My go-to answer for this is Thrice.
I had a lot to say about this:
Summary
One of the most influential post-hardcore bands of the 2003 “major labels signing any punk band with screaming” phase and had a massive hit with The Artist In The Ambulance album.
Then, while sweep-fringe MySpace screamo was still very much in vogue, they put as much distance as possible between themselves and the genre that spawned them with Vheissu. It’s considered a classic now but at the time represented the end of their major-label career.
They lost a lot of people with their next move, a double album (or 4 EPs, depending on how you look at it) based around the elements, with each element having a distinctive sound. One of those albums that’s generated more band names than it has actual hits.
Following that, they sort of coasted on their reputation as the screamo Radiohead, putting out 2 self-produced albums but not making any massive strides forward or backwards, just kinda staying-put. By this point, with families and a dwindling fanbase, the inevitable hiatus came in 2012.
They returned in 2015, riding roughly the same nostalgia wave as Refused (with whom they would subsequently tour - more on that shortly). 2016’s To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere, arguably the best album they’d ever released. And they had the biggest radio hit of their career with ‘Black Honey’. By the time they made it back to London they were headlining The Forum, and people were singing along to a set made up of almost 50% new material.
2018’s Palms wasn’t as catchy or as radio-ready but was better still. And the ‘comeback’ angle - and the hit singles, obviously - garnered them coverage they’d never have received if they hadn’t had that hiatus. The other key factor in their comeback was the decision to start working with a producer again; Thrice are a musically prodigious but artistically pretentious band who operate best with an outsider pointing out when to cut the crap and play a damn chorus.
The fact that their 2019 “co-headline” tour with Refused essentially became Refused supporting them in all but name speaks to the way the two bands’ respective fanbases have received the material they’ve released since coming back. And also possibly to a minor generation gap between the two. I know a lot of people who went for one band and not the other; one of those bills which made more sense on paper than in practice.
