Empty Hands

This is NOT negative spaces 2! NS felt very regular and mainstream for this type of music (not a bad thing) meanwhile this album suprises you all the time - experimental elements, unpredictable structures and harsh weird sounds borrowed from glitch pop make this project really unique. Public Domain sounds like Zig at it's peak with Flux influences, absolutely unexpected yet amazing intro. Bruised Sky is another the cost of giving up / they're all around us situation but she's so insanely good at making this type of songs that it's still one of her best. Guardian is overhated, maybe it is a bit generic but there's nothing to complain other than that. Same with Unravel - that song is life-changing for me, Pop + Drum n Bass verses with soft metalcore choruses, dreamy melodies, heavy screams and ethereal lyrics make the perfect contrast and that's absolutely a career highlight for me. Dying To Forget reminded me of early Falling In Reverse. I was surprised to hear these 90s and 2000s inspired guitars in Poppy's music since she's known for using more modern instrumentals. Time Will Tell takes me back to 2016, I was expecting an EDM Avicii-esque drop after the intro because that melody and chord progression is straight from this genre. I'm a little bit mad that it didn't really turn into an EDM track but the melody and chords are so amazing I can forgive her and blame Jordan Fish; the screams in this song were also unnecessary, it felt like she was screaming just to scream for no reason. Eat The Hate is a throwback to the 90's grunge, reminded me of Hole's album "Life Through This". Even tho it's a cool track it felt really random in the context of the album, it should've been on Flux or Stagger but I don't really see this one here. Then we have a very interesting and unique The Wait - I'm not sure how to call it and I love that. There's chaos and softness to it and Daft Punk-ish instrumental hidden under the guitars. Very zig-coded, If only Jordan wasn't the producer here it could be one of her best. If We're Following The Light is a perfect track to describe how Deftones and Bad Omens collab would sound. The guitars here are pure ear candy and her soft voice over them creates a beautiful atmosphere... which is ruined by screams. Again. The screams have no business in being here, as soon as she started screaming the vibe was gone. Both interludes (especially Blink) are beatiful and that's all I can really say about them. Ribs had potential but the screams... Really? This is the 3rd song on this album where screams are absolutely redundant, anyway - Vital meets The Attic but it'll have to grow on me a little. Also it should've been the album closer. And finally the title track. Dare I say it's some Cannibal Corpse nachos? Gives me a modern hammer smashed face vibes and her pig squeal was INSANE

The album as a whole veels very cohesive, probably even more than Negative Spaces. If only it went a tiny little bit more in the Glitch pop / EDM direction and had less unnecesarry screams it would've been perfect.