“Fuck your ignorant opinions, maybe you ain’t got a reason to live.”
It stirs the memory to recall when Poppy first dipped her toes into the world of metal and all the genres that surround it. The closer “X” on the record Am I a Girl? spread across sections of the internet like wildfire. At the time, the hyperpop artist had suddenly thrown out what was a pretty decent attempt at metalcore, leaving many wondering if that was going to be her new path. The follow-up, Choke, blended together alternative stylings with EBM, and even now, it still holds up as an impressive EP. Yet it took I Disagree to truly get the ball rolling for Poppy‘s headfirst dive into the world of everything that is heavy.
At the time, Poppy‘s aesthetic was keyed in for an online audience. The various offbeat mannerisms crafted a similar but vitally different feel from a lot of the gloomier metalcore of the time. As her discography began to flesh itself out, the likes of “Concrete“, “Say Cheese” and “Bite Your Teeth” continued to set Poppy apart from her contemporaries. Yet one key component of the Poppy project is that it’s never too obvious what is going to come next. There was a constant desire to experiment and dabble in new sounds, with the controversial Music To Scream To hinting towards an untapped well of inspiration. Further ventures were made into new wave and gothic rock on Flux and dark pop on Zig.
Yet in recent years it has seemed that Poppy has begun to enter a stage of conformity, to an extent. After Negative Spaces, which we regarded as some of Poppy‘s best work due to its superb and vulnerable lyrical content, landing high in our end of year list for 2024. It also saw her embrace the tried and tested modern metalcore style, a thread that her producer Jordan Fish has now woven through the genre – to a very mixed response. This was cemented by the track “End of You“, a collaboration with stalwarts Amy Lee and Courtney LaPlante, which was an entirely shallow track outside its line up. As the video hurtles towards ten million views on YouTube, little time was wasted in galvanising the hype behind the track to announce Poppy’s next record, Empty Hands.
As the early singles began to roll out, it was quickly evident that Poppy was set to double-dip into a modern metalcore sound, with the safe choice of Jordan Fish once again working alongside her. Early singles “Unravel” and “Guardian” failed to impress on impact, and with Empty Hands in full view, it emerges that they are indeed two of the weaker cuts on the record. The former provides the lyric “Lift me up to tear me back down”, just for those who enjoyed The Devil Wears Prada‘s recent deadringer “Why do the highs always feel so low“. “Guardian” has a slightly uninspired sound to it, blending that 00s chorus-lead structure with middle of the road rock music instrumentals that would be difficult to discern from any radio rock track of the mid to late 00s. “Bruised Sky” has that rough-edge that Poppy has made a consistency feature on her records, regardless of the genre in phase. As the instrumentals rumble with a nu-grunge tinge to them, the final minute of the track leans into a brooding atmosphere, as if the track is going to see Poppy burst out into a frenzy.
These singles stacked at the front-end of Empty Hands make for a blunted opening stretch. War-like drums open the record on “Public Domain“, with grooves and a quicker vocal tempo that leans into Poppy‘s previous style. It’s almost a melding of the material found on EAT and Choke with an added touch of the industrial influences Poppy has leant more into in recent times. As the aforementioned singles are broken up by a vocoder interlude (which later reemerges on “Blink“), “Public Domain“‘s hot start is largely smothered. Poppy then deploys her penchant for real heaviness on “Dying To Forget“. The simplistic comparison for this track would be Knocked Loose, which Negative Spaces‘ “the center’s falling out” did certainly draw influence from. Outside the near minute breakdown that closes out “Dying To Forget”, it feels a lot closer to what Architects have been releasing as of late. Take that however you will.
In the latter half on the likes of “Time Will Tell” and “The Wait“, Empty Hands falls back into a default; that modern metalcore/alternative structure which “Unravel” has already made boring. It pivots on yet more 00s choruses which Poppy‘s past collaborator Amy Lee popularised two decades ago. “If We’re Following the Light” does this to some success, feeling stripped back and leaning into the vulnerability that Poppy has shown in the past, with the likes of “Never Find My Place” and “Don’t Ask” coming to mind. The guitar laments and wails in an almost mournful tone as the track closes out. It also showcases how much Poppy’s clean harmonies have improved since tracks such as “Don’t Go Outside“.
It would be amiss to not mention the short but sweet “Eat The Hate“, which leans into punk stylings much like Flux. It is a fairly straightforward track and feel slightly out of place on the record, yet given its runtime of just under two minutes, it’s not much of a derailment. “Ribs” follows and once again falls into the Fishcore pitfalls, handing off to the all important title track for the closer. Oddly, its opening riffs sound like early Bring Me The Horizon. It was always going to be a coin-flip whether Poppy closed out on a silly heavy track or a melancholic closer, with little in-between across their discography. Panic-chords are hyper present and there’s even a drum groove you could find a way to two-step to. “Empty Hands” is up there as Poppy‘s heaviest track penned to date; even throwing out an impressive guttural as it ends, it marks an expansion of Poppy‘s sound. It won’t necessarily compete with what we’re seeing in deathcore or hardcore genres, but the brutality is something to behold.
The ever-growing pool of die-hard Poppy fans will no doubt find Empty Hands sufficient. It still a Poppy record, through and through, and given her distinct vocals it would be difficult to traverse far away from that. Yet to return to the now safe confines of modern metalcore that Poppy now calls home, so soon after adopting the style, is a notable step-down for Poppy. It’s missing that key element that has always made Poppy an act worth following – experimentation, and dabbling in new sounds throughout each record or individual single. To simply hear another metalcore record in the Jordan Fish style is quite tiresome, particularly as it becomes something that so many other bands are intent to ape. It causes Empty Hands to lack that sheer intrigue and simply feel like it’s fading into the ranks alongside her contemporaries.
6/10
Empty Hands will release on January 23rd via Sumerian Records, and can be pre-ordered here.