As Knocked Loose chipped away at what would become their third album, they felt the pressure from all sides. Internally, there was the need to challenge themselves as songwriters while retaining the merciless intensity and unflinching honesty that have always been their calling cards. Externally, there was a whole new set of eyes on the hard-touring Louisville quintet, following a banner year in which they’d brought their underground-seasoned sound to some of the world’s biggest stages, finding themselves the unlikely viral darlings of both Coachella and Bonnaroo. The creative process was arduous, with the band writing close to 40 songs across a span of four years before locking in the 10 tracks that make up new LP You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To. But in the end, vocalist Bryan Garris, guitarists Isaac Hale and Nicko Calderon, bassist Kevin Otten and drummer Kevin “Pac Sun” Kaine honed a diverse, cohesive and savagely intense album that both sums up the massive strides they’ve taken during their decade as a band, and asserts their boundless potential going forward. Raging lead single “Blinding Faith” skillfully wields whiplash tempo changes in service of a scathing indictment of religious groupthink. “Don’t Reach for Me” combines the band’s signature frenzied attack with deliberate catchiness and refreshing sonic variety. While “Suffocate,” featuring pop-meets-metal trailblazer Poppy, contrasts an oppressive heaviness befitting the title with a dance-y, syncopated groove and, midway through, the most concussive reggaeton rhythm you’ve ever heard. The album title — a phrase that a fellow passenger said to Garris to soothe his severe air-travel anxiety during a particularly trying flight — strikes a note of reassurance. But glossing over negative emotions isn’t what Knocked Loose are about. The new songs find them plumbing new depths of loathing — directed both inward and outward — and tortuous anguish. Musically, they’re leaning into their most extreme impulses, from blastbeat-driven fury, chaotic turbulence and seismic breakdowns, while seasoning the mix with ear-catching auxiliary percussion, evocative samples and shout-along hooks, all interwoven to perfection by Grammy-nominated, pop-savy producer Drew “WZRD BLD” Fulk. There’s no ceiling for hardcore in 2024 — even an outfit as uncompromising as Knocked Loose can turn up in mainstream-adjacent spaces and win over new fans. But there’s a center to what they do that will never change: uncompromising heaviness, both sonically and thematically. What is evolving is their drive to find new ways to convey that heaviness, and add tasteful variety that only highlights their undiminished ferocity. Everywhere Knocked Loose have been is here on this record — but so is everywhere they may yet go.
