KNOCKED LOOSE
A Different Shade Of Blue
PURE NOISE Kentucky hardcore crew start to justify the hype
THE SUCCESS KNOCKED Loose experienced off of the back of their debut full-length, Laugh Tracks, in 2016 was surprising in many ways. Firstly, it usually takes hardcore bands decades before any commercial or critical approval comes their way (think of the cult of Black Flag or Refused), so to see such a straight-ahead hardcore band get such hype was unusual. Secondly, there didn’t appear to be anything that Knocked Loose were doing that was evolving the hardcore sound, unlike, say, Code Orange or Turnstile. They appeared to be a fairly standard metallic hardcore band in the right place at the right time.
So, there’s a fair bit of pressure on the young Kentucky quintet on this second album, and A Different Shade Of Blue is probably a perfectly pitched follow-up to Laugh Tracks, with enough that is familiar to fans of sinewsnapping punk rock being sated whilst adding a few more sonic detours. The excellent By The Grave doesn’t just have a name that is metal as fuck; it also taps into the gruelling, guttural groove of the early 90s Floridan death metal scene, and it’s followed by In The Walls’ rolling, chainsaw riff and the angular, swirling throb of Guided By The Moon.
Undeniably, though, Knocked Loose are at their best when chugging through beatdown-heavy crossover songs, aided ably by guests such as Every Time I Die’s Keith Buckley on Forget Your Name and Emma Boster of Dying Wish on the superb A Serpent’s Touch. Album highlight Denied By Fate does nothing that Every Time I Die, Comeback Kid or Botch haven’t ever done before, but when Knocked Loose get it this right the quality of their material is sky high. Overall A Different Shade Of
Blue is a very enjoyable amalgam of many flavours of heavy music, and if it inspires enough new people to explore deeper into its influences that can only be a good thing.
FOR FANS OF: Incendiary, Judiciary, Code Orange