A self-described "brutal" death metal band with an anti-religion message from Rome, Italy, Hour of Penance were first influenced by a combination of black and death metal, but would soon move away from those styles and opt for a more upfront and pummeling technical death metal style. Emerging in the early 2000s, the band's sonic pivot began in 2008 with the release of their acclaimed third full-length outing The Vile Conception. Later efforts like Regicide (2014) and Misotheism (2019) continued to attack the Catholic church with virtuosic aggression. Founded in 1999, the band's first demo hit the scene in 2000, and was followed by their first album, Disturbance, in 2003. By this time they had laid the groundwork by playing the Swedish death metal festival at Gothenburg and signed with Spanish label Xtreem. A well-received effort, Disturbance was followed by the album Pageantry for Martyrs in 2005, which won the band some underground metal awards. Hour of Penance went through some lineup changes in their fledgling years, but they eventually settled on Francesco Paoli on vocals, Giulio Moschini on guitar, Silvano Leone on bass, and Mauro Mercurio on drums. The Vile Conception, Hour of Penance's third album, was released in 2008, and marked a sonic shift toward a more technical death metal attack. Subsequent LPs Paradogma (2010), Sedition (2012), and Regicide (2014) saw the band continuing to hone their chops both in the studio and on the road, but the period also proved to be one of major personnel changes. By 2015, there were no original members left in the band, with guitarist Moschini, who has been with the group since 2004, acting as the senior member. In 2017, the group released a new studio album, Cast the First Stone, which featured a lineup consisting of Moschini, bassist Marco Mastrobuono, guitarist/vocalist Paolo Pieri, and drummer Davide Billia. Two years later they returned with Misotheism, their first outing for Polish label Agonia Records. ~ Chris True