H.O.P. was formed in Rome, Italy, in 1999, when Mike, Mauro, Enrico and Francesco started playing together as a Black/ Death cover band. The band began to write songs, mixing the sound of different influences from Europe and USA. One year later H.O.P. released their first demo, which was recorded in only two days at the Outer Sound Studios (by Giuseppe Orlando of Novembre). The demo-CD is 20 minutes long, and includes the first song H.O.P. ever wrote, that gave the name to the band. The mini-CD immediately make H.O.P. themselves known in Rome (sometime later also in Italy, after some positive reviews by "zines and webzines), the band did some shows in the city, playing with other metal combos (Chthonian Nemeton, Corpse Fucking Art, By the Grief, Disguise).

H.O.P. entered Outer Sound Studios again in September, 2001 to record a split 7"EP (to be released by Warlord Rec. in early 2003) with Cadaveric Crematorium (Brescia, Italy). Their side includes a new track plus a cover to paying homage to the Death Metal Gods Deicide. A few days later, H.O.P. played in Taranto (Southern Italy) with Natron and VII Arcano. Weeks after the show, Francesco decides to leave the band, searching for more melodic sonorities.

In January 2002 Stefano Morabito (ex-Chthonian Nemeton, Fauces) joined the band, in the meantime 3 new tracks are ready. On June, 1st 2002, H.O.P. travelled to Sweden to play at the first edition of Gothenburg Deathfest. The bill included Iniquity, DeepRed, Impure, Insision, Convent, Visceral Bleeding, Immersed in Blood. Weeks later, Stefano quits and Francesco is in the band again.

In October 2002, the band is officially under contract with the Spanish label XTREEM MUSIC (ex-REPULSE Rec.), and would release the first full-length album "Disturbance" in February 2003. However, the re-mixing of the album caused a slight delay on these plans, and the album was finally delayed until April 2003.