A Hope For Home
Realis


4.5
superb

Review

by Caged USER (8 Reviews)
May 18th, 2010 | 37 replies


Release Date: 2010 | Tracklist

Review Summary: One of the years most surprising albums.

Progressive and hardcore hardly ever go together. There's an abundance of bands that have a difficult time holding onto their hardcore edge, let alone delve into experimentation and progressive musicianship along the way. A Hope For Home is a young band that really shine on "Realis" where across this sprawling 52 minute musical adventure the band find themselves churning out some of the most impressive progressive-hardcore I've ever heard.

This album has a lot of edge, songs like "The Overman", "Withering Branches" and "The Crippling Fear" pummel your eardrums with great riffs, harsh and desperate vocals and fantastic emotional cleans. On the flip side, this album also has some absolutely beautiful moments where songs like "No Light", "First Light Of Dawn" and "The Warmth of the Heavens" put you in an ambient state of mind that allows you to drift into an ocean of thought where the intimate relationship between you and the music sends shivers down your spine.

This is a band that does both extremes of the spectrum extremely well. Although IMO the only shortcoming is the clean vocals during the heavier songs, I feel they fit best with the slower more mellow portions and are sort of misplaced in some cases. However, it's not something that takes away from the album too much, as they are at least quality cleans that don't seem forced or over-polished.

I just absolutely love everything about this album, from the opening seconds of "Nightfall" to the final minute piano outro of album closer "After" there isn't a single point of time where I want to skip to the next song (except out of sheer excitement of what's to come next). This is one of those rare albums that is an actual experience, one where you lay down on your bed and close your eyes and get lost in the music. I highly recommend checking this out. One of my top albums of the year thus far.

Recommended Tracks:
Withering Branches
No Light
Seasons
The Crippling Fear
First Light Of Dawn



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Comments:Add a Comment 
Caged
May 18th 2010


42 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Also "Listeners also liked" is an extremely terrible outlook on this band.

Zettel
May 18th 2010


661 Comments


Great timing. I was precisely looking for a review on this. I just hope it is as good as it seems.

Caged
May 18th 2010


42 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

It really is good, I was considering only a 4 originally but raised it after a few listens.

ziroth
May 18th 2010


1260 Comments


Didn't know this had been released. The Everlasting Man was a snoozefest.

PirateSquid
May 18th 2010


1881 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

The Everlasting Man was kinda catchy, but so generic and Underoath-cloney.



This is really really better though

Caged
May 19th 2010


42 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

In all honesty I've never heard their first album, this was recommended to me a week ago or so and it's really really good. Everything everyone has said though is The Everlasting Man was pretty subpar. I don't want to ruin my view of this by looking into something that is a considerable step down.

Zettel
May 19th 2010


661 Comments


On first listen I am pleased with this.

"I don't want to ruin my view of this by looking into something that is a considerable step down"

It is a wise decision. In fact, no matter how good an album is, if you are deeply enjoying something else, you are most likely to receive a wrong/weak impression.


Deathcar
May 19th 2010


1534 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

This is a massively pleasant surprise. Had heard a couple of their older songs and they sounded like Underoath/every other "Christian hardcore" band.



But this is really good, sounds like a cross between DTGL Underoath and old-school Thrice, with some mewithoutYou thrown in for good measure.

BallsToTheWall
May 19th 2010


51217 Comments


Good band/review/etc.

Thanntos
May 27th 2010


361 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Really really great and unique album for PH; genre take note.

BreakdownsXplease
May 29th 2010


56 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Much improved from their previous album IMO, previous album was good. This is amazing.

coleba
July 18th 2010


808 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

This is a great album. These guys and Rinoa have a pretty unique sound as far as mixing in bits of melodic prog, with extended track lengths. If you like this definitely check out Rinoa's self-titled. Also, Envy.

BreakdownsXplease
July 19th 2010


56 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Rinoa and envy are brilliant as well, I really enjoy listening to both those bands.

coleba
July 20th 2010


808 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

@BreakdownsXplease



You might wanna check out Versus the Mirror's album, 'Home'.





BreakdownsXplease
July 26th 2010


56 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

Thanks for the rec, I will look up versus the mirror, never heard of them.



Edit :



I have listened to the album, it is average to me, not nearly as good as the other bands mentioned. I have a hard time understanding the lyrics due to his scream/shout (so I am unsure of how good they are in terms of writing.) There are tracks that feel out of place and a couple of strange endings to songs I don't quite understand (e.g. I am the master of gravity.) I think its an OK album but I found listening to the full album hard, it also sounds more post hardcore than hardcore which I am not keen on. The vocals also get a bit stale after a while, but it was still a decent listen anyway.



Thanks.

coleba
July 28th 2010


808 Comments

Album Rating: 3.5

Ya, it's not really up to par with said bands, but it grows a bit. I really like their clean tones; pretty much the entire album is distortion free, yet they get a really heavy sound out of the guitars. I think it's entirely self-produced.

BrahTheSunGod
October 15th 2010


1280 Comments

Album Rating: 4.5

So I had gotten this when it came out (on impulse) but never really listened to it. Finally got around to it and I'm absolutely loving this. The perfect blend of the sludgy side of Lost In The Sound of Separation with, say, Vheissu. Only downside, as you mentioned, is the overproduced cleans.

TeamAnimalSquad
October 15th 2010


37 Comments


TeamAnimalSquad enjoys this band.

Captain North
October 15th 2010


6793 Comments

Album Rating: 4.0

Best lyrics of the year.

Powerbanned
October 15th 2010


39 Comments


anyone that likes this should check out The Coma Recovery already.



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