A Different Shade of Blue

If Laugh Tracks was Knocked Loose sharpening their teeth, A Different Shade of Blue is the bite—brutal, unrelenting, and dripping with intent. Released on 23 August 2019 via Pure Noise Records, the Kentucky five-piece’s second album doubles down on everything that made their debut so ferocious, dragging metalcore, hardcore, and sludge through the same vicious filter and spitting out something far more hostile.

Produced by Will Putney and clocking in just under 40 minutes, the record sounds like a panic attack set to double-kick drums and chainsaw riffs. “More hardcore, more metal, more malice,” as Kerrang! aptly put it. From the serrated lurch of “By the Grave” to the unhinged breakdowns of “Trapped in the Grasp of a Memory”, there’s barely a breath spared. Even the rare moments of space feel weaponised—brief reprieves before the next onslaught.

Bryan Garris’s signature scream still dominates, but the band’s songwriting has levelled up. Tracks like “Mistakes Like Fractures” flirt with catchiness without compromising intensity, proving that brutality and structure aren’t mutually exclusive. And it’s not just noise for noise’s sake—there’s a thematic weight here too, with the record grappling with guilt, grief, and internal collapse.

Critics hailed the album as a high watermark for modern hardcore. Distorted Sound crowned the band “at the apex” of the genre; Revolver listed it as their fourth best album of 2019. It also marked the end of an era—guitarist Cole Crutchfield would part ways with the band the following year.

A Different Shade of Blue doesn’t just raise the bar for heavy music in the 2010s. It tears it off the wall, snaps it in two, and screams in your face while doing it. This is Knocked Loose in full command of their chaos.