Empty Hands

And now we encounter the issue with book revisions. In a vacuum, this would be a good choice for the book. There is a severe lack of metal on the list. Especially from female singers. And this record is kinda good. In a vacuum, I'd give this a 4. But problems start to sleep in. 1. This record came out THIS YEAR. It was added to the book the year it was released. There is NO record where that is acceptable. It's just too soon and therefore has a high likelihood of being removed in the next edition as it's impossible to tell what albums will age well THE YEAR THEY COME OUT. 2. Every new record added. I think 13 of them. Took out another. And we can see both lists. Is this better than the Mars Volta? Both records are different from the norm of their respective eras. But is it better?! I wouldn't say so. And so now this can't be judged in a vacuum. Fair or not. As I write this, I'm still on my first listen for the day. I don't know yet what I will rate this. But every day for the next 13 days... I will have an issue.

Just put Evanescence on here and call it a day. This just doesn't seem like anything better than came out in the early 2000's and sounds similar.

Kick me under the table all you want, Dimery. I won’t shut up. I won’t shut up.

Crystal Methyd I was unfamiliar with your work

Decent. But it doesn't deserve to be on this list. It's an album no one will remember in 5 years, let alone 50. It's such a shame that authors now include albums based on the book layout and not the musical or historical merit. Shame! Shame! Shame!

This is surprisingly decent for the musical project of a social media identity, but I feel like I am supposed to engage with the full internet back story. I just don't have the energy for that, so I will consider the album on its own merits. It's well produced and she's a versatile vocalist. Personally, the production sheen is not to my taste, but that is neither here nor there as I am not really the target audience for this album. There is a certain amount of gatekeeping about what is 'real metal' -- this type of record is not embraced by the 'well, actually' neck-beard crowd -- but I understand this mix of pop melody and metal tropes is popular with young women. I wonder if artists like Poppy are an answer to the problems that Jessica Hopper (in her excellent book The First Collection of Criticism by a Living Female Rock Critic) identifies with rock music. Ms Hopper poses the question (I paraphrase) of 'What is a female rock fan supposed to do when so much of the cool rock music that she loves clearly hates women?' Teenage girls enjoy the power of rock/metal music (big drums, heavy guitars, energetic music that makes you want to bang your head) as much as boys, but they deserve to have music that 1) is performed by artists that represent them, and 2) doesn't hate them. Good on you, girls, you're allowed to like what you like. Sounds good, is good. Is it a classic 'must hear' album? Well, it is far too soon to tell. But I would certainly prefer to listen to this album than Slipknot et hoc genus omnes.

I vote that we remove this shit from the list. Do I hear a second?

First revision in 5 years and this is one of the albums they add. Who makes this list? They’re missing most of most important albums to release in the past 10 years and they decide to add this album anyway. And this isn’t even the worst pick out of the new albums. Watch, I’m going to lose my mind when I get the new Rolling Stones album on this generator. It’s not even that bad, but I wouldn’t call it good either. I like her screaming voice. I’m mainly just annoyed at the people who make this list. Off the top of my head, I can name several albums way more deserving to be here. And I don’t even listen to a ton of what’s popular now.

Gear: SIMGOT SuperMix 4 Artwork: 💍💈🪞 Production: 🎚️🔊😖 Music: 🧼𖤐🤨 Rating: 🤲(🤲)/5

Evanescence, with a little tiny hint of Chloe Qisha thrown in for funsies. This is absolutely not something to hear before you die. It's a cynical pop take on nu-metal that ends up being different for the sake of difference.

As somebody who lived through and engaged with the first wave of nu-metal, metalcore, and some of the other genres this is being tagged with, I'm bringing so many preexisting prejudices that make it impossible to be impartial. All I will say is: adding overt pop elements to nu-metal won't save it, and adding overt pop elements to metalcore is self-defeating. This album is late-stage-capitalism metal. And the fact that Deftones and Converge don't make the list but this does is a crime. This is probably a 3 but I'm so Bitter And Then Some that it gets a 2.

We knew that nu-metal was bad in the 90's. Wtf are we doing here?

Such a weird choice for this list. Is it because it's a female who growls? This album was weak AF. I can think of many albums that deserves this spot instead; Blood Incantation - Absolute Elsewhere Profanation - Ultra-Noise Warfare Deafheaven - Sunbather Converge If they wanted to keep it in metalcore, any Trivium or Killswitch Engage would be a better choice.

The sound of a dubsteb-addled mind discovering a shipping container full of leftover down-tuned 7 string guitars and double kick pedals from 1999 and trying, pretty successfully, to do epic Evanescence/Linkin Park Eurovision parody of nu metal. The growling screams are great and some of the heavy chords hit, even if they barely ever amount to an actual riff. The longer it goes on the less endearing it becomes. This genre sucked the first time around, why on earth is there a revival?! Symptom of a dying culture.

I’d prefer Babymetal or Vana, thanks.

I’m not entirely sure that nu-metal was interesting enough in its heyday to really warrant a pop-revival, but here we are. I say that as someone who…embarrassing admission time…saw the Family Values Tour in 1998. I’ll also try not to overly criticize the addition of an album that’s less than a year old to this list of “must-hear” albums, but I do feel it is worth noting that this album was released less than 9 months ago, which means that the editors of the latest edition decided to add this record to the book almost immediately after the album’s release. Vocally, I’m impressed by Poppy’s range and ability as a singer. Musically, there are touchstones to bands like Deftones, Evanescence, Korn and a host of other late 90’s/early aughts metal acts. It’s all well done, but at a point, much of the music starts to feel indistinguishable, not just from the artists that it pays homage to, but also from other songs on the album. My extremely cynical take on this record is that no matter how unique you might think you are or how underground or countercultural you think your tastes may be, there is corporate machinery in place trying to figure out a way to commodify those tastes and market them for mass appeal and maximum profit, but that’s not really anything new. Clearly, I don’t think that is the whole purpose for this record’s existence. Poppy and her team have an instinctive understanding of how to make this type of music work well within the confines of pop music, making it more than mere homage or a nostalgic cash in, even if I’m content to leave this type of music in the past.

The site sent me a notification that 13 new albums have been added in the 2026 edition of the book, and has now switched me back from the user selections to the official selections. Apparently 3 albums I assumed were user selected were in fact new book albums. I guess they were added early, whatever. Now to see what new additions have been deemed ”must listen before you die”, displacing previous entries which displaced previous entries, implying some form of qualitative succession. Here we go folks it’s 🥁🥁🥁 A new Poppy album? Really? I haven’t heard a peep about this album before seeing it here. Why this one? It’s the pop-metal mix that was a left turn on her 2018 album ”I Disagree”, is this some kind of great new iteration of her sound? Not to say that I am familiar with Poppy’s artistic trajectory, but this does not strike me as anything new or especially noteworthy. Maybe this is a marketing ploy for me to buy the new edition and find out what could be the motivation for this choice. Starting off the new batch of albums with this is confirmation of the pattern of current albums added to the newest editions of the book being forgettable, and the editors being out of touch with contemporary music trends

Had a good album yesterday. I guess two in a row is too much to ask. 1.0O Oh and what the fuck is a 2026 release doing on here Fucking assholes.

Utter crap. How a 2026 album even get into the 2026 edition escapes me. No time to weigh its musical or cultural impact.

Speed metal and female screaming. No thanks. Dumb addition to the list.

What a pile of hot crap! The bloated production values and metal elements scream only one thing to my poor ears: "fake!!!" Or, as another reviewer puts it, they have a sound that is "bland and bites with false teeth". It's nü-nü-metal -- a ridiculous name for a ridiculous shtick, ha ha. And the arrangements owing to industrial music and electronica are just some sort of tasteless dressing that brings nothing pivotal to the recipe anyway. As for the sugary, formulaic, and falsely elated pop choruses, they hark back to... Evanescence. Yuck. Yes, Evanescence. In 2026. Those choruses or pre-choruses -- or whatever they are -- are all under this sort of terrible influence. They are harmonically flat, and so never surge to anything that could even be remotely exciting on a compositional level. Worse, there is not a single vocal line in *Empty Hands* that displays some real melodic fair. The phrase "all style, no substance" doesn't even begin to cover what's wrong with this record. I'm pretty sure AI-generated music can come up with the same awful-sounding results. You want to have a modern take on metalcore harboring significant and emotionally effective pop, electronic and industrial elements? Go and listen to The Armed. You want to have an album adjacent to the overall metal tag that was also released in 2026 and has a real bite? Go and listen to the new Chat Pile Album. Go and listen to the TWO albums Converge released this year. Go and listen to Neurosis -- now cleansed after being blindsided for so many years by one of their own toxic musicians -- just as they join their skills and forces with the ones of Isis' Aaron Turner. Or go and listen to the Portrayal Of Guilt album, which sees this black metal act incorporating nü-metal elements in a genuinely creative fashion. You want to have a metal or metal-adjacent album shedding a light on incredible women artists -- either instrumentalists or inspired, skilled frontwomen? Go and listen to Dying Wish, Rolo Tomassi, Agriculture, Brutus, Oathbreaker, Svalbard, Spiritbox, Calva Louise, Pupil Slicer... You want to include real 21st Century milestone albums in the metal umbrella genre? Think Converge, Mastodon, Gojira, Deafheaven, Birds In Row, Chat Pile, Agriculture... all absent from the book. Whoever is in charge of the metal tag for the 1001 Albums book these days is just a clueless idiot that has no real musical ear. I imagine this person was probably paid to contribute to the book, and the simple thought of this makes me want to puke. Give the money back, you fraud! Dimery and his team can go f*ck themselves on this one. This is the worst addition to the 2026 edition so far. Probably worse than the Rolling Stones album, and it speaks volumes. I will now have to listen to *Hackney Diamond* AGAIN to make sure of what I'm saying, actually. Which gives me yet another reason to hate Poppy's music. Not that she is to be blamed for this... Dimery is clearly the main culprit here. So that's it. "Eat The Hate", 2026 edition of the 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die. Ironically, this phrasing between quotation marks up here is also the title of that one track I found bearable within *Empty Hands* -- because it was not so far off the mark as it aped nineties punk intents. There is a clear difference between "hearing" and *listening*. And for me, some of the book's editors are simply ignorant of it. 0/5 for the purposes of this list dedicated to essential albums. 5/10 for more general purposes (4.5 for the musicianship and production values + 0.5 for the artistry) ---- Number of albums from the original list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 465 + 1 (addition to the 2026 edition of the book) Albums from the original list I *might* select for mine later on: 288 + 5 (additions to the 2026 edition of the book) Albums from the original list I won't select for mine: 336 + 6 (*including this addition to the 2026 edition of the book*) ---- Number of albums from the users list I find relevant enough to be mandatory listens: 124 Albums from the users list I *might* select for mine later on: 142 Albums from the users list I won't select for mine: 319

I was surprised and excited to see an album from 2026! But I hate this.

Empty Hands is the seventh album by Poppy. It is yet another example of new additions in the 2026 edition of the book. It is a good metalcore album, but it has just been released, is not worldshocking and not even her best album. I agree that metal is underrepresented, but this is not the album to make up for that fact. Still it's an enjoyable album. Poppy has a great voice when singing clean and her grunting is top notch. The songs show lots of interesting ideas and variation.

Trash.

It's kind of funny that this album is now by far the closest thing to metalcore in the books. I guess I should be happy that Dimery decided to recognize that metal exists outside of cheesy 80s heavy metal bands and nu-metal. Empty Hands starts off on the wrong foot, the opener Public Domain opts for an unattractive style of glam drum beat. Fortunately the next song, Bruised Sky, completely corrects course and is probably the best song on the album. It's this song that introduces us to what the album will actually sound like, i.e. alt metal with a metalcore backing, though this song goes fully into metalcore territory. Bruised Sky also highlights the crown jewel of the album immediately, that being our main woman, Poppy. Prior to listening to this I only really knew her for the satire of internet personalities in that uncanny robotic way, while her music was sugary-sweet electropop. I know she made the albums Am I a Girl and I Disagree which combined that style with alternative metal, but I just assumed it was a gimmick, however Empty Hands does fully lean into the sound so it comes across as a serious project and stylistic choice. Her vocals blow everything else here away, she has a wonderful metalcore screaming voice (which I wasn't expecting!), and if anything I think she's better as a screamer. Her singing voice during the poppier segments is also very good when it isn't autotuned to hell. Going on from that, this album really should have been full metalcore. The metalcore songs (Bruised Sky, Dying to Forget, and the title track) are clearly the highlights here and every other song devolves into the same formula of alt metal meat, electropop bridge or pre-chorus, and a metalcore breakdown. There's a whole chunk of the album from Time Will Tell to Ribs that follows this formula, with the exception of one song (Eat the Hate which sounds straight from Nevermind) and it kills the album. The songwriting also is weak, and the good songs are saved by Poppy's vocals. Ultimately I just don't like this style of pop metal that's become popular relatively recently. I know there's a large amount of people that it appeals to (see Sleep Token's popularity), but it really just makes me wish that Poppy went full metal instead of combining it with pop. She's very talented within the genre, and as stated before it seems the interest is authentic. To bookend this review with firsts, the final song, Empty Hands is also the first deathcore song on the 1001! Was it a good addition to the list: No, even if it was worthy it's too soon to add it. That said, I appreciate it being here just because it's so different to anything else on the list. Top 3 songs: Bruised Sky, Dying to Forget, Eat the Hate

Wait, wtf?? Has Poppy always sounded like this?! I thought she just did pop music. This album has no right going as hard as it does. So good. 4.5/5

Wow. I don't even have to blame a submission for not getting the point of this since this was released like yesterday and somehow now IN THE NEW EDITION OF THE BOOK. How? Maybe this was the subject of the latest Pitchfork worship nonsense and they decided it's already on par with any of the other 1000 albums in history we have to listen to... Get the hell off my lawn. ... I guess I should listen ... Annnnd dogshit. Processed-as-hell music is just as valid as anything organic if it's good, which this is not. Hardest pass on this pop infused industrial sampled to death tiresome on the ears album. 2/10 1 star IMO: Belonged in the book? No. No, it does not.

Kind of a throwback riff on a type of music not represented anywhere in the book. Unclear why they’d go with this instead of the originals, like why not just go back and put Evanascence on there or something. Any case, I’m not much of a nu-metal liker at the best of times, and I’m not super thrilled to hear it coming back

On my timeline, Neurosis re-emerged with an astonishing redemption arc, and Converge presented us with not one, but two, amazing albums in the year 2026. So how is it that in this face of such greatness, I am presented with this mall metal tripe. How is it that I am being presented with a 2026 release on a list of albums to hear before I die and the year is not even done? What half cooked algorithm deemed this album worthy? If you love this album, good for you, but the integrity of this whole project suffers for it's inclusion. What's next, the Turnstile remix album? Yeesh.

Poppy, an internet-grown figure of fascination, started off as a pop artist in the late 2010s. However, following a period of emotional abuse from creative partner Titanic Sinclair, Poppy took her music in a different direction with a modern metal sound. This proved to be a more successful choice for her artistry, so she more or less carried her newfound metal voice into the 2020s and has maintained it ever since. As of this writing, Empty Hands was only released a mere 9 months ago and I was interested enough to check it out on release. I wasn't a fan then and I'm still not a fan now. Certain aspects of Empty Hands are certainly better-implemented compared to others. The industrial metal influences are probably the most interesting parts of the album, as they spice things up when the metalcore sound starts to get stale. In fact, it is this modern metalcore songwriting and production that mar much of Empty Hands' runtime. This was almost certainly inspired by the likes of Knocked Loose or Babymetal, both of whom Poppy has collaborated with in recent years. It ultimately delivers a modern metal sound that is bland and bites with false teeth, making Empty Hands a fairly forgettable selection from the new additions to the list.

I didn’t know there was New Nü Metal.

Apparently this is the best metal album since 2008.

You're really going to put an album released less than a year ago into an "essential albums" list? Give it at least a few years to marinate, won't ya?Now admittedly, the music itself is super intriguing and different, incorporating a kaleidoscope of influences from the get-go. Reminiscent of a more modern Portishead record. But I still question Dimery's logic. Public Domain uses a mind-boggling combo of declarative, "talky" singing in the verses (courtesy of influence from Lorde, Charli XCX, Olivia Rodrigo, and other modern pop icons), intense gaze-inspired guitar distortion, 80s-esque synths, and some nods to metal genres. Peep that scream in the final 30 seconds. An incredible opener. If Poppy was subtle about inspiration from metal (particularly nu metal) before this point, Bruised Sky makes it clear that metallurgy is here to stay. It's so damn distinctive. You don't hear many female artists doing that crazed garage-rock-core wailing. The production here creates a thick, unending wall of sound, and the mix contains a variety of frequencies, from that dark, grungy bass to a light high synth way in the back. If Poppy follows this with a ballad I think I might collapse inwardly (in a good way). Unfortunately there's no room for ballads here. Though Guardian is strong, it lacks a lot of that retro influence that made the first two songs so overwhelmingly great. The choruses here could be done by Katy Perry and I wouldn't bat an eye. You're think an autotune vocal interlude would be back in my books, but she picks some solid harmonies in Constantly Nowhere, a track that leads smoothly into the hypermodern Unravel. Man, listen to that combo of keyboard synth/hasty, filtered percussion. Again the choruses are nothing amazing, but goddamn, those verses. Jaw-dropping. Dying To Forget calls back those heavy metal vocals. Good god, they get me every time. Some excellent drum fills in this track, too. At the beginning of (what I assume to be) side 2, we have Time Will Tell, a piece that alternates between pretty but inconsequential verses with relatively small textures and big, heavy choruses. A decent song, though the autotune detracts from it a bit. Eat The Hate uses a rapid-fire four-chord progression that immediately brings grunge to the forefront of one's mind. The lyrics are pretty insane. I love them. The most interesting part of The Wait, for me, has to be the set of melodies – including the vocal in the chorus, the echo from the strings(?), and during the synth instrumental breaks. But if you want a return to that dreamy, gazey atmosphere, If We're Following The Light is the perfect specimen. Verses and choruses are flawless for completely different reasons; two sides of the same coin (gorgeous vocals and soundscaping vs screaming like a maniac). We get a similar interlude to Constantly Nowhere in the short track Blink – aptly named, since if you blink you'll miss it. Again autotuned vocals, this time accompanied by synth-strings (I think). Ribs stands out mainly for that synth melody in the back and for sounding worryingly like The One That Got Away – another Perry callback. Empty Hands is a solid closer, though I'm befuddled as to why it's marked as having explicit lyrics. What, you pearl-clutching grandpas can't handle one f-bomb? 4/5 Key tracks: Public Domain, Bruised Sky, If We're Following The Light

This feels like some kind of nu-metal pop revival. I don't know, feel like this is about as inessential as it gets.

Genuinely a tough listen. I know this is part of a broader Art Project of some sort and maybe it has something interesting to say, but as an album divorced of context it’s pretty wack. Every sound on it could plausibly just be a product of the computer. I could believe there was a bass player playing the bass but I could also believe there wasn’t. Older albums on the list sometimes made me say “This sounds like AI music”. This one sounds like AI music but might actually be.

21 Oct 2026 · 3/10 Not for me... Some elements were pretty interesting. Like slightly better produced than some metal. Some catchy hooks throughout. Overall I just don't like screaming vocals and my preference ends up being a huge contributor to the score. Won't be listening again.

Would have been massive in the nu metal era but feels a quarter of a century past its sell by date now. Better that the Nova one though.

How can you justify adding a mediocre album from 2026 in the 2026 update of the 1001 most important albums of all time (or so they say)? I also saw 2023's Rolling Stones album and the latest The Cure. Could Robert Dimery have a hard time keeping up with interesting new music? For crying out loud, give the contract to somebody else, it's an insult! I can't believe you woke me up for this shit.

I thought the pop vocals were kind of nice but then suddenly the vocalist would become demon possessed and start a hellish screaming. I'm hoping that doesn't translate to her personal life. Things will be going all nice and sweet but if you were to cross her, she-will-go-off-on-you! This wasn't for me.

I do like metal when it stops being metal for a bit and this is metal that stops being metal for a little bit and therefore I do like it.

That was a surprise. When it popped up I didn’t expect to like it. And honestly the first few songs I didn’t like it. Somewhere along the way it clicked for me. It was new. It was varied. It was challenging. Really great record.

Love the vocals (except the auto-tune bits), but as a whole it's a bit too polished and flawless. An interesting choice, but perhaps one that will drop back out next tine

(New albums) Poppy - Empty Hands. While i did enjoy this quite a bit, I cant get over how absolutely dated it sounds. And not like, oh this is a good throwback to x band. More like, okay this was a thing in 2001 and we moved on very quickly from it, because by 2004 it was dated, and the production just doesn't add anything That said, she actually has a really nice voice. It works well for the more melodic stuff and also the heavier stuff. Again, I like it, I likely won't revisit, but im glad I heard it 3/5

Empty Hands is strange because it's centred around a 25-year old style but tries to modernise it with various autotune and synth elements and I'm not sure it makes it better. When it's heavier or more straight-line nu-metal it's decent, Guardian is pretty good in that regard, and Dying To Forget is fair enough speed screamo metal, but stuff like Time Will Tell and The Wait and Unravel all seem like they're completely different pieces of work for the most part. I think it's a 3/5 effort because the good parts are good and align with my tastes but there's too much weird deviation away from it that makes the listening experience quite hard to get on with.

I thought I was gonna really enjoy this from the first track, felt like Nine Inch Nails meets (shudder) Marilyn Manson. Then the rest was metalcore nonsense. I don’t like metalcore at all. Felt like an Evanescence ripoff… and I don’t like Evanescence! Despite that, good vocal power. Also this is waaaaay too new to be on this list

Mainstream metalcore meets hyperpop. Throughout, the production has a uniform sheen and robotic feel that somehow falls flat - neither raw enough to have "soul" nor cold enough to feel industrial, just somewhat plasticky.

Heavy shit

Well this is a really new album. I'm not sure how influential it will end up being in the long run. It is an OK album, mostly electronic pop with the occasional metallic guitar bit. It even has a harsh vocal here and there, but the metal is secondary to the pop. It sounds like a lot of modern metal, honestly, just slightly more poppy(heh). I don't feel that it accurately represents the state of metal in 2026. A better example of this style would be Spiritbox's Eternal Blue record from 2021, which is female-led like this but far more metallic. This is an interesting inclusion, but not my first choice for a metal album from the 2020s(something from Lorna Shore+the aforementioned Spiritbox record would be the ideal inclusions). And, to the people saying that this sounds like nu-metal, you obviously don't know metal subgenres as this isn't even close to what I think of when I think nu-metal.

I'm a part of the ever-growing group of people that learned about Poppy through her feature on Suffocate by Knocked Loose and learned that she was a pop artist later. It's neat to hear how Knocked Loose left an imprint on her sound. It's not everywhere on the album, primarily because she's still very clearly a former pop artist making metalcore, but it's very present on the heavier moments. That being said, I don't mind the lighter parts of the album. Extremely clean vocals in metal almost always get on my nerves, and they certainly do in some points here, but there are a good few songs where I feel like they add something of note here, even if I wish more of the album was as abrasive as the title track or Dying to Forget.

4/10… modern metal / 2026

7/10

I’m not a big fan of menstruation metal. This is just bad Flyleaf

*vocals are good, instrumental is loud and banging.

This is heavy, melodic. Not my taste but tastefully done.

The shock on my face when I saw an album from *this* year on the list! How interesting. This record is pretty heavy and full on, a bit of screaming here and there in the mix with some more atmospheric tracks. I'm sure there are better albums of this style that haven't made the cut but it's really not bad. I enjoyed the full on nature of it. Favourites: Bruised Sky Dying To Forget Eat The Hate

Oh Poppy how you have fallen so far from your era of making quality music. I don't know how much more I can take of this very slapped together 2000s Alt Metal throwback sound before I have to call it quits because she brings absolutely nothing new to the table and continues to force nearly 40 minutes of a very plain and overdone sound down my throat. It always seems like Poppy can make one solid project and then switch to an absolute doozy, and it seems we are in the doozy phase of that cycle. This album feels so repetitive with each song blending into one another way too easily for anything to even have a chance of standing out and attempting to impress me. The only song that felt notable in any way shape or form was Ribs but even then it was for a small period of time before the instrumentation went back to the very mediocre and underwhelming Alt Metal sound. I have next to nothing to say about this Poppy project other than I am quite let down and really wish this was given more thought as it easily could have been good but fell into the same old tropes so many other "throwback" projects of this nature fall into.

2/5

Another modern one today, wouldn't have a lot of time for this though, maybe I would have as a teenager. It's a weird combo of industrial pop and metal. Close to a one star but I'll give it a two because their probably is some artistic merit there if that's what your into😅

“Our son just called me a bitch.” Donnie Darko (2001)

It took two whole songs for me to be reminded of the “115” black ops zombies track. Classic. She has an impressive voice and a knack for meeting the moment no matter how grand (or scary) it is. A good mixture of melodic sensibility and visceral vocals. Love the amen break on “Unravel” that lead into a soft piano section. This is a melodic dubstep drop away from being an Excision & Illenium collab. Then some hardcore style vocals on “Dying To Forget” after, thats range. And the various textures on “Ribs” are really pretty too. I’m super impressed by Poppy’s raw singing talent and I’d like all my 4/5 stars to go directly to her. I’m ultimately under-qualified to be a fair judge to anything metal, I listen to it less than most any major genre. I can hear how metalheads may call this a very clean but maybe too overproduced album? Idk. But I have a lot more to say, contextually! This album came out in 2026! I feel fairly qualified to provide a list of albums from this year that I think are more worth your time. I’ll have logged 100,000 minutes on Spotify and around 3/4ths of that is new music queued up for work each week. Here’s a handful of albums that are more worth your time imo: • trinket - tsubi club • Canada - John Beltran • U - Underscores • Heavenly Body - Eartheater • Where Light Pauses - Abul Mogard, Rafael Anton Irisarri • Poetics Of A New Estate - Soli City • Lost Weekend - Phoebe Bridgers • No Rest For The Wicked - AZ Chike • Q: From Where Do Our Primal Instincts Originate? A: MTV! - Portraits Of Tracy

This would be the type of dental that got me to stop listening to metal

I quite liked this - but it shouldn't be in the book. How can something from 2026 be added into the 2026 edition?! There's a million more suitable albums. So, 3 * for Poppy. 1 * for the album being in the book.

Yes. More metal, please. More female-lead screaming metal.

Too soon. Any way it’s quite boring. Sounds like any number of 90s productions. I’d probably have liked it more as the new sound of 1995. To be fair it might become important. Probably won’t. Overwhelmingly probably won’t.

Good grief.

2/10 What the actual? This sucks in a way only nu-metal can. It is horrible and the screaming grates like all that is performative and wrong. However, this would have normally got 2 stars for being rubbish but just about listenable. However, it gets a point deducted for obviously not being deserving of inclusion on this list. It's harsh on Poppy as it isn't their fault they're here... ...or is it? What a wonderful ruse it would be to get your nondescript 7th album included in the list of most essential listening ever! Grease the right wheels and you've got yourself an awesome piece of marketing. And now I can't see a more plausible reason for it's being in this book ...

Without the grunting and the messy ending to Ribs, I'd find Ribs and If We're Following The Light the best songs on the album. Right now I'd choose Guardian and The Wait. I think this album has potential. I'm just not into grunting and industrial.

Oh no.

I was big on poppy when she first started doing this pop metal crossover but im losing steam on it as time goes on. I dont hate it but its just getting to the point of being a bit old. And here she does less mixing and more just has some metal songs and some pop songs. Its still a good record. There are somgs that work. They just have lost the plot a bit. Shes a great vocalist. I like her clean and screamed vocals both pretty well. Her pick of instrumentation is a bit iffy. I get its pop metal but a decent bit of it is uninspired. Just the same type of guitars ive been hearing on shitty metal radio for decades. Maybe a bit of electronics in there too but im not here at all for that crossover. Its what I imagine sleep token sounds like. I have no clue cause fuck that but its what I hear when I think about it. Its an ok record. I would say i disagree is more solid but this is similar to that. Its about the same ish level. Im just looking for something differnt at this point. Mix it up some please

pop smash rock. Liked it more than i though I would screamo, mabye because I'm angry today. 3*.

A pop star’s take on nu metal/metalcore. I have mixed feelings about both of those genres, and this whole project feels a bit too commercial, electronic, and influenced by nu metal’s artificial revival, but there are some great riffs and grooves here.

i respect this and it's closer for me.

Just not a very good album and one I doubt will have any relevance outside of this list in the future (not that this list is in its-self relevant). There must be better examples of this kind of metal that would have been more appropriate. 2/5 Won't listen again Once again, I've made it to the end, after the 2026 additions to the list. A few were expected, but I think overall most of them were forgettable. Which is a shame, cause so much great music has come out in the past few years.

Haven't kept up with Poppy in the last few years. This was much more standard metal-fare than I expected from Poppy. But I enjoyed the dichotomy of aetherial, beautiful melodic sections and distorted breakdowns. Faves: Public Domain, Bruised Sky, Guardian, Unravel

No...2026? Who made this list? This album absolutely sucked. I am no fan of ABBA/ELO but I'd rather have any of those absolutely worthless bands to play in my version of hell than have to experience this or any from this banal shit-artist. Get real m'fers, this is a disgrace of an album. minus 11 stars....

This sounds like Chavril had a daughter and then they bribed some record execs into giving her a recording contract. Nu-metal angst. 2/5

Im too old for this

¿Pop con guitarras duras?

OK, first of all, Mars Argo (Brittany Sheets) >>>>>> Poppy. Obligatory "booo, Titanic Sinclair!" Now that's out of the way, this is actually a pretty good album. Metal/Hard Rock needs more women, and on top of all that, it's actually a great metal album, especially for 2026. And I kind of liked Poppy when she was a creepy video series like 10 years ago. Like others have mentioned, it's a shame that this album pushed out arguably more deserving albums, but it's not like this album is bad at all, it most certainly is not. 4 out of 5. Good stuff, Poppy.

I hadn’t heard of Poppy before (except the flower) so I didn’t know what to expect. Oh, what’s this? NuMetal style guitars…I hated NuMetal in the 90s so I’m disappointed to hear it on album from 2026. Now we have gutteral screaming…yep, hate that in metal, or any other type of music. Drum and bass style drumming? I loathe drum and bass. An absolute shit sandwich of an album for me but I’m not doing this project just to listen to things I think I’ll like so I listened to the bitter end. Highlight: On the last track she briefly interrupts her screaming to clear her throat. Lowlight: Everything else

I'd never heard of Poppy before. I didn't know what to expect and really enjoyed listening to this.

Will this stand the test of time? Haha; yuck, nope, I very much doubt it. But what the hell do I know? 🤷‍♂️ We should all be recycling more but new-new metal sounds weak

2.3 - Sounds like Evanescence three days into a meth binge.

This is the most shocking album on this list only because it's from THIS YEAR. If this is on here then fuck it, I better see shit like Imaginal Disk and The New Abnormal. Anyway, this album is solid. Not my fav but a good listen.

The only thing I knew about Poppy was her feature on a Knocked Loose song, so this is about what I expected. I'm into it.

Just the other day I was browsing around RYM and went to the last page of music released this year and saw this Poppy album. Before that, I had no idea she even released something this year. No one is talking about it, no one seems to like it, this had no impact on society. I'm fine including albums from 2026, but at least chose one that actually made the rounds like the Underscores or Slayyyter album. I'm also fine if you want to add a 2026 metal album, because there are plenty of great ones too, such as Neurosis or Chatpile (I am so excited for the Piss album that comes out tomorrow!!!!) Man, this is some of the most average, by the numbers, metalcore music ever. This feels like it was designed in a lab. All the songs sound the same and have that over produced chorus. This really feels like tik tok music. This is the most average album ever, no idea why it was included. The only good thing I can really say about it, is it reminded me Loathe released an album this year and I should listen to it again. High 2.

Litt generisk metal for min smak. Tok seg opp.

How did this get on this list? Temu Evanescence is the definition of inessential.

Never heard of poppy and I'm surprised she isn't more well known (though it's possible I'm out the loop). This sort of pop metal genre has barely changed in about twenty years, you'd think they'd jump on someone progressing the sound a bit. Again, maybe she's all over kerrang, I'm out the loop. Thought this was really good, a great mix of metal, punk and pop. A bit over produced at times but full of ideas and a breath of fresh air for this music.

I'm not sure a brand new album belongs on the list, especially if it shuffles older stuff off. Not had chance to really assess its impact. Having said that - thought it was overall fine. The screaming stuff was entertaining, but I don't think the album is anything visionary, and I definitely got bored by the end. Found myself drifting. On the one hand - female driven metal, great - on the other - throw some Evanescence or Nightwish on here instead, please.

Not what I was expecting! Some metal, some nu-metal, some more screamo or hardcore sounding. I enjoyed the more screamo hardcore ones, I think they were dying to forget and empty hands. I think my main issue is thatal a lot of the rest of it sounds a bit auto tuned. Hard not to compare it to evanescence. I like that there's a female making this kinda music in 2026 though! Again, not quite sure how essential listening it is but oh well Going to say 3, but didn't think a lot of it was great to be honest

Much like James McClean I am very anti-poppy

It's like members of Paramore, Evanescence, Linkin Park and Marilyn Manson conspired to launch a side project. With Poppy as the ghost performer. Poppy has got the screamo lungs down pat. It's just a bit...meh. Overall: 1/10

2.9 Well that was unexpected. Not only a metalcore album, but a metalcore album from 2026. I didn't even realise this genre was still going. It was a bit all over the place if I'm being honest, I liked some moments, the first track was probably the stand out, the industrial/djent ending the icing on the cake. On the flip side, the Screamo parts often felt unnecessary and more than once derailed what was a perfectly okay song until then, for example in Ribs. I could imagine really getting into this when I was 14.

Super weird to review an album from this list that got released the same exact year as I'm in, and even weirder is that Poppy got added. I'm quite familiar with the artist work. "I Disagree" was the first project I've ever heard from here, which I think is a great combination of Metal and very ... poppy... choruses. Then I also listened to the "EAT" EP which kick-ass, and I heard "Negative Spaces" as well when it dropped, but I never came back to it, so this marks my fourth album from her and I have to say, it is quite disappointing. All the super catchy choruses and interesting elements from her previous releases are replaced by very standard melodramatic melodies and mediocre overproduced metalcore/alternative metal. The guitars and drums are unnecessarily loud for how little menacing they are the vast majority of time, almost if they compensated the lack of organic power with turning the volume up. Admittedly, they do have some occasional bursts of energy in the most frenetic moments, such as in "Dying to Forget" and "Empty Hands", yet, in general, I think these instruments are very lackluster. The vocals, in the most part, sing these very unauthentic harmonies that would be very corny if it wasn't because her soft voice works just a little bit for them. And when she doesn't sing, she is furiously screaming, which is better than what she does in the clean parts, and yet I don't think she sounds specially threatening, so I'm quite indifferent about it. Fortunately, she does hit some occasional memorable lines, specially in the opener "Public Domain". However, the ones that don't really work are the most predominant ones, and to add salt into the injury, they can get quite tedious and repetitive, like in "Time Will Tell". With all that being said, I don't really mind the overall experience. As cheesy the voice can be, I also really like her pleasant tone, the electronic effects I think are kind of cool and add a nice touch, and the changes of rhythm are at least entertaining, even though the song structures are super ordinary. In conclusion, not really bad melodic alternative/metalcore, but still disheartening to hear the lack of originality in the song writing.

Talk about a juxtaposition. The name says it all. Poppy metal. Not sure I liked it too much but here we are.

Okay, NOW we're done. I've heard all of the albums in the most recent update to the 1001 Albums book and I am now actually finished with the 1001 Albums project... y'know, until the book gets updated again in a few years, but that's not a certainty, so I don't care. It's actually over for real this time! I already let out all of my feelings about the list at large with my original "final review," so I'm not going to go into a ton of detail on how I feel about the project ending. TL;DR: I had fun, but I'm glad I'm done. Now, how do I feel about this update now that I've heard all 13 new albums? Well, I'm still not really a fan. I'll admit that I actually got more enjoyment out of the new albums than I thought I would. There were a few albums that, despite being too irrelevant for a list like this, were actually quite enjoyable. However, this batch still has far too many issues for me to call it a good update. I also didn't give any of the new albums a 5/5, which is a problem. If only Imaginal Disk had been included. Then we would've gotten one. But alas, it was not. But enough about the update. Let's talk about this final album! Now, given my many issues with the 2026 update, you'd probably think that the final album would give me a worse ending than the previous "final album," which for those who don't remember was that Red Snapper album. However, I actually enjoyed this one more than the Red Snapper album, and I think that it's a better and more satisfying conclusion for the project! Is it a great ending? No, I still wish I could've gotten something better, but if nothing else, ending on this Poppy album is a more interesting conclusion, which I'm okay with. So, Poppy, huh? I remember a decade ago when she was this weird YouTuber who made these unsettling videos in a white void. I guess she makes music now? Good for her. Apparently she's been making music the whole time. Given those videos and her general public image, I would've expected this album to be some sort of experimental pop music. I mean, she literally has "pop" in her name. What I instead got was some sort of take on metalcore of all genres. Well, okay then! I'll take it. I like metal. I'm happy to get some more of it on this list. I don't think this should've been the metal pick of the update, but I had some level of fun with this album. I do think that the production is a bit too clean for a metal album, but the music is solid. There's some pretty good riffage in here. There's headbanging to be found if you're in the mood. I'm not sure how to feel about Poppy's voice and how it works with the music. She is a good vocalist, though I'm not sure how fitting it is for the music. Then again, I haven't heard nearly enough female-led metal music in my time, so maybe it's just that sense of unfamiliarity. The lyricism isn't great, but it's also not horrible or anything. Some of the songs are good. "Bruised Sky" was cool. I have a ton of respect for Poppy for seeing the vision of this album through, though I'm not exactly sure if I love the end result. It's good, I'm comfortable saying that, but it's also not something that immediately clicked with me. Still, it's a fun way to close out the project that gave me enough enjoyment to say that I'm somewhat happy with it being the final album. Solid 3/5. And with that, I say goodbye once again. It's been fun, but I'm done now! I'll see you all in the next chapter, whenever that comes or whatever it ends up being. - SadieStardust

Is this objectively bad? No, I don’t think so, but I am certain that it doesn’t have a place as one of only 1001 albums that need to be heard before death. It’s all just a bit too clean and clinical, and I would not be surprised if there were a lot of drum triggers and some autotune used here - it’s used as an effect, so it’s on the table. Overall it’s ok, but it does drag on, even though it’s less than 40 minutes long. I also remain unconvinced that we need a nu-metal revival now, or ever.

I’m all of like 4 months older than Poppy, so I too remember when metalcore was really big in my teenage years. The thing for me is that I really didn’t care for it at the time, and I don’t care for an even worse maybe-semi-ironic regurgitation of it now. It’s an incredibly long-feeling and samey 38 minutes of largely shredding and screaming, with light breaks for industrial or breakbeat sounds that make a connection to electro-pop vibes which also present a problem because it reminds me how many other artists and albums I’d rather be listening to. My relief is to know I’ll never have to come back to it now.

What a weird choice for the new edition. 2000s screamo is back! Didn’t really like it the first time round.