Album review: Our Hollow, Our Home – Hope & Hell

The end of Our Hollow, Our Home hasn’t come about in the most positive fashion, with two mass exoduses from the band – first in 2023, and then again this year, leaving only founding member Tobias Young.

It’s no surprise, then, really, that Hope & Hell was announced as the last musical output for the Southampton metalcore band. Sadly, while this is their curtain call, it leans heavily on the same generic stereotypes that they’ve built the rest of their output on, and ends with a shrug, rather than a euphoric crescendo.

Opening track Castaway is reminiscent of Myspace-era metalcore, deploying the lyrics ‘caught in the undertow’ which are about as stock as it gets. Nostalgia is a great tool, but here it feels bogged down with turgid riffs and uninspiring soundscapes, all feeling very ‘I remember my first metalcore album’.

Further on, Burial Season and Lifeline tap into the subject of grief, providing something more substantial behind the riffs. However, whilst you can feel the raw emotion, it just all feels like it’s missing some real horsepower.

Seeing out Hope & Hell, the piano-led ballad In Reflection is aimed at the heartstrings of the diehards with its soaring vocals and ethereal feeling. It’s a moment that does draw the listener in, honing on a good vocal delivery but it’s not quite enough to save this album from failing to give Our Hollow, Our Home a notable parting shot.

Verdict: 2/5

For fans of: Bury Tomorrow, While She Sleeps, Killswitch Engage

Hope & Hell is released on September 27 via Arising Empire