By Greg Maki
Though I identify as a metalhead through and through, one of my favorite artists of all time is David Bowie. And I’ve been thinking a lot about him this month, which included his birthday and marked 10 years since his passing. He also has come to mind quite a bit in the past couple years when considering the prolific singer/songwriter/performance artist Poppy. They share a chameleonic approach to music, not just drawing influence from a variety of styles but fully embracing different genres from album to album, putting their own spins on them and, ultimately, making them their own. (It made perfect sense when Poppy covered Bowie’s “Moonage Daydream” in 2023.)
On her 2024 album, “Negative Spaces,” Poppy took that approach from song to song, confidently hopping from metalcore to industrial to nu metal to dance pop to ‘90s alt rock to hardcore to dreamy synthwave. And it all added up to something that could only be her.
A mere 14 months later, she’s back with her seventh full-length, “Empty Hands.” Though I wasn’t alive in the early 1970s, I imagine this is akin to when Bowie unleashed the landmark glam rock album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars” in June 1972, then somehow found time while touring to write and record “Aladdin Sane” for an April 1973 release. And while “Aladdin Sane” plays like a rawer, bluesier, more hard rock version of “Ziggy Stardust,” “Empty Hands” builds off “Negative Spaces,” streamlining its approach (outside of a little industrial experimentation on opener “Public Domain,” recalling 2020’s phenomenal “I Disagree”) and slowing some of the tempos a bit for a darker, thicker, heavier sound.
Working again with producer Jordan Fish (Bring Me the Horizon, Architects), the metalcore foundation remains in place while veering in a more metal direction as opposed to the hardcore bent of much of “Negative Spaces.” The title track serves as the capper of it all, teetering on the edge of thrash metal and the heaviest Poppy has gotten yet. There still is room for different flavors, however, within the somewhat tighter framework: “Bruised Sky” features a sweetly melodic chorus in its metalcore attack; “Unravel” is an atmospheric power ballad; “Dying to Forget” rages a la “They’re All Around Us” or “The Center’s Falling Out” from “Negative Spaces”; “Time Will Tell” mixes ‘90s industrial flavor with a Korn-like rhythm and a more modern metalcore sound; a grungy, Nirvana-esque riff drives “Eat the Hate”; and “If We’re Following the Light” recalls Spiritbox with its slower, moodier groove.
As a whole, “Empty Hands” is another triumph for Poppy. It may be the first time she’s made an album that is a continuation of the one that came before it, but in no way is she standing still.
Rating: 9/10
Sumerian Records – January 23, 2026
LINKS:
Buy/stream/save “Empty Hands” here.
www.impoppy.com
www.facebook.com/poppy
www.instagram.com/impoppy
www.tiktok.com/@poppy
www.youtube.com/poppy