REVIEW: Knocked Loose Devastates Buffalo Riverworks in Hardcore Beatdown

By Herrick Swirbalus

Knocked Loose is a name synonymous with the metal community in 2024. Since their iconic set at Coachella in 2023, the Kentucky hardcore band has launched into the peripheries of everyone in the metal world and beyond. Following the success of their recent album You Won’t Go Before You’re Supposed To, they embarked on their spring tour, followed by opening for Slipknot this summer, and finally, they have just begun their unanticipated fall tour. Last Friday, October 5, they traveled to Buffalo Riverworks for the second date of their tour and brought a certain unleashed energy with them. As a 5,000-person venue, Buffalo Riverworks was down-scale of the venues the band had recently played in with Slipknot, which really showed. As a hardcore band, their live show is best experienced in a more intimate setting, of course with a gigantic mosh pit to keep the entire crowd moving. All three openers did a great job of sequentially hyping up the crowd for the following band. 

Military Gun was the first to play at 7:00, and they provided the most tame show of the night. Even though they finally got a circle pit to open up for their last couple of songs, frontman Ian Shelton proclaimed during the show that they were “the calmest band playing all night.” 

This was instantly followed through when Santa Cruz hardcore boys DRAIN took the stage, and quite literally stole the show. Of all the bands I saw at this show, DRAIN was by far having the most fun up there, always interacting with the crowd and demanding more dancing from the moshers. They are a band I can tell is not used to playing with a barricade in front of the stage; Sammy Ciaramitaro could not keep himself from tossing the mic into the crowd and interacting with anybody in his vision. They brought a lighthearted vibe to their incredibly heavy music, allowing for a super fun show for the fans and the band alike. 

The Garden followed DRAIN, and although they brought a very different vibe than DRAIN, they certainly kept the energy up. As a two-piece band composed of a bassist and drummer, they created a surprisingly explosive and original show. They were perfect to stick between DRAIN and Knocked Loose because their mosh pit was purely pushing and two-stepping. I, like many others, took their set as a chance to take a break and stay on the edge of the pit. There wasn’t hardcore dancing during their set so I had no worries about flying punches and kicks like I needed to for DRAIN. They had a bizarre sound and style of performing, which made their set really fun to watch, and catch my breath during.

And thank god I chose to catch my breath, because Knocked Loose put on the most intense and passionate set of music I may have ever seen. The one word I could use to describe their live presence is aura. From the moment the curtain drops on their opening song “Thirst,” the mosh pit has reached a lethal magnitude. As someone in that pit, I could only look over to the stage for short moments at a time, always seeing synchronized headbands from the guitarists, and frontman Bryan Garris’ piercing stare blending in front of the ominous cross that glowed from the back of the stage. With a setlist containing classics and new songs alike, there wasn’t a dull moment for anybody, no matter if you were a new fan of the band who discovered them opening for Slipknot, or if you are an Oldham County Veteran who has been with them since the beginning. Because Knocked Loose is one of the most popular hardcore bands in 2024, they had such a controlling force over the crowd; demanding violence from every dancer. Whether it was the rowing pit for “The Calm That Keeps You Awake,” the gigantic wall of death during “Everything is Quiet Now,” or just dancing in the pit, it was obvious the crowd was there to have fun. Despite a single injury that took place during “Don’t Reach for Me,” causing the band to stop the song 30 seconds early, the set was almost entirely uninterrupted and smooth in terms of everybody’s safety. 

As a hardcore fan, the most important thing for a person at a show is to feel safe and have fun. Knocked Loose is at a perfect balance of reaching bigger stages and bringing the hardcore scene/spirit with them. I am excited to see what the future holds for them, but I think it is really important to try and see this band as soon as you can. As they inevitably grow in popularity, naturally more of that hardcore essence will be lost in their shows. Take this tour as an opportunity to see one of the most brutal high-end hardcore acts today.