantry For Martyrs’, and everyone on this their eighth album all played on 2017’s ‘Cast The First Stone’ as well. Apparently misotheism means either "hatred of God" or "hatred of the gods", so they’re not very happy with whatever deity you believe in, and that’s absolutely fine. They started off as a blackened death band all those years ago, but like many have changed their approach as they have worked through the ages, but whereas they were generally seen as a brutal death metal act, to me they have moved far more into the technical death metal area. This is an album that any fan of Nile (me! me!) will be taking a very serious listen to indeed. It has to be played loud, really loud, to get the full benefit of a rhythm section who are mixing and moving in multiple ways and refusing to always concentrate on blast beats and brain numbing attacks but can swing t around and even stop playing altogether if that is the right thing to do. Then at the front you have Moschini and his partner in crime Paolo Pieri (who also provides the vocals). These two have been twisting their complex riffs and lines together for nearly ten years now, and it shows. This is complex and complicated uncompromising death metal played by four guys who really have the chops.

This is music full of aggression, full of rage and hatred, from a band who are living it, not just playing at it. They mix and move, but if they had done it a little bit more then they may have ended up with an even better album than the one they did, but even as it stands this a great testament to a band who have now been around for more than 20 years and show no signs at all of slowing down and may only just be getting into their groove. Well worthy of investigation by those who enjoy the genre.

more than 2 years ago
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Report #590349

HOUR OF PENANCE Disturbance

Album · 2003 · Brutal Death Metal

Nightfly

Disturbance is the debut album from Italian brutal death metal band Hour Of Penance. Even at this early stage the band are clearly great musicians. They are as brutal as the best of them and play with the usual lightning speed with great precision that’s associated with this sub-genre. Where it falls a little flat is in the songwriting department. Each song passes by in a blur of notes and blastbeats but the riffs lack that killer edge to set them apart from the pack. The guttural growls are no better or worse than I’ve heard numerous times before.

Opener, excluding the short atmospheric instrumental, Rise And Oppress gets thing off to an impressive start and is probably the pick of the bunch with some compelling shifting rhythms and dissonant riffing. After this things rarely let up but most of the riffs are less memorable and a bit more variety wouldn’t go amiss. They make some amends on final track Blood Tribute. At over 8 minutes long it gives them the opportunity to get more inventive and even slows down a bit and adds some dynamics.

Fans of the likes of Hate Eternal should find Hour Of Penance to their liking but If you’ve never heard them before I’d dive straight in at 2010’s Paradogma. By then they’d matched the impressive chops with much better songs.