LAST HOPE - finest bulgarian hardcore

LAST HOPE

One of the oldest and best-known bulgarian hardcore bands, Last Hope, is formed in 1994 in Sofia. Bulgaria. Strongly influenced by the likes of Murphy's Law, Stampin Ground and 25 Ta Life, the band combines fast-paced guitar reefs with political and social lyrics to deliver the brand of hardcore that old fans of the genre apreciate. Last Hope has shared stage with some of the finest hardcore bands such as Agnostic Front, Madball, Sick Of It All, Blood For Blood, Walls Of Jericho, Integrity, Stampin Ground and have toured with Murphy's Law, 25 Ta Life and Agnostic Front.

In 1995 Last Hope recorded a demo tape that immediately attracted the attention of the local public, then in 1996 Last Hope teamed up with their "brothers in arms" - Face Up and together released the "split-tape" that will further widens their popularity amongst hardcore fans. Still Last Hope are best known for their live performances, where they really blow the things up. Oldschool hardcore in it's best. that sums pretty much all. Those who hadn't the chance to see their gig would never understand.

The notorious bulgarian hardcore band released their debut album "ONE FOR ONE" in 1998 and instantly grabbed the attention of fans and media alike. Back then no one knew that with time Last Hope will become one of Bulgaria's best known hardcore acts. At the time they were the local hardcore sensation, succeeded in attracting more and more new fans. That first album showed what hardcore is all about - unity, loyalty and respect. That record contains the essence of their whole material since 1994.
Later they released the well-received three-way split with fellow colleagues Vendetta and Skinflick. With this released they proved that are more than your local garage band. With this first two records Last Hope showed that they're here to stay.

In 2003 Last Hope released their sophomore album titled "MY OWN WAY" with guest appearences by Jimmy G of NY's Murphy's Law, Janne of Endstand (Finland) and Aca Choice of Hitman (Serbia). The record itself is more matured but in the same time more appealing to wider audience. This record spawned several popular song including "In Your Face" and "F.P." (fuck police). With their second album the band's fan base grew significally and they even gained some mainstream popularity due to a limited media exposure. Year later Last Hope along with Serbia's finest Hitman released the split album "BALKAN HARDCORE". The big opportunity for Last Hope to showcase thair music came when Murphy's Law came to Bulgaria for one-night concert. Later on Last Hope became the supporting band for Murphy's Law 2005 european tour. That exposed the band to a wider audience outside Eastern Europe. Established connections with NY's 25 Ta Life helped Last Hope to score a couple of gigs on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. The close ties between these bands led to the release of their split album "HELLBOUND" in 2006.

2007 saw the release of their last for now album "TEST OF TIME". And again Last Hope sticks to what they can do best - bringing oldschool hardcore. As a first single the band released "Under The Flag", the video of which was shot for one day and included only fans of the band. For this record Last Hope recruited Napalm Death's very own Mark "Barney" Greenway and Mitch Harris as a backing vocals for the song "Overcome", one of the prominent songs of this record. Even before it's initial release the album gained popularity in myspace thanks to songs like "G.F.Y." (Go Fuck Yourself) and the song of the same name "Test Of Time". It may sound like a cliche, but with this album the band returns to it's oldschool roots. Definitely something to hear. For now the band's future seems bright as ever.

In 2008 Last Hope toured extensively in Russia which resulted in the release of a split album with the russian hardcore band What We Feel. 2010 was marked by another extensive european tour but this time with the dutch band No Turning Back. That same year saw the release of the long-awaited first DVD of the band "Bulgar Display Of Power" containing interviews with the band members as well as lots of live footage. 2011 begun strong for Last Hope with european tour in support for the belgians The Setup and alongside Shaped By Fate from Cardiff. Also the band released the Reality Check EP.
More recently Last Hope have toured in France, Spain and Portugal alongside the excellent spanish band We Ride and of course the dutch hardcore machine No Turning Back. They plan to release a new EP pretty soon and currently are working on a new album which will probably see the light of day next year. In overall 2011 was pretty successful for Last Hope establishing them even more firmly on the european hardcore scene.
2012 is the year Last Hope released their much anticipated fourth studio album More Than Ever. You can hear the album in its entirety on Bandcamp. That same year the band supported Hatebreed in Sofia, Madball in Greece and Yuppicide on their european tour. LH also played numerous shows on the Balkans and around Europe. 2012 ended with Last Hope playing at the annual Hardcore X-Mass festival in Sofia alongside No Turning Back and some of Sofia's finest hardcore bands.
to be continued...

Discography:
One For One (1998)
Skinflick / Vendetta / Last Hope split (2002)
My Own Way (2003)
Hitman / Last Hope "Balkan Hardcore Split" (2004)
25 Ta Life / Last Hope "Hellbound split" (2005)
Test Of Time (2007)
What We Feel / Last Hope split (2008)
Bulgar Display Of Power DVD (2010)
Reality Check EP (2011)
More Than Ever (2012)

LAST HOPE are :

Alexander Boiadjiev - vocals
Dobromir Hristov - guitar
Radi Velinov - bass
Konstantin Stanchev - drums

Last Hope myspace
Last Hope Facebook
Last Hope Bandcamp