I've been waiting for new Tallah since I got completely blown away by the unparalleled chaos of The Generation Of Danger, and Hard Knock is the perfect appetizer to get by while I wait for the next full-length to show up.
Hard Knock is Tallah at their core, nothing crazier than their normal amount of crazy. Justin continues to boast some insanely versatile harsh vocals, Max has no holds barred on the kit still, and the guitars are ravaging the soundscape as usual. It happens to be one of their shorter songs, but that just means that the brutality is condensed.
I love that they put the chorus right at the start, it's ferocious and punchy, and it makes an impression right away. It's cool to see him bring back that switchy high-low vocal cadence from Overconfidence, not many vocalists play around with their vocals like an instrument, like percussion no less. His voice continues to astound at how easily it maintains itself across a spectrum of clean to gritty rap vocals, and also with a lot of his animal noises on this track. It sounds very much like what he delivered on The Generation Of Danger, and it's everything you've come to expect from him.
The instrumentation feels slightly more familiar to Matriphagy than The Generation Of Danger, especially with its blunter sound. The mix and production is only getting better with time though, this is arguably one of the clearest wall of noises I've heard from them. I also want to shoutout that sick speedy quadruplet kick in the second verse, so simple but effective. The breakdown is just fun, nothing too out of the world but I love how intense the drums get going into it.
I am hoping for a new album from Tallah, I think it's not a surprise. Hard Knock is a good sign that not only do they still have it on lock, but also that they're ready to start releasing music again. I'll admit that Hard Knock doesn't have that same stronger feel of a narrative weight behind it, but it is equally as fun as any other track they've put out. Here's to a third Tallah album in 2024, fingers crossed.
Rating: 3.5/5