Next up, Hannah ensures we include some metalcore in our coverage…
Hannah Jocelyn: The first thing that impressed me about Knocked Loose is Drew Fulk’s production, a metal/emo-rap journeyman who makes this brutal music sound pristine without losing any intensity. Brian Garris’ high-pitched screeches earn the ire of people more well versed in metal-core than I am, but that’s what works — it’s like how Keanu Reeves’ androgyny gives me a way into the John Wick movies. (Both JW and KL have a technical proficiency I can focus on if it ever does get too bro-ey.) On “Suffocate”, Knocked Loose recruits Poppy for a guest verse, but her appearance isn’t treated like a joke the way it used to be even in her own music. In the video, Harris tosses the mic to Poppy and she blends right in, even getting a wail in of her own toward the end. There’s no condescension or inherent humor, just a casual inclusion in the insanity (see also: Wick’s non-binary Adjudicator) that’s so much cooler. That’s not to say there isn’t silliness; the dembow breakdown is delightful, and weirder in a much more appealing way than “arf arf” or “knocked loose motherfucker!” as I’ve gone back to the band’s early music. It leads to this record feeling oddly safer; if I were in a mosh pit, I know I would not be treated any differently. I could just be another body getting pushed around. Okay, I’m still too worried about getting Covid again to ever be in a mosh pit, but there’s still enough to sink into here. It’s not the most complicated song — Garris just says it’s about betrayal — but the album’s themes of religious trauma and loss fill in the gaps. Maybe I need this energy the next four years: who knows if it will sound this good.
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Jacob Sujin Kuppermann: You’d expect a left-field collaboration like this to be a more baroque take on Knocked Loose’s general schtick, but this is about as straightforward as they get — unlike the more varied structures on A Tear in the Fabric of Life, this is purely a blunt object; the slightly dembow rhythm of the breakdown is the only aberrance of note. Of course even the basic implementation of a Knocked Loose song is viscerally thrilling, but the missed opportunity to get weird haunts “Suffocate.”
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Ian Mathers: The Grammys are bad in many ways, but if they somehow led to the pearl clutchers having to complain about this tense little rager getting played on (wait for it) Jimmy Kimmel Live than I guess it’s like the way drunk driving helps people get to work on time. If you played me a bunch of different breakdowns I absolutely could not have picked this one out as the reggaeton-inspired one, but it does thrash regardless. Wish the balance of singers was tilted a bit more towards Poppy though; her voice suits the screaming a bit more.
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Nortey Dowuona: Kevin Kaine on drums. Kevin Otten on bass. Nicko Calderon and Isaac Hale on guitar. Bryan Garris with the screaming. Musical guest, Poppy. And your host, Eric Richter!!! “Are you conscious behind the knife? Or is it just another disguise?”
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Taylor Alatorre: The structure isn’t as tight or the transitions as deftly handled as on the true highlights of You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To, which puts the onus on Poppy to deliver what technical heaviness alone cannot. She’s unsheathed as the song’s not-so-secret weapon, but her strict directive to blend into the brutalism, apart from the allowance for a brief phantasmal interlude, renders her role a largely superfluous one. Knocked Loose remain masters of crossing over without compromising, and their commitment to capturing the grisly physicality of beatdown drumming in particular is admirable. They’re capable of being more than conductors of mosh pit whiplash, though, and Poppy is capable of more than raw-throatedness.
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Jel Bugle: Obviously, Poppy is the greatest pop star around right now, and good that she has gone metal again! This is a relentless bit of unsubtle noise, shouting and that horror movie bit. It’s not as nuanced or artful as anything on Poppy’s latest album, but she can scream pretty good! Hoping that Poppy will collab with Worm Shepherd or Oceano or some deathcore band soon.
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Will Adams: I’ve really come around on Poppy ever since her turn into metal (or, more, accurately, her turn away from Diplo’s label). Her screams on “Suffocate” are impressive, the late-game dembow appearance is cool, but this generally isn’t a genre that impacts me as much as its relentless onslaught wants it to.
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Katherine St. Asaph: Poppy has come full circle: from being an artist more interesting than good, to being interesting in a different way but still more so than good.
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Brad Shoup: Styles make fights, and there’s enough variation in the beatdown (a dembow breakdown, some military-grade concussive drum treatment) to take this to the bell.
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John S. Quinn-Puerta: I am typically more of a growl fan than a shriek fan, but I’ve been enjoying Poppy’s contributions to metal for the last few years. Her counterpoint to the vocals and soliloquy lighten the affair without losing weight. It’s hard to deny the effectiveness of the guitar tone, especially when the Latin beat hits and then becomes almost sludge-like. Yo quiero perreo.
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Jeffrey Brister: The rest of the it is already great, what with its precision and its heaviness and just generally being a clockwork piledriver of constant breakdowns and blast beats, but when they hit the reggaeton breakdown? Every single part of my high school experience collides in ecstatic communion with the divine. An outrageous song, one that I literally risk my hearing for.
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