Knocked Loose – You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To [Things You Might Have Missed 2024]
By Dear Hollow
Is the hype surrounding Knocked Loose legit? Making (perhaps unwanted) waves with that “arf arf arf” breakdown in “Counting Worms” and waking babies, and “being woke,”1 with an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! with collaborator Poppy, the Kentucky group is getting its fair share of backlash and praise in equal measure. It’s easy to approach You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To in this light, but the novelty is merely a facet of the album. In many ways, the act’s third full-length is a continuation of 2016’s bruising Laugh Tracks or 2019’s sludge-inflected A Different Shade of Blue, but an altogether more mature and heftier affair. Yes, Poppy’s witchy shrieks and haunting croons appear in a breakdown buildup in “Suffocate” and Chris Motionless from Motionless in White rears his Gothy nu-metal head in “Slaughterhouse 2,” but beneath the radio-friendly gloss is an album dedicated to tragedy and grit.
As always, Knocked Loose balances its appropriately suffocating beatdown hardcore instrumentals with a three-prong vocal attack, helmed by the feral shrieks of Bryan Garris.2 Featuring frantic Converge-esque choruses (“Thirst,” “Piece by Piece”), mammoth breakdowns (“Don’t Reach for Me,” “Blinding Faith,” “The Calm That Keeps You Awake”), and their novelty pieces of guest vocalists add a refreshing change of pace to what could have been a monotonous meltdown. Alongside Garris’ unmistakable vocals, guitarists Isaac Hale and Nicko Calderon lend guttural roars and hardcore fry vocals respectively, injecting a jolt of white-hot energy to songs like “Thirst” and “Don’t Reach for Me.” While Knocked Loose theoretically approaches You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To with a traditional beatdown template a la Gideon and Bulldoze, its brutality and intensity are felt through every movement.
You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To features a skull-crushing breed of hardcore, but nuance is added when Knocked Loose embraces the haunting – a hum cutting through the relentless storm. Utilizing eerie leads and instrumental stillness, evocative lyrics of homesickness, desolation, and meaninglessness are enacted with musical allegory. Tracks that utilize this more contemplative aura (“Moss Covers All,” its sequel “Take Me Home,” “Sit & Mourn”) reflect the solemnity of their titles and the eeriness of the album art in a pummeling yet haunting approach reminiscent of last year’s The Acacia Strain, reflecting a deeper and more tragic intention beyond the mindless hardcore beatdowns. Buried beneath the blastbeats and frantic vocals lies an existential weight tied to its lyrics, the recurring theme of unearthing roots and dismantling family patterns is accomplished mightily through these tracks, further bolstered by tasteful samples.3 You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To is more than just mindless intensity.
Yes, Knocked Loose is here to kick your teeth in, but it’s not as simple as a senseless hardcore beatdown punishment. You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To is a multilayered album, easy to dismiss due to its Octane Radio-friendly novelty in “Suffocate” and “Slaughterhouse 2” or its mind-numbing chugs and breakdowns strewn with reckless abandon, but it incorporates just enough haunting experimentation and heartfelt lyricism to give purpose to the punishment. Undoubtedly a divisive release this year, but Knocked Loose balances blind aggression and thoughtful flourishes like a steel-toed boot to the throat in a dense forest at night. So watch your back.
Tracks to Check Out: ”Suffocate,” “Take Me Home,” “Blinding Faith,” and “Sit & Mourn.”
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