Weekly Update #22 – July 14, 2024
What a disappointment. It seemed like Wage War was getting back on track when they released ‘Manic,’ but this is awful. Might be even worse than ‘Pressure.’
I just moved back to California so I was driving with my dad and he was listening to Octane on Sirius XM. Wage War was the third song that popped up, and in that moment, the band’s aspirations became crystal clear. They’re making music for my dad and trying to secure radio playtime on the channels that play Five Finger Death Punch and Disturbed. After a few more songs, we switched over to the real metal station and they were playing The Acacia Strain and Knocked Loose.
Knocked Loose isn’t purely metalcore, but they’re close enough to illustrate the huge divide between heavy metalcore and Octane metalcore. It’s even crazier that I first discovered Wage War when they opened for Chelsea Grin in 2016. I can’t believe how far they’ve fallen.
The songs on ‘Stigma’ don’t feel like real songs. The electronic, somewhat cyberpunk undercurrents keep the energy high, but there’s little substance otherwise. You turn them on and immediately forget what you’re listening to.
I knew we were in for a rough ride when they released “Magnetic” as the first single. It sounds like a song that barely makes the cut as a B-side on the deluxe version of the album, and that’s what they decided to lead with? And then they released “Nail5,” giving listeners whiplash as they tried to reassure everyone that they can still be heavy (while, in reality, all they did was create a terrible Bad Omens cover song).
The only cohesive theme, style, or whatever across the whole album is that everything is unbelievably cringey. I have second hand embarrassment listening to ‘Stigma,’ partly because the songs suck, but mostly because it’s never been more clear that Wage War has no artistic vision. Each song is an attempt to pander to a different audience and widen their listener base. And that’s it – that’s the entire purpose of this album. Their disjointed approach spread them so thin that they failed to do anything well.
And please don’t tell me that Wage War is more popular than ever. That isn’t a metric that you should ever care about, especially when the entire purpose of this album was to grow their listener numbers. Asking Alexandria and Parkway Drive are bigger than ever too, but nobody is passionate about them anymore. It’s the same with Wage War – they went from being one of the most exciting metalcore bands in 2015 – 2018 to a band that we mostly try to ignore now. The downfall needs to be studied. Sorry I wasted a newsletter feature on this.
Playlist of New Songs
Quick playlist highlights:
– Miss May I is re-recording ‘Apologies Are For The Weak’ to celebrate its 15th anniversary. It looks like each re-recorded song is going to feature a guest vocalist – the bands on the list include August Burns Red, Currents, After The Burial, Silent Planet, and a bunch of others. Miss May I’s first two albums are certified metalcore classics so newer fans are in for a treat. Personally, I’ll probably still prefer the original because I’ve listened to it for so long and I love the older mix, but this is a very cool effort from the band.
– There’s been a slow trickle of songs from Breakdown of Sanity over the last few years. Their last album came out in 2016 so they’re due for another one in the near future. They hit a hot streak in the mid 2010s, and I’m hoping they can reignite it. They’ve always been one of my favorite bands even if they’ve stayed under the radar of most people.
– Convictions finally announced their new album is coming out on August 2nd. I haven’t seen the full track list yet, but I think they’ve released 5 or 6 of the songs already. I don’t love that strategy because then you only have a handful of brand new songs to listen to when the album drops, but I like everything I’ve heard so I have pretty high expectations at this point.
– I forget how I came across Despite Exile, but their recent singles have been great. I need to go through their whole discography and figure out how they only have 5,000 monthly listeners. This is such a compelling combination of metalcore and deathcore. It kind of reminds me of early Betraying The Martyrs where there was a lot of melody but you knew the deathcore vocals could pop out at any time.
– I can’t tell if As I Lay Dying is gearing up for a new album or not. Either way, they’ve definitely been cooking. The member changes don’t seem to have made much of an impact. If anything, the band seems refreshed and energized. Tim’s vocals are especially good on this one and I like the tinge of darkness.
– Unearth is sounding particularly ferocious in their new singles. I’m always happy to hear new stuff from these guys. A good reminder to revisit their album from last year.
– In Hearts Wake just put out a new album and it might be my favorite from the last two weeks. It’s heavy and I found myself going back to it with ease. I’m not sure if I’ll do a full review, but it deserves the spotlight. The Winston McCall feature is a cool callback to the feature he had on their 2011 album (since this album is supposed to be the dark inverse of that album).
– Oceano’s new album is coming out on August 30 and I’m excited. They’re well established in people’s minds, but I think they’re branching out in cool ways that will turn a few heads.
– Silence/156 continues to incorporate clean singing into their sound. I’m actually pretty into it since their screaming style is purposely more monotonous than others. Their 2022 album was a huge highlight so I’m looking forward to their next one (due out on September 13).