Two Sides of Hope is the strong follow-up to Bitter Grounds’ debut album Hollowlands. Recording at the Amsterdam Recording Company again with their friend and engineer/producer Menno Bakker, Bitter Grounds hit the studio in December 2017 to record nine songs that form the new album.
Despite the hooks and melodies, a brooding sense of misery lingers throughout the record, as Bitter Grounds once more translates frustration and anxiety into hard-hitting sound waves. The nine tracks cover anything from personal topics like hopelessness, angst, fear and bottled-up rage to broader socio-politial commentaries. The songs never devolve into simple reactionary slogans, however, and the lyrics always retain a sense of ambivalence.
