More than 10 years after the release of “Magnetic North“ Hopesfall finally gave us the follow up. ‘“Arbiter” the bands fourth full length was released on July 13, 2018 through Equal Vision/Graphic Nature Record feeding into the hunger of the fans who were starved of new material from Hopesfall for over a decade. And after “H.A. Wallace Space Academy” was released in April, all signs were pointing to “Arbiter” containing that refined and mature sound that started with A-Types and was seemingly perfected with “Magnetic North”.
The big question though was “H.A. Wallace Space Academy” a kind of false hope (no pun) in a new release from a band that not only had a lot to live up to given quality behind “Magnetic North” but also broke up 10 years ago?
Perhaps living up to “Magnetic North” is a bit of an unfair measuring stick. Not only is “Magnetic North” incredibly underrated but the album is pretty much a masterpiece within the genre.
Nonetheless, “H.A. Wallace Space Academy” was simply the tip of the iceberg to an album that wasn’t going to leave fans disappointed.
Now as I eluded, I’m not going to go as far to say that “Arbiter” is better than “Magnetic North” however the latest release from Hopesfall was every bit worthy of a followup to the band’s 2007 gem. “Arbiter” provided fans with everything that Hopesfall ultimately became with their distinguished post-hardcore sound.
From the piercing start to the album in “Faint Object Camera” which doesn’t waste anytime to feature Jay Forrest’s distinctive blend of vocal capabilities “Arbiter” continues throughout the 10 track full length with blistering guitar harmonizing between Joshua Brigham and Dustin Nadler while providing its fair share of catchy chorus’.
Bottom line, “Arbiter” is going to leave fans wanting more from a band that doesn’t seem like they took a 10-plus year hiatus. Lets just hope it doesn’t take another decade for Hopesfall to give us another full length to rock out to.
