Poppy’s transformation over the past decade or so has been fascinating to follow. She originally gained notoriety for her YouTube channel where the videos had a more surreal and satirical slant to them, later going on to launch a music career in 2014. That career has seen shifts between a wide range of styles, with earlier material encompassing everything from ambient to electropop while later efforts began to incorporate more industrial and metal elements. As Poppy’s material began to move towards heavier elements and more metal, she also did collaborations with bands like Knocked Loose and Bad Omens that showcased a very different and harsher side compared to some of the bubblegum pop of her earlier work. 2024’s Negative Spaces jumped fully into metalcore, alternative metal, and everything in between, but there were still dips back into synthpop and rock that gave the album quite a bit of variety. Two years later Empty Hands follows this approach with further refinement and variation, and while it’s not as big of a leap between releases as fans may be used to the songs still have plenty of substance that will keep listeners coming back for more.
Opener “Public Domain” makes it clear that while there’s still plenty of metalcore and alternative metal driving Poppy’s current sound, other stylistic influences continue to push the material in different directions. This track initially has more of an industrial pulse, with machinelike rhythms driving things forward, but it opens up into more of a booming metalcore chorus that has an immense amount of energy. It’s a bit like Nine Inch Nails meets some modern metalcore, but once “Bruised Sky” comes in things shift over once again. Here the riffs are much closer to the modern metalcore playbook, letting cinematic melodies expand over top of the much heavier and chug heavy foundation. There’s plenty of this approach throughout Empty Hands, as well as some choruses that fit well into the modern rock playbook, but you’ll also discover plenty of moments that branch out from this and shake things up a bit. “Eat the Hate” has guitar work that could have easily come from a Nirvana or Hole album, “The Wait” and “Ribs” sound like the type of J-pop or J-rock song that opens a lot of anime, and the title track is one of the heaviest tracks Poppy has ever released with instrumentation that almost feels a bit more deathcore and grind leaning. The second half of Empty Hands stands out more due to this level of variety, but there are songs on the first that I’ve found myself wanting to come back to. It may not be a huge leap from Negative Spaces, but the hooks remain strong enough to warrant a second iteration of this sound.
In recent years Poppy has turned a lot of heads due to the contrast between her sung and screamed pitches, which are on almost completely opposite ends of the spectrum. Empty Hands is another great showcase of this, as you have more robotic spoken word and singing that has more of a rock feel to it on “Public Domain” but when you get to songs like “Dying to Forget” the screams are just as harsh as anything else in the metalcore/alternative metal space. If you had told me back in those earlier days that the same artist who had the more deadpan delivery and more sickly sweet singing pitches would have some genuinely dark and aggressive pitches I’m not sure I would have believed you, but it’s pulled off well here and the switch from the harsher ranges to more pop oriented singing is seamless. For those that enjoy the singing more, there are plenty of tracks that stick more towards that end of the spectrum, showcasing Poppy can just as easily front something that sounds like Evanescence or BabyMetal.
Empty Hands is a worthy follow-up to Negative Spaces that refines and tweaks the more metallic direction Poppy has pursued in recent years. It doesn’t drastically change the formula and the second half stands out a bit more, but this remains a strong effort that is capable of bringing in more new listeners while also satisfying existing fans. The continued injection of some industrial and J-pop/rock works well, and I’d be interested to hear if some of these other fringe elements end up becoming the main style on future efforts. Hopefully more transformation is in store, as this metalcore/alternative metal base could become repetitive if used for too many albums, but as of now it’s continuing to give Poppy plenty of chances to shine. Empty Hands is available from Sumerian Records.
-Review by Chris Dahlberg