Boston hardcore greats the Hope Conspiracy started in 1999, which was a great time to be a Boston hardcore band. Over the next few years, the Hope Con perfected their form of hard-rockin’ stomp-mosh music, and they carved their name in history alongside bands like Converge, Bane, American Nightmare, and Cave In. Last year, the Hope Conspiracy returned with an EP called Confusion/Chaos/Mystery, and it was their first new music since 2009. On that record, they sounded like they hadn’t missed a step. Now, the Hope Con have announced the next stage of their return: Their first new album since 2006.

Eighteen years after their Death Knows Your Name LP, the Hope Conspiracy are preparing to drop Tools Of Oppression/Rule By Deception, their first new album in 18 years. The band recorded the new album with an old comrade and collaborator, Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou. “Chaos/Confusion/Misery” and “A Struggle For Power,” two of the songs from the Hope Con’s 2023 EP, made the cut for the album. Today, the band shares opening track “Those Who Gave Us Yesterday.” A dark, swirling, epic intro leads right into a beast-ass riff-ripper about the war machine currently destroying the planet. Here’s what singer Kevin Baker says about it:

America’s greatest export is death and destruction. The decisions and actions of our collective ancestors and past/present leaders have brought us to where we are today. The world is a college of corporations, and “profit is everything amidst a crumbling vile decay.” They don’t care about your borders. They don’t care about your flags. They don’t care about your rights. They don’t care about your beliefs. They don’t care about YOU. All of those things are just tools to control and manipulate us. The elites and establishment in charge have no vision for the future other than ultimate power and total control by dividing and subdividing the masses. Our tax dollars are laundered overseas through the war machine. This is the natural order of things today. THEY DON’T CARE… Period.

Below, check out the video for “Those Who Gave Us Yesterday” and the new album’s tracklist.

TRACKLIST:
01 “Those Who Gave Us Yesterday”
02 “The Prophets And Doom”
03 “A Struggle For Power”
04 “Live In Fear”
05 “Shock By Shock”
06 “Of A Dying Nation”
07 “Confusion/Chaos/Misery”
08 “Broken Vessels”
09 “The West Is Dead”
10 “The Specter Looms”

Tools Of Oppression/Rule By Deception is out 5/31 on Deathwish, Inc.