ALBUM REVIEW: Laugh Tracks – Knocked Loose
It’s difficult to remember a band that commanded so much attention and hype with an EP like KNOCKED LOOSE did with Pop Culture. The five-track monster was over in just 12 minutes but the sheer brutish aggression and angst that was featured made damn sure you took notice. After gaining some profile the band were meet with a baying crowd desperately awaiting a full-length release. Laugh Tracks is the name of this full length and ultimately this is more of what you know.
If you’re unfamiliar with the KNOCKED LOOSE sound then it’s really simple to grasp. This is no frills hardcore that hits really fucking hard. Literally every track featured has a noticeably brilliant beatdown but A Fetish is perhaps the best example of the sheer belligerence that KNOCKED LOOSE possesses. The breakdown is jarring and vicious and is a perfect close to the trudging two minutes prior. If you really want to hear this rowdy bunch at their best though then you need not look any further than the opening three tracks. Oblivions Peak squealing breaking down and the pit-inducing slam of Deadringer are some of the best examples of modern hardcore done right.
KNOCKED LOOSE have such an excellent grasp of what makes a good track and so each song is paced well and the album chugs along steady and even. Even acknowledging the need for a filler track hasn’t deterred the group as Counting Worms serves this purpose but refuses to let the momentum drop as it bleeds into My Heroes, which ends on the wretched lyrics ‘all my heroes went to hell’ before becoming certifiably violent.
As you probably will have guessed by now, this album doesn’t deviate from the same structure all that much. Laugh Tracks is over within half an hour and so it’s almost a difficult to find highlights when every song contains the same ingredients. Despite this clear static nature in their sound, KNOCKED LOOSE sound so unbelievably confident its difficult not to get excited at the prospect of this band starting to branch out and add more layers to their already well established and well executed base sound.
By the time the title track plays out and the laugh track commences its difficult to feel anything other than angry, in the best possible way mind. This is an album soaked in passion from creators that know what they’re doing and how to do it effectively. Laugh Tracks is an enjoyable listen but is far from ground-breaking. This does mean that KNOCKED LOOSE are an incredibly interesting band to watch over the next few years though, because based on this, there could be very brutal things coming over the horizon.
Rating: 7/10
Laugh Tracks is set for release on September 16th via Pure Noise Records
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