Oldham County, KY · hardcore · metalcore

Knocked Loose

3 upcoming festivals ↓

Kentucky hardcore built on the meanest two-step riffs going, with Bryan Garris's shriek cutting clean over the top — heaviness that crossed over without softening.

Knocked Loose formed in Oldham County, Kentucky in 2013, originally under the name Manipulator, with vocalist Bryan Garris, guitarist Isaac Hale, bassist Kevin Otten and drummer Dylan Isaacs. Most of the members had already played together in an earlier band, Speaker, before Knocked Loose took shape and started touring heavily through the American hardcore circuit.

Signed to Pure Noise Records, the band built its catalogue steadily: the debut album Laugh Tracks in 2016, followed by A Different Shade of Blue in 2019. Their sound draws on metalcore and beatdown hardcore, downtuned and percussive, built around two-step and breakdown sections, with Garris's vocals sitting in a high, strained shriek distinct from the usual low growl.

The 2021 EP A Tear in the Fabric of Life pushed further into death metal territory and drew wide critical notice, a sign of records growing heavier and more intricate without losing their pit-oriented core. Their third album, You Won't Go Before You're Supposed To, followed in 2024 and topped the UK Hard Rock & Metal chart.

Knocked Loose's live shows have kept the compact, physical character of a hardcore set even as the band has reached audiences well outside that world, appearing on rock and metal bills and collaborating beyond the genre while still working within the scene they came up in.

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