Last month, post-genre artist Poppy closed out her I Disagree era with a riveting streaming event called "The Last Disagreement." Now, the Grammy-nominated auteur has ushered in the next phase of her career with an intense cover of Jack Off Jill's 2000 jam, "Fear of Dying."
The song is taken from the gothic alt-rock band's second and last album, Clear Hearts Grey Flowers, which was produced by former Nine Inch Nails/Marilyn Manson member Chris Vrenna. Similar to Poppy, Jack Off Jill were genre fusionists who existed in the liminal space between nineties alt-rock, grunge, punk and what would become mainstream emo in the early 2000s.
The original version of "Fear of Dying" is a crunchy, catchy alt-rock song at its core, but Poppy's cover leans into the track's metallic undertones to make it sound like it likely would have if it came out in 2004 rather than 2000. In that short yet crucial time-span, bands like My Chemical Romance, The Used and Thursday adopted the sporadic screams and dark pop-punk tones heard on "Fear of Dying," and Poppy's slightly heavier version calls back to those types of groups — while also sprinkling in blast-beats that practically veer on grindcore.
It's simultaneously a great cover and an effective signal boost for how ahead-of-the-curve Jack Off Jill were for their time. Crank it above via YouTube.
