A Not So Different Shade of Blue
written by our host, Liam Sullivan Knocked Loose has certainly come a long way since 2013, when the band formed. Through the release of several EP’s that gained them a lot of underground attention, to their wildly successful debut album, “Laugh Tracks”, of which gained them massive mainstream attention, Knocked Loose has certainly had an interesting career, which has all culminated so far into their newest record, “A Different Shade of Blue”.
Upon my first listen to the album, I was pleasantly surprised to learn that I thoroughly enjoyed the album. I wasn’t sure if Knocked Loose was capable of writing something on the level of quality that the afformentioned “Laugh Tracks” held above a lot of modern hardcore albums, but I was proven wrong. While the quality stays exactly the same, and it’s a joy to listen to, that’s exactly where my issues with “A Different Shade of Blue” lie. While it may be an incredibly solid, brutal, noise filled modern hardcore album, it doesn’t deviate much from that sound, which dissapointed me quite a bit. This sound can be mimicked in plenty of other hardcore bands like Gideon, Code Orange, and Stick To Your Guns, and it doesn’t do much to set itself apart, but to be honest, in an extremely saturated genre of brutal and slow hardcore bands, I’m not sure what Knocked Loose could’ve even done to set themselves apart from the rest of the scene when everything has already been done. Sure, you can try a fancy drink that you’ve never had before, but sometimes, what your really just need is a nice cold refreshing water, and that’s exactly what Knocked Loose delivered, a nice tall glass of water to breathe freshness into the scene without deviating too far from their sound.
A pleasant surprise upon listening to this album for the first time was hearing the brutal vocal performance from Emma Boster, the vocalist from Dying Wish on the albums third track, “A Serpent’s Touch”. I’m personally always looking for bands that promote women in rock music, and Knocked Loose is absolutely no stranger to that. All three times that I’ve seen them live in concert, they always dedicate a song to the women not only in the room, but to the women in the rock scene trying to make their name on their own music and merits. It was a nice touch, and I’m hoping it brings more attention to Dying Wish, because it’s an absolutely killer track with an astounding performance from both Boster and Garris.
The following three tracks, however, have the same issue that some sections of Laugh Tracks did; they all blend together. Not to say that , “By the Grave”, “In The Walls”, and “Guided by the Moon” aren’t good tracks, but there’s nothing that really sets them apart in the album in contrast to the rest of the band’s resume. None of them were ridiculously heavy like some of their older material off of “Pop Culture” or the split EP, and none of them sounded particularly like some of the newer, faster songs off of this album. They just, well, exist. The next few tracks however, completely change that.
The band’s debut single off of the album, “Mistakes Like Fractures”, is what peels up right after “Guided by the Moon”, and this is personally one of my favorite tracks off the album in its entirety. With it’s fast and slamming intro, absolutely BRUTAL breakdown, and fun, jammy riffs, “Mistakes Like Fractures” is easily one of the best songs in Knocked Loose’s arsenal. “Forget Your Name” immediately throws you into the fray with riffs straight from a groovier side of metal, and powerful, hard-hitting vocal performances from both frontman Bryan Garris, and backup vocals / lead guitar, until the song slows down and our guest feature rolls in, the Legendary Kieth Buckley from the also legendary Every Time I Die. Buckley’s performance was not only a wonderful feature to the song, but a very nice present to give us a taste of his vocals for the first time since 2017 when Every Time I Die’s “Low Teens” came out.
The next few songs off of the album are slow, hard hitting, and gnarly, and they all lead to the final track, Misguided Son. It’s a slow, crawling, disgustingly heavy track that has echoes of “Pop Culture” coursing through its veins. It doesn’t stop until the very last second, and Knocked Loose is fully aware of this.
All in all, Knocked Loose has crafted a very solid, inoffensive hardcore album without deviating a lot from their standard, well-rounded sound. Their blend of metalcore elements, high screams, low growls, and a very well balanced and mastered mix in the studio, make this album an absolute treat to listen to, while never getting “boring”, per se. The guest features on two songs breathed a lot of new life into tracks that could’ve very well been lost into the songs that blend together. I’m looking forward to their next set of music, and excited to see how the hardcore community reacts to A Different Shade of Blue.
by Anthony 
