Hilltop Hoods: From Hiatus To Headlines
After a six-year release hiatus, Hilltop Hoods have come storming back with their powerful new album, Fall From The Light. The Adelaide trio sound sharper than ever, and co-frontman Suffa isn’t holding back – diving into the album’s evolution, how friendship is the backbone of the project, and their upcoming tour across Europe, the UK and Australia.
Words Sosefina Fuamoli // Photo Ashlee Jones
Hilltop Hoods co-frontman, Suffa, is hungry for the stage – for the thrill of new music generating new memories for fans and the trio alike.
It has been six years since the Hoods’ last studio album (2019’s The Great Expanse) but as the lengthy creative process tends to dictate; good things really do come to those who wait.
With the release of their new album, Fall From The Light, the Hoods re-emerge tapped into their musical strengths in a way that will excite fans – longtime and new – who have been patiently waiting for the next chapter of one of Australian hip hop’s most enduring success stories.
Suffa notes that their career longevity isn’t one every musician is afforded; their status as one of Australian music’s most successful groups of any genre is made even more impactful when the scope is extended out to include the waves of artists the Hoods have used their platform to amplify and champion as their own profile has continued to rise.
At their core has remained a love for hip hop and a love for doing things in a way that is first and foremost authentic to their own tastes and perspectives. Having grown up together doesn’t hurt, either. “We’re friends, you know? That does make a difference,” he explains. “A lot of people end up in bands with people they’re not necessarily that close to. They don’t have that unique bond before they go into it. We’ve got that bond. We’ve been exposed to the same culture, the same sounds, the same influences, and events at the same time.”
“As a group, we’re really happy. It’s not an individual thing, we’re all on the same page,” Suffa adds. “It sounds so obvious, of course, but it’s not always the way. People in groups that I’ve seen fall apart, it’s always because someone’s gone off on a solo project; their ego is unfulfilled in some way. As soon as that starts, that’s when the wheels come off. We know how lucky we are to have a job making music, that’s the guard rail to keep us on track.”
Fall From The Light is a twelve-track record bursting with vibrancy and introspection. It balances its use of dark and light sonic textures with the mastery only a group who have been in the game as long as these brothers have been, can. The process of executing a project like Fall From The Light wasn’t without its hurdles but all up, the version of the Hilltop Hoods we hear on the final product, is one that Suffa is incredibly proud to stand beside.
“I don’t need to listen to it anymore,” he offers, a smile spreading across his face. “I don’t need to because I’m super happy and proud of where it is now. It took a long time, but I think it was worth it.”
Self-described as “self-critical and pedantic” during any recording phase, Suffa has thrived on being able to rediscover existing seeds of ideas with this album, while also pushing himself in directions that awoke dormant parts of his creative process.
A big drawcard for any Hoods fan, when it comes to Fall From The Light, is in how both Suffa and Pressure playfully spar with each other, yet allow one another to flourish on their own spotlight moments.
“The recording stage can be a really frustrating process for me,” Suffa admits. “Doing thousands of takes of some tracks, even. My favourite part is the process of seeing ideas that may have been a voice memo eight years ago, or something that was written four years ago; something that had been turned over again and again, that you know could turn into something good.”
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The album is layered with moments that honour their ongoing dedication to the craft and their unique way of storytelling (‘Rage Against The Fatigue’, ‘The Gift ft. Marlon’), while also demonstrating the bite that remains in both rappers’ chambers.
Powerhouse Aotearoa group SIX60 hold prominent space on Fall From The Light, featured on highlight tracks including ‘Never Coming Home’ and ‘Get Well Soon’ – two prime examples of the kinetic energy that can come from a Hilltop Hoods collaboration with an artist or group who are on their same wavelength.
As Suffa remembers, working with SIX60 was an organic exploration of ideas and connection; ultimately producing material in a way that was unusual to the Hoods’ normal method of working.
“They came and spent three or four days with us at my studio. They were doing what they were usually doing, which is being in Australia for something to do with rugby,” he laughs. “We spent a few days just songwriting which is funny, because it’s not something we do. We had One Above in there as well. There’s like eight of us, packed into my little studio, writing for two days. We instantly had a good chemistry with them as people, and for the writing as well.”
“It’s funny looking back on it now, because everything else took so long, but we knocked out three tracks for the album during that time. It’s a twelve-track album and a quarter of it was written across those two days. It’s not something that happens usually for the Hoods.”
From looking back to now looking ahead, Suffa’s focus is on returning to stages around Australia and beyond. Fall From The Light kicks into full gear in Europe and the UK across August and September, with Australian fans set to welcome the Hoods back to arena stages nationally in early 2026.
Flexing their live muscles is something that the Hilltop Hoods have always excelled at, but with the release of this album, Suffa does feel like something fresh has been simmering within the camp during this time out of the spotlight.
Though they have maintained their position as Australian festival and headline favourites for years, two shows in 2024 and so far, two shows in 2025, has meant the Hoods are keen for that tour-adrenaline to kick in sooner rather than later.
“Not that we’ve been on a break, but it does feel like we’re right back into it,” Suffa says. “We’ve only done two shows this year, and two shows last year, which is the least amount we’ve done in I don’t know how long. We’ve now got something like twenty or thirty shows coming up in the next six months, with more being added.”
“I’m excited to be back! It feels like that [excitement] had been missing, but I wasn’t conscious of it. It feels like we’re juiced now. It took a while for the machine to get rolling, but now it feels like we’re rolling straight into things in a meaningful way.”
Fall From The Light is out on all major streaming platforms. See Hilltop Hoods at The Adelaide Entertainment Centre Feb 20 and 21, 2026.
