Knocked Loose have made their name with an abrasive, brutal and explosive brand of hardcore. Hardcore in its purest, most aggressive form. From every dissonant chord to jarring glitches and breakdowns, the band from Kentucky have smashed their way into the upper echelons of the global hardcore scene.
Now, from the smouldering wreckage of a car crash comes the band’s latest project. A Tear In The Fabric Of Life, a total surprise drop out now, is a conceptual EP tormented by sorrow, grief and pain coupled with visceral anger and guilt. Incorporating a prominent death metal influence the band have reached a new level of heaviness, which is appropriate for the weight of the subject matter. A Tear In The Fabric Of Life builds on the narratives first hinted at on A Different Shade Of Blue. Using haunting and eerie soundscapes, the band tell the story of a car crash survivor who has killed his passenger. From there it is a chaotic spiral down the survivor’s guilt rabbit hole before they are reunited in death. Using radio interludes and guitar drones there is a continuous tension, as each song speaks to each other to tell this harrowing narrative. The more observant will notice that the radio interludes also hark back as far as 2016’s Laugh Tracks. The EP is the soundtrack to an equally harrowing short film that the band made with Magnus Jonsson, its bleak imagery augments the listening experience as you are taken down this dark, distressing road.
The six song narrative feels like an endurance test of jarring stress, compounded with the mother of all whiplashes. However, what makes these spine snapping whiplashes so intense is how they’re executed. This EP see’s the band showcasing a perfect understanding of contrast and juxtaposition. For every concussion worthy breakdown, there’s moments of deathly stillness. Unlike some of the group’s more earlier work, this isn’t just a flurry of musical ultra-violence delivered with blind fury. Instead the blows this EP delivers land with perfect timing in order to deal maximum damage. An ideal example, ‘God Knows’ – a track featuring Portrayal Of Guilt’s Matt King providing his signature ghastly vocals – slips into the proceeding ‘Forced To Stay’ with a sense of discombobulated ambience which only heightens the atmosphere of sheer hopelessness and despair this EP animates. Musically, this may be one of the band’s most heaviest works to date, but the engulfing and panic inducing atmosphere this record is simply crushing and far, far more intense than anything else available courtesy of the majority of their peers in the hardcore genre.
The band have mastered the fine balance between extreme tension and technical mastery. This EP is a significant development, but not a departure, of the Knocked Loose sound. It incredible that this much harsh and piercing destruction has been packed into six unforgettable tracks, everything has a dark, stress inducing purpose. In many ways words fail to explain the sheer chaotic nightmare that this EP is, as it is as hellish as it is outstanding. This is the single-handedly the most technical and groundbreaking work that Knocked Loose have ever released, yet again the band are pushing the boundaries of modern hardcore.