The Hostage Heart broke up in May, so it's entirely possible that this review will be the last thing ever written about them. If that's the case, it's difficult to listen to Where There Is Despair, Hope with anything other than a sense of regret. The album suggests that the band had all the elements necessary to become huge within their chosen genre (brutal, straightedge hardcore): a lead singer who actually knew how to scream, riffs that jackhammered their way into your skull, and a drummer who'd perfected his machine gun imitation. Songs like "The First Signs of Worldly Cancer" and "Armageddon Outta Here" seethe with rage, and even if it's impossible to understand a word that frontman Chris Diamantis is saying, this is exactly the kind of outlet for blind, incoherent fury that we all need once in a while. On some small scale, The Hostage Heart could have ruled the world -- but in the absence of anything more, Where There Is Despair, Hope will serve as a monument to the hardcore greatness that might have been.