After experiencing A Tear in the Fabric of Life, I knew I had to listen to more of Knocked Loose. Their hardcore sound is definitively violent and absolutely unique, and A Different Shade of Blue is no different.
It's actually quite cool to hear how their sound developed from A Different Shade of Blue to A Tear in the Fabric of Life. The EP was so conceptually tight and concise, and the direction was so distinct that it gave their hardcore sound such a unique grief-laden edge to it. With this full-length record, I got to hear a variety of their sound with the space for exploration an EP usually can't accomodate.
This album is raw and, in a good way, occasionally barebones. The riffs are chunky and indisputably hardcore. Chunky riffs, low-tuned chugs and dissonant chords form the musical essence of the entire record. It's also cool that we hear the bass more. The drums do its job well, keeping the intensity and accentuating the vocals and guitars.
The way they balance intensity and manage the dynamics in this record is commendable. I almost never notice, but they include smartly placed drop outs, interims and buildups that don't lose the energy completely but keeps the listener from being oversaturated by heaviness. It's invigorating, to put it simply, the way they weave their hardcore sound around lows and highs, impactful moments and calmer breaks.
I love Bryan Garris' vocals, don't get me wrong, but Isaac Hale's lows add so much vocal diversity to their sound, and I'm glad it appears more often in this record. It's just the sheer contrast of their vocals that in turn makes both of their screams hit that much harder.
The guest vocals were great picks, even if I didn't know any at the time. Emma Boster took me by surprise, mostly because I wasn't expecting female screams, but also because it is crazy brutal and absolutely matches Bryan's screams perfectly. Keith Buckley is a great guest spot too, now knowing his contribution to the metal world via Every Time I Die, but also on its own as a nicely contrasting unclean vocal texture to have on the album.
For a genre that has a tendency to all sound the same, they have their moments that make them stand out quite well. Their use of dissonant panic chords is eye-catching and sometimes downright cheeky. The final breakdown of In The Walls is a brilliant example of their simple yet impactful use of those. Two other facets of their music that go hand in hand in making them stand out are their dramatically aggressive lyrics and, unsurprisingly, Bryan's vocals. Their lyrics may end up being pretentious or overkill for some people, but it's definitely the right kind of thing to match the rageful energy of their sound. Bryan's vocals also does that exact thing, embodying a pure and unrestrained rage. The contrast of the violently angry screams on this album compared to the regretful and grieving screams on the EP is very intriguing to me, and shows his range as an unclean vocalist.
It's a subtle thing, but their storytelling in this record is noteworthy. Little additions of sound snippets at the end of In The Walls and at the start of Road 23 paint parts of the story musically, and the lyrical progression alongside the titles spell out the rest.
It took me time to get into, I'll have to admit, but it was still one of my first tastes of hardcore in general. I've come to like A Different Shade of Blue for its outright relentless hardcore sound and everything that I love about Knocked Loose. Angry music, that's for sure.
Rating: 8/10