We’re beyond the veil in eternal embrace.“
Wage War are back with their newest album Manic. Many fans of Wage War have been hoping for a return to some of the heaviness offered in previous albums Deadweight and Blueprints. In 2015, when that debut record was released, the album was critically acclaimed and the quintet quickly rose to stardom in the scene. They toured with and opened up for many titans in the scene like August Burns Red, Beartooth, Northlane, and Every Time I Die just to name a few. Most fans I speak to, claim that Blueprints is their personal favorite from Wage War. When the band released Deadweight in 2017 it was much of the same, with a few new twists from the band, with ballads like “Johnny Cash” and “Gravity“.
And then in 2019, they released Pressure, which took a slight turn away from their traditional metalcore sound. They added more production elements to their sound, and the release was not nearly as well received as the first two albums. It certainly was an experiment with a new sound, which worked in some areas and did not in some others. And with much of the touring cycle cut off for Pressure because of the Covid-19 pandemic, Wage War made the best of their pandemic downtime and began writing their fourth LP Manic. The band members teased heavier material in short recordings that surely hyped up their fan base.
With “Relapse” opening the record, I was pleasantly surprised with a track reminiscent of the first two LPs. This song is definitely one of my top three on the album, with the perfect contrast of heavy verses and huge choruses that Wage War execute so well. “Relapse” is a song that is sure to be stuck in your head with an infectious melody sung by Cody Quistad. The onslaught only gets stronger with “Teeth“, the third single released for the album. Already I can hear similar production FX and elements used in Pressure, but executed much better this time around.
The title track “Manic” is definitely their most experimental song to date; sporting dark synths, percussive beats, and rapped vocals from lead vocalist Briton Bond, this track really adds a level of freshness in a sound I’m not used to hearing from them. One of my favorite moments on this album is right towards the end of the track when briefly all production elements on the vocals drop out, and then Bond yells “is it all up in my head, AHHHHH“. Sometimes less is more, and certainly in that instance, it was. We transition back to the fun heavy tracks that Wage War are best known for with “High Horse“, the first single released for the album. At first, this track did not grab my attention, but over time I grew to enjoy the simplistic heaviness. Certainly a track meant to open a pit, but not much else, and it serves its purpose well in that regard.
The second single released for Manic was “Circle the Drain“, one of my favorite tracks across the record. I absolutely love the softer side of this band, and I found myself spinning this track plenty of times before hearing the record for review. With only one fatal flaw of gang vocals that seem out of place over the chorus (and don’t really fit the vibe I felt they were going for), the beautifully sung verses by Quistad and Bond certainly make up for it. They quickly push back into their more traditional sound with a track called “Godspeed“, one of the weaker tracks on the album. All in all, there isn’t much to this track that stands out, it just sounds like a standard-fare Wage War song.
But holy shit does it get back to the heavy with “Death Roll“. This track is probably the heaviest song they have ever written. It starts with ridiculous pinch harmonics, reminiscent of After the Burial‘s “Behold the Crown“. “Death Roll” is an onslaught of heavy from front to back, a song that most will thoroughly enjoy. We get a break from the heaviness with a softer track “Slow Burn“, which contains a relatively catchy chorus that has some potential to be an earworm. After, we really slow it down with “Never Said Goodbye“, the ballad of the album. Because what would a Wage War album be without its ballad? It is a great ballad though, with Wage War showing a bit of their country music influences on this one, and I think it works well.
Getting toward the tail end of the record, upon first listen “True Colors” really stood out to me. The energy and flow on this track work great with the melody throughout, giving it some decent replay value for me. Last but not least comes “If Tomorrow Never Comes“, not only my favorite track on the record, but possibly my favorite track from Wage War to date. This one has “closer” written all over it, and it perfectly demonstrates every aspect this band can hit. Soft, heavy, those massive choruses we all love. Structurally, it strays away from a run-of-the-mill sequence, and it’s phenomenal from front to back. The second half of this track is absolutely incredible, with Quistad‘s singing along with Bond‘s screaming providing excellent closure to the record.
With all of that being said, I can safely say that this record is a great return to form for Wage War. Some may label it as “generic”, but generic is not necessarily a bad thing to me. Generic can be incredible when executed well, and with so many hard-hitting (in a variety of ways) tracks across this thing it’s hard to deny that the simplicity of much of it does it wonders. Through that, I feel long-time Wage War fans will really enjoy this one, as it has a bit of something for everyone. They harness the best of both worlds by pleasing their fans with the Wage War they love, while experimenting a bit sonically for themselves. In short, with Manic, Wage War have taken the best elements of Pressure, and combined them with the heaviness of Deadweight to piece together some of their strongest material to date.
Manic will be available this coming Friday, October 1st via Fearless Records, and you can pre-order the album here.
8/10