Heavy Song of the Week is a feature on Heavy Consequence breaking down the top metal, punk, and hard rock tracks you need to hear every Friday. This week, we highlight Poppy’s “Bruised Sky.”
Poppy is a chameleon when it comes to genre, but lately, she’s embedded herself with alt-metal royalty, collaborating with the likes of Amy Lee in the studio and with Linkin Park onstage.
It would seem some of that hangtime has rubbed off on her, as she goes full metal on her latest single “Bruised Sky.” Her right-hand studio collaborator, Jordan Fish, also brings his past work with Bring Me the Horizon to the table here, given the overall metalcore treatment of the production.
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The heavy guitars and general sonic aggression lets Poppy throw her voice in all directions, exercising both her highest clean register as well as death growls. She wears this style well, even if she’s only dabbled in it thus far. It begs the question: How much more metal does her upcoming album Empty Hands have in store?
Honorable Mentions:
Black Swan – “If I Was King”
Black Swan are a veteran supergroup featuring Headbangers Ball heroes Robin McAuley (McAuley Schenker Group), Reb Beach (Winger, Whitesnake), Jeff Pilson (Foreigner, The End Machine, ex-Dokken), and Matt Starr (Ace Frehley, Mr. Big). On the group’s new single “If I Was King,” McAuley’s recognizable pipes are right out front, with a just a bit of aged grit to his hyper melodic delivery. Meanwhile, Beach supplies a robust guitar arrangement that keeps the track from stagnating. Fans of any of the involved band members’ other projects — particularly McAuley Schenker Group and Winger — will enjoy this immensely.
Flatwounds – “Vilify”
Flatwounds is a great name for a heavy rock band, because you gotta have flatwound strings on your bass if you’re gonna pull off divebomb riffs and slide those fingers. Otherwise you’re asking for blisters. Anyways, this choice nomenclature been claimed by Flatwounds, an Albany-based grunge revival group with a classic Alice in Chains vibe thanks to the gravelly voice of frontman Colin O’Hare. The band’s fat skronky riffs are also a blast from the past, filled with pure groove — riffs that sounds like they’re fun to play on a bass with flatwounds. Their latest single “Vilify” is excellent. We’re keeping an eye on these guys.
Raven – “Metal Militia”
When the Metallica Kill ‘Em All tribute album was announced, we circled this cover by Raven. Among the numerous NWOBHM acts featured on the comp, Raven hold particular significance in that Metallica’s first tour was supporting Raven on the “Kill ‘Em All for One” tour in 1983. The British metal pioneers are known for their many anthems about rock and metal, making “Metal Militia” really the only correct choice for them, as far as covering something from Kill ‘Em All. The Gallagher brothers’ signature craziness comes across great here too, with John letting out his cartoonishly high-pitch falsetto for the chorus.