Review Summary: Dying to Forget.....this album.
I'll be the first to admit that I'm not the biggest fan of Poppy. I didn't start getting into her stuff until her last release,
Negative Spaces, which is a decent slab of modern, overproduced alternative metal, but still has a certain charm to it that made me a bit of a fan. Her vocals in particular drew me in, but at times, the music itself was too generic to really make me (and others, I'm sure) a true fan. When it was announced that she was releasing a new album,
Empty Hands, I had a morbid curiosity to see how it would stack up to the previous album and if it would bring anything new to the table. Unfortunately for me and her, it's just more of the same.
The main problem for me is that I feel that Poppy is capable of making music that is way better than the product that she's actually putting forth. Her vocals, for the most part, are absolutely incredible. The woman can clearly sing/scream her ass off and she's already proven that. The thing is, her fantastic vocals are backed by music that just doesn't hit in any type of way for me personally. Instead of going the twinkly djent route, like most bands of this ilk, she adds some industrial and nu-metal influences, but the riffs are too stale to really ever pull the listener in and this is evident right off the bat. The opener, ‘Public Domain’, showcases Poppy's fantastic vocal range, but unfortunately, the instrumental aspect is a blend of uninspired alt metal/metalcore riffs and shallow industrial bits that completely ruin any momentum.
The entire album continues this sad trend, and while her vocals absolutely rule 99% of the time, the instruments just do not measure up. It's hard to even point out specific parts because it all blends together and not in a good way. Some bands are able to make their albums flow to the point where it feels like one long track working together in unison, but in
Empty Hands’ case, it flows to a detriment because everything is just so flaccid and boring with production that is just too squeaky clean. Unfortunately, with this style of music, this is too often the case.
It may be prudent for Poppy to switch-up her style whenever she decides to release another album because, as I said, her vocal chops are really up to par, both harsh and clean. It would be interesting to see her branch out into musical territory that hasn't been done a billion times over. This isn't a djent album by any means, but it has too much in common with modern djent, metalcore and/or alternative metal to ever really push any boundaries or give the listener anything to sink their teeth into.
Empty Hands is an album with a Godly vocal performance only to be sidetracked by radio-friendly riffs and unimaginative industrial/electronic bits. Sadly, Poppy fell right into the trap that plagues a lot of modern, accessible metal for me. This strategy will probably help her gain tons of 14 year old fans that eat up garbage like this on a daily basis, but for seasoned metal listeners,
Empty Hands will most likely be a huge swing and miss.
