“You can copy the face, but you can’t recreate the taste.”
Standing as one of the UK’s brightest-burning rising stars at the minute, WARGASM have certainly made a name for themselves over the past few years. Supporting the likes of Limp Bizkit, BABYMETAL, and Enter Shikari, it’s no surprise that their presence has caught the eye of the alternative public. Rightly, too, as their striking, uncompromising image is certainly cause for attention, and has hilariously caused quite the stir amongst the more prudish, pearl-clutching edge of the alternative sphere (see: the controversial HMAs 2021 stream). However, up until this year I hadn’t quite found much to get excited about in WARGASM’s core sound. I liked bits and pieces here and there, such as big singles “D.R.I.L.D.O.” and “Salma Hayek” from their 2022 mixtape EXPLICIT, but on the whole I felt that they hadn’t quite written their song yet.
That changed this year, when I first caught a glimpse of Venom’s lead single, “Do It So Good”. An industrial, Prodigy-injected nu-metal rager, replete with attitude, energy and fantastic production to boot – all of a sudden, I was convinced. This continued into the subsequent singles. “Bang Ya Head”, featuring nu-metal royalty and clear WARGASM-backer Fred Durst, was a similarly explosive taste of nu-metal goodness, featuring a riffy and punky energy fully realised in a way I had been yearning to see from the band up until that point. The singles culminated with “Modern Love”, which served as a taste of a different side of Venom’s overarching sound, but stood equally as strong alongside the other two stellar leading tracks. A slick, industrialised pop rager exploring the themes of a transactional and toxic relationship, it clicked with me instantly. Now, three for three, I was fully on board for Venom, and naturally had my expectations set fairly high going in as a result.
While Venom’s opening stretch doesn’t quite start with its strongest foot first, it still demonstrates what the band brings to the table in decent measure. Structurally, opening numbers “Venom” and “Minigun” fall a tad short of the expectations set. While containing smatterings of what made the album’s teaser tracks so great, I felt that these songs came across as far more hamfisted in execution than what I had anticipated. That’s not to say these tracks are without merit – as stated, they certainly embody the electric, attitude-laden nu-metal energy that I came to expect, with some fantastic vocal performances from lead vocalist/bassist Milkie Way, but they ultimately failed to fully entrance me the way the singles did.
I think my chief issue with many of the weaker moments on Venom centre around instrumentalist/emcee Sam Matlock (son of legendary Sex Pistols bassist Glen Matlock) and his interplay with Milkie Way, alongside the energy he brings to this track. When effective, Matlock injects a rabid, animalistic energy into Venom that truly amplifies and elevates the tracks beyond what they would have been otherwise. Equally, though, there are moments where I feel his performance, or at the very least his overt aggression, could potentially be reigned in to allow some breathing room. This is especially apparent on mid-album cut “Sonic Dog Tag”, where his intense delivery somewhat smothers a potentially sublime chorus; Milkie Way’s more melodic delivery here compliments the track’s instrumental perfectly, but Matlock’s incessant screams dominate and distract from what is otherwise an incredible track.
It’s not all bad, however, and much of Matlock’s efforts here are effective. Late-album rager “Outrage” stands as the album’s most blisteringly heavy cut, and is all the better for it. Ballistic, angular riffing and fierce vocals line much of the runtime on “Outrage”, masterfully juxtaposed by the track’s inclusion of slick drum sampling and trip-hop-esque passages. It leaves a remarkable impression, and feels destined to be a pit-opener at any show WARGASM play from here on. Closing number “Sombre Goodbye” also brings the energy in a big way, albeit briefly, as Milkie Way chants “We’re WARGASM, WARGASM sounds like this!” before dropping into one of the album’s most groovy and balls-to-the-wall breakdowns, as Matlock trades off aggressive screams to Milkie’s playful yells and chants.
WARGASM have historically been a band I’ve felt fairly mixed on, having not quite made a remarkable impact on me one way or another up until this point, but on their debut LP, Venom, it feels that they’re closer than ever to crafting something truly fantastic. Milkie Way’s undeniably commanding presence, alongside some truly killer production and scattered moments of true greatness (“Do It So Good”, “Bang Ya Head”, “Modern Love”, “Outrage”), make for an immensely enjoyable debut album from WARGASM, and one that shows great potential for the band’s future endeavours. I don’t think Venom is quite WARGASM’s opus yet, and there’s certainly still some growing to do here, but with some increased focus and poise they could truly be on the precipice of something great.
7/10
Venom is due for release this Friday, October 27th via slowplay/Republic, and you can find pre-orders for the record here.