Knocked Loose
You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To
PURE NOISE
ABOVE THE CURRENT
If all the traditionalist suits of the music industry were to sit down together at a conference-room table, they’d likely take some swipes at the new subgenres that seem to sprout up on a near-daily basis, no doubt decrying how challenging it is to market these genre-bending bands. Enter Knocked Loose, a thunderous group from Kentucky that’s now a decade removed from their debut EP. Due to the quintet’s practically unadulterated form of pure hardcore-punk established on 2014’s Pop Culture, they would easily win over the crotchety, long-serving execs who typically remain skeptical of entertainment-business clients until they’ve proven their mettle. Meanwhile, younger music lovers have flocked to the band’s relentlessly heavy, high-octane energy they bring to each show over the years. Some kids might knock Knocked Loose for playing in a safe, straightforward manner, for not pushing the envelope even further than they already have.
But fans (regardless of age) who were head-over-heels for the first two Knocked Loose records would be wrong in defending that argument. Sure, the group’s 2016 debut Laugh Tracks and their 2019 follow-up A Different Shade of Blue were a bit more cautious and a smidgen less intense than their third studio record, You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To. But young musicians who try to abruptly upend the mainstream and underground almost inevitably come across as unsteady and uninteresting. It took Knocked Loose, who are now a music festival staple thanks in part to last year’s massive Coachella sets, more than a decade to develop the amount of confidence to begin pushing boundaries in a big way.
Indeed, You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To is music to the ears of punk, metal, and even indie-rock fans who relish Knocked Loose’s new flavor. The new record speaks to that younger contingent of fans. Vocalist Bryan Garris makes a strong case for that argument on one of the record’s standout tracks, opener “Thirst”: “Dragging my knuckles / Forward but through the mud / Secluded lower form / Sickened by my thirst for change.” That stanza may sound just a bit hokey and dramatic, but in the long run, and of far more importance, Knocked Loose—good students of hardcore that they are—are giving voice to young enthusiasts of the genre who need some kind of hope to cling to as the world continues to crumble.
Knocked Loose drives home the fact that they’re a hardcore band on the last and longest song on the record, the near-five-minutes closer “Sit & Mourn.” What’s the trick up their sleeves? On that same song, the band says goodbye with the help of the best throwdown that Knocked Loose have crafted to date. Expect the crowd to erupt into a circle pit when the band plays that song, which is destined to become a hardcore staple as Knocked Loose continues skyrocketing in popularity in the years to come.
