His Hero Is Gone

In the last years of the 1990s, one of the few venues for underground punk shows in Memphis, TN, was a warehouse space located across the street from the hotel where Martin Luther King was assassinated. In the midst of the city's economic depression, surrounded by timeless symbols of oppression, social struggle, rock & roll and blues, His Hero Is Gone rose as a new voice for the voiceless victims of increasing globalization, terroristic urban policing, cultural alienation, and corporate greed. Through each of the bombastic and disharmonic chords of its brief existence, His Hero Is Gone burned like a molitov cocktail, spreading a fire through the political D.I.Y. underground whose heat continues to be felt. After a well-received first 7", His Hero Is Gone released 15 Counts of Arson, 15 tracks as incendiary as the title suggested. After touring aggressively, the band had become one of the world's leading political punk bands, surpassing fellow southern innovators Damad and inspiring even some of the most lethargic and jaded members of the punk rock community to action. The band followed up with Monuments to Thieves, a triumphant swan song, a crescendo of burning anger, thick and tense from start to finish. As it should be in punk rock, His Hero Is Gone caught fire quickly and burned out quickly. Following the U.S. and European tours to support Monuments, the group disbanded, most notably splintering into the very similar crust band Tragedy. ~ Paul Kott, All Music Guide