“Manic” introduces itself quickly in the first track, “Relapse,” about drug addiction, before leaping into the sarcastically-intoned “Teeth.” This is followed by the title track, which expresses the theme of mental illness, which is common within and thus familiar to the metalcore subgenre and its listeners. Despite this sole major complaint, the album is enjoyable. While this is arguably an interesting area of sonic exploration, Wage War and their contemporaries may have gone too far with autotuning the vocals. If one likes this trend, one will like the sound of this record. Specifically, this is also seen in Architect’s February release “For Those That Wish to Exist,” which similarly dials back the dissonance-but not the emotion-in favor of a more polished sound. Whether this will be to a listener’s liking is in the ear of the beholder, but it mirrors a trend witnessed in other metalcore artists over the past few years. The guitar-driven breakdowns are still there, as are the screams, but they are more reserved in execution, a spice rather than a main dish. The band treads a path between the aggression of metal and screamed vocals and a poppier production, creating a musical counterbalance comparable to their prior album, “Pressure.” This album, they lean even further onto electronic elements and clean vocals. Here, hardship is the point, which feels familiar after a year and a half of a pandemic. On previous albums, Wage War had their aforementioned dark moments, but most of these focused on rising out of suffering. This does not mean that this is not a good record indeed, much of the greatest art explores themes of darkness and suffering, and this album has its own rewards to reap.
Their lyrics have already touched on topics such as suicide (“Youngblood”), loss (“Johnny Cash”), and depression (“Low”) however, this album heads in a distinctly pessimistic direction compared to previous efforts. Of course, singer Briton Bond and company are no strangers to discussing dark themes or negative emotions. As one might expect, this is reflected in the album itself, which takes a decidedly darker tone than their previous outings. Fans waited over two years for this fourth venture from Ocala, FL metal band Wage War, and amid the chaos of the COVID-19 pandemic, it emerged into a world very different from that of their first three albums.
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