Review Summary: Hunger.
Sometimes I really grasp the fact that I'm getting older. At 24, I've already been charged (though not convicted) of a crime, I've had my heart broken at least once, I've had my jaw wired shut, gone to college and paid my dues in the underground. Sooner or later, you realize that you're not as young as you once were, you're not as angry. You're not always looking to prove yourself. You settle into the routine. The older I get, the more I drift away from my younger ethos and the music that once gripped me so intensely loses sway. Then I put on an a band like Knocked Loose, and all the anger, frustration and animosity I've ever felt towards my life and society comes flooding back.
Hardcore has been experiencing a 'revival' as of late. Bands like Code Orange Kids, Full of Hell and Trapped Under Ice have been pioneering a new breed of musical intensity. On the other hand, your bands like Defeater have been pushing the boundaries on lyricism in hardcore, in a way returning hardcore to its roots of real struggle and angst so integral to the early hardcore scene. Consider Knocked Loose a sort of amalgamation between the two.
Sporting heavy, driven riffs coupled with lyrics ranging from atheism to violently suppressing personal insecurities, Knocked Loose is the new age of hardcore. And you know what, it's f-cking great. Even in my early mid-life, when a night spent reading and browsing animal videos on YouTube with a pint of whiskey sounds like a good time, an album like 'Pop Culture' can bring right back all my feelings of ambition, drive and most importantly hunger for a freer and brighter future.
These kids are hungry, and if you give them a listen, you will be too. This is hardcore.
