Review by Saxy S for Knocked Loose - You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To (2024)

Knocked Loose are the sort of beatdown hardcore band that I will inevitably show some hostility to on the outset. They gained quick popularity near the end of the 2010s, especially with the release of 2019’s A Different Shade of Blue. It was a good display of aggression, but in terms of execution, Knock Loose were certainly in the learning phases.

Now maybe that’s me being too demanding in hopes that Knocked Loose will provide me with something beyond “ARF ARF” and down tuned breakdowns to bang your head into a brick wall. This is beatdown hardcore after all. I will say though that seeing You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To clocking in at just under half-an-hour gave me some intrigue. After all, some of my favourite “true hardcore” albums are of the short-and-sweet variety. And since I’m not allowed to leave until I’m supposed to (this review is finished,) I might as well provide some insight.

I think that heavy metal, more than any other genre, needs to give its listeners a chance to breathe. It’s already characterized by guitar distortion, drummers slamming the kit with the force of a thousand hammers, and abrasive vocals. But when an entire record is nothing but this, it can make for an unfulfilling experience. If a record uses dynamics well, it will allow these breakdowns of force to hit with even greater authority. With You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To, Knocked Loose have one dynamic only and it’s alarming.

What this means is the intensity is great near the start, but by the end of the record, the listener is drained and could not imagine going to the start and doing it all over again. No one believes that this narrator is this angry all the time.

Speaking of the narrator, Bryan Garris’ vocals are painfully lacking. Like with the instrumentals, Garris screams in a monotonous timbre throughout the entire album with no deviation. The albums two best tracks (“Suffocate” and “Slaughterhouse 2”) were the ones that featured an additional vocalist to run counterpoint to Garris. The change in timbre gave those songs a little more variety and made them more memorable than the songs without guest features.

And as for the mixing, Knocked Loose are still in the infancy stage almost five years between albums. Loud equals good is not a selling point. There is so much unchecked clipping in the guitars that it started to become uncomfortable after a while. It turned into an unwinnable battle between me and the volume controls.

And what of the songs themselves? For an album that prides itself on being a relentless assault of noise from the word go, it doesn’t really say much. Riffs might be scattered and quickly switch between punk grooves and metalcore breakdowns, but they are almost always hovering around the same tempos. And Knocked Loose are also not going to let you remember any of these riffs either, because as soon as one starts to become earworm-y, it’s on to the next breakdown and more sporadic neck pain. Will we ever hear that leit motif again? Probably not, but if you want to hear it again, why not try listening to the album from the top? I think I’ll pass for now.

Knocked Loose are well outside of my comfort zone when it comes to metalcore. And I’m aware that most of my criticisms of You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To might be what some Knocked Loose enjoyers want to hear, and I think that’s great. These songs would be ridiculous in a live setting. However, if you want a little bit more substance in your metalcore, I suggest looking anywhere else.

Best Songs: Suffocate, Slaughterhouse 2