Change the Record: Poppy – “Empty Hands”

I am not a metal person—neither in musical taste nor in physical composition. I’ve made my stance on this known before, but to elaborate, my taste in metal mostly vacillates between Rage Against the Machine and the 2016 “Doom” original game soundtrack, so take my opinions on the genre with a grain of salt. Thankfully, there are metal artists for people like me, those who see band names like “Dying Fetus” and “Pissgrave” and just smile and nod. It’s like listening to someone admit to serial murder in a business meeting. Basically, Poppy is a metal artist for a metal newcomer like me.

If you don’t know who Poppy is, she started out on YouTube creating mostly bizarre, non-sequitur shorts with occasional horror elements. The channel featured an alternate reality game-like narrative in the background. This earned her modest buzz in the mid-2010s when it became clear that this strange YouTube ARG was actually a Trojan horse for Poppy’s brand of weird, off-kilter bubblegum electropop—a style as unique as it is over-described.

However, this phase did not last long. Poppy parted ways with her longtime producer and shifted from bright bubblegum pop to industrial-tinged alternative metal—a genre switch about as smooth as sandpaper, but ultimately a change for the better. Her first album with this sound was “I Disagree” (2020), which blended metalcore sounds with flashes of her earlier pop work. Despite some shaky genre-blending, it was largely a success: catchy, thrilling, and a completely successful experiment in genre-switching.

Poppy is an artist who can hardly be considered static, and she has only gotten weirder over time. She released an experimental harsh noise album the same year as “I Disagree,” alongside Christmas EPs, a full alt-rock album in 2021, and a post-industrial pop album in 2023. You certainly can’t call her unambitious, though sometimes it seems her eyes are bigger than her stomach with these projects.

In 2024, she released what is, in my view, her best album: “Negative Spaces,” produced by Jordan Fish, previously of Bring Me the Horizon. The influence is obvious, with emo-metalcore present throughout the record alongside some of its more electronically influenced cuts. It created some of the best tracks of Poppy’s career, featuring a unique blend of sounds and a smattering of influences that worked perfectly with her vocals—from Deftones-esque alt-metal to toned-down, Nine Inch Nails-style industrial pop bangers.

The pair returned two years later with a second album, “Empty Hands,” though, unfortunately, returns have diminished.

“Empty Hands” is probably the furthest Poppy leans into metal. The album has a distinct alt-metal sound reminiscent of Deftones and Bring Me the Horizon—which makes sense, considering who produced it. Starting with the opener, “Public Domain,” the album features pounding, intense drums. The verses feature intense main guitar chords that sound like a rapid heartbeat, contrasting with the chorus, which explodes as Poppy’s processed vocals scream out in passion.

The album’s primary issue is a general lack of new ideas. While some cuts throw new things out—like “Bruised Sky” with its heavy guitars allowing Poppy to flex her screams a bit more, or “Eat the Hate,” which features the most textured, well-balanced guitar work on the album—other tracks falter. “Eat the Hate” allows the metalcore sound to explode in a way that remains catchy, resulting in some of the album’s best riffs. Conversely, tracks like “Unravel” and “Guardian” play as safe, generic alt-metal diversions with sweeping riffs and cleaner vocals. They are the type of metal that makes for great fandom TikTok edits but are ultimately uninteresting from a musical standpoint.

There are also the more genre-hybrid tracks, such as “The Wait” and “Ribs,” which combine pop and metal to create some of the softest moments on the album. Her vocals are quieter here, while melodic synths and breakbeat drums create interesting results. However, “Ribs” feels poorly mixed; the vocals clash throughout the song, with screamed vocals transitioning poorly into the smoother passages. “The Wait” simply feels underwhelming.

My favorite tracks are actually the most brutal, unrelenting ones, such as “Dying to Forget,” which blends the grindcore aesthetics of the verses and the prettier metalcore singing of the chorus more effectively than “Ribs” blends its genres. It creates an interesting dichotomy that allows both parts to shine because of each other, rather than in spite of each other.

My favorite track might be the closer, “Empty Hands,” which lacks softer moments and fully commits to a brutal, cacophonous sound. Hearing Poppy finally let loose and scream her lungs out with little melody to carry it is great, and the rich guitar work and brutal drumming are impressive. It gives me hope that this is the sound Poppy leans into on her next album, as a full grindcore-screamo record from her would kill.

If albums were rated solely on how well they could soundtrack an early 2010s “Naruto” anime music video, this album would be nearly perfect. Unfortunately, my rating scale has a bit more nuance than that. As noted earlier, the album feels like diminishing returns. While that sounds wholly negative, it does not mean this album is bad. There is a certain energetic verve, but it doesn’t add up to the most interesting product. Several tracks feel like generic diversions, and the album as a whole feels a bit like cutting-room floor tracks from “Negative Spaces.” Check it out if you’re interested, at least; if you want a decent beginner metal album, listeners could do much worse.