ALBUM REVIEW: No Love Lost – Year Of The Knife

This was supposed to be YEAR OF THE KNIFE’s triumphant return, a scorching sophomore effort and Madi Watkins’ first full-length as their new vocalist. Instead, while they were touring ahead of its intended rollout of July, the band were involved in a horrific bus crash, after which releasing new music was the least of their worries. Three months on from the incident, while they’re still very much in recovery, they chose to share what they’d recorded with the legendary Kurt Ballou at GodCity Studios in Massachusetts in December last year.

No Love Lost is that effort; a scorching 20-minute blitz that takes the metallic hardcore they built their name with on Internal Incarceration and twists it into new forms, drilling into their influences to expand their sound while still delivering a record that’s distinctly them. If you caught them on their run of shows prior to June, you likely heard a few of these songs live, and on record they lose very little of that power. Tapping into a visceral, raw fury, No Love Lost is a no-holds-barred thrill ride that ensures, no matter what happens next, YEAR OF THE KNIFE have already left an indelible mark on the world of hardcore.

Sometimes opens the album with serious swagger, a grooving riff that gives way to frantic d-beat and churning, almost death metal riffing. It’s a real statement of intent that kicks off the record with viciousness aplenty, before the excoriating first single Wish. That dials up the death metal significantly, an 85-second rampage with a guest appearance from death metallers SANGUISUGABOGG’s Devin Swank for an extra grisly second half. The other lead single Last Laugh makes an appearance a little later, but not before YEAR OF THE KNIFE deliver more excoriating, battering hardcore.

“Twist the knife” screams Watkins during Mourning The Living as its double bass drum propels the song with neck-snapping ferocity. At a hair under three minutes, the band stuff in enough riffs to incite a dozen pits, the album’s title as a heinously catchy mosh call, and a chugging, squealing beatdown that’ll have you gurning no matter where you hear it. The aforementioned Last Laugh crops up soon after; at 47 seconds it’s the shortest song by a good way. The feral performance from Watkins and guest Dylan Walker are like a spiked bat to the head and its ending gurgle is deliriously unhinged.

The more extreme flourishes are done with the confidence of a band that already know they make great metallic hardcore and are determined to make it as confrontational as they can, while still making it incredibly fun to listen to. With rampant grooves like Sometimes or Your Control, while flirting with death metal (Wish) or grindcore (Last Laugh), it’s not just more of the same; the band have clearly used the line-up change to embrace their sonic palettes outside of hardcore to craft something that represents every facet of their tastes in extremity. 

It culminates with the title track which sprawls (by their standards) across a little under four minutes, dredging up some EYEHATEGOD-level groove, filtered through an HM-2 and YEAR OF THE KNIFE’s own belligerence. At 20 minutes, No Love Lost is a blistering, take-no-prisoners assault that not only reaffirms why they’re so loved by the hardcore scene in the first place, but strengthens their vice-like grip on their spot in its upper echelons. No matter what happens in their future, YEAR OF THE KNIFE can hold their heads immensely high with this vitriolic statement of their identity. 

Rating: 9/10

No Love Lost is set for release on October 27th via Pure Noise Records.

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