Top tip: don’t get Heidi Adam started on Wage War’s latest album. Oh. Hang on. Too late
With the inevitable passage of time, metalcore and metallic hardcore have split into two vastly dissimilar genres. Metallic hardcore acts such as Knocked Loose and Jesus Piece are doing a magnificent job of keeping the hardcore punk and DIY roots of the genre alive and well, whereas the likes of Sleep Token and Bad Omens are just pop bands with low-tuned guitars.
In recent years, Wage War have hopped on the bandwagon of cookie-cutter metalcore, and the Floridian five-piece have reached their lowest point with their latest album Stigma.
The band’s sound on this record is polished to death, following the trend of djenty guitar tones that almost sound AI-generated, and each song maintains a predictable formula with muddy production.
The pulsating beat of The Show’s About to Start kicks off this 31-minute assault to the ears with a poor attempt at creating a danceable metal tune lathered in bouncy grooves and yawnsome riffs.
Of all the irritatingly catchy moments that this album has to offer, the chorus of Magnetic is easily the catchiest as it mirrors the irreversible damage that I Prevail have caused to heavy music and sounds like just about every other band that you’ll hear on Kerrang! Radio these days.
The following track Nail5 includes vocalist Briton Bond imitating the deep rasps of Corpse’s voice in an unfortunate rap hook accompanied by trap beats, grating synths and lazy riffs.
Tombstone is the token heavy song on the album. Every metalcore album has one, even though it’s metalcore. Shouldn’t an album in a genre that blends metal and hardcore punk be heavy from start to finish instead of cheap radio rock with underwhelming breakdowns?
It seems as though the band felt a constant urge to be experimental as they have a crack at sprinkling in elements of industrial, hip-hop and various vocal effects, and it’s a completely unnecessary move that just reeks of desperation and a strong lack of creativity.
It’s not like Wage War were ever that good to begin with. They have always been the poster children for mediocrity, but the direction they’ve taken in their music is indefensibly atrocious.
Stigma is the definition of slop. It’s bland, uninspired and terribly overproduced. This record is the epitome of everything wrong with modern metalcore, and to lump it into the same genre as Converge and Integrity would be an immense insult.
