Project Description
WAGE WAR
Pressure
(Album Review)
Reviewer: Connor Gutteridge
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Through an unwavering dedication to progression, Wage War sharpen their patented hybrid of heavy pit-starting technicality and hummable hypnotic melodies with each subsequent evolution. Look no further than the aptly titled third full-length from the Florida quintet, Pressure [Fearless Records]. The band—Briton Bond [lead vocals], Cody Quistad [rhythm guitar, clean vocals], Seth Blake [lead guitar], Chris Gaylord [bass], and Stephen Kluesener [drums]—drove themselves to fully realise their ambition by pushing harder. A whirlwind four years set the foundation for such a statement.
The group’s 2015 debut, Blueprints, yielded multiple fan favourites with “Alive” cracking 12 million Spotify streams and “The River” exceeding 8 million to date. Meanwhile, 2017’s Deadweight established the boys as a rising force. Totalling nearly 50 million cumulative streams in two years, the single “Stitch” racked up 14 million streams on Spotify as Deadweight received widespread praise from MetalInjection, New Noise, Metal Hammer, and Rock Sound who dubbed it, “a relentless, genre-evolving treat.”
Meanwhile, they toured alongside everyone from I Prevail and Of Mice & Men to Parkway Drive and A Day To Remember, logging countless miles on the road. In order to approach their next evolution from a different angle, Wage War enlisted the talents of producer Drew Fulk (Motionless in White, Lil Peep, IDKHOW)and recorded in Los Angeles for the first time, delivering a bold body of work.
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Who I Am
I say it for every review that track number 1 always must be one of the stronger tracks on the album to set the mood and vibe of the album. I am so glad that they picked Who I Am to start this album off. Right from the beginning with that running guitar riff that builds into the explosion of Briton screaming “go!!” before bringing in the rest of the band for the intro. The intensity of the intro working well to introduce one of the more intense tracks from the album.
The dynamical range in this song through the drop of elements to build into big sections is impressive and the use of both power clean and dirty vocals has become a lot more of the style since there first album which was mainly focused on dirty vocals with some cleans.
The chorus melody of the vocals with the guitar lines behind it adds width to elements that have a thinner feel like lead lines and clean vocals. This is not an easy thing to pull off in music but seems to be a favourite go to with a lot of metal core music.
The timbre effect of stylistic differences opens the range of the whole song to create anticipation, leaves the listeners asking What can happen next? Another thing you hear a lot of but can never hear enough of is a think breakdown and they delivered just that with a drop and build prior to Briton screaming the line “say it to my face!” With the aggression that it deserves. Awesome way to start off this album in typical Wage War fashion.
Prison
The use of rusty clean vocals in the beginning of this song really shows the diversity of lead singer Briton Bond, can go from punchy screams into almost a pitch scream rusty clean vocal melody in the beginning. One staple point of Wage War over the years has been heavy verses and catchy choruses that should the incredible vocal register of clean vocalist Cody Quistad.
This song really packs a hard punch to it through the use of the faced paced bass drums on time with the riffs going on in the front line to add layer and thickness to the sound. Even in the times during the song where the guitar drops out and its just drum and bass it is still a really wide sound. Being that this track was one of the tracks released before the album is released it is another example of how good this album really is going to be.
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Grave
Grave is the third track from the album. The use of the delayed, reverberated, chorus effected clean guitars is such a beautiful tone to introduce a song that is a bit different to what we would usually expect from the band but such a cool touch. The drums are definitely the focal point of this song with that double snare hit to kick pattern from drummer Stephen Kluesener being a driving force of the song and many aspects of the song feeding straight off it.
Any musician would agree with me that the drums are the driving force of a band whether the lines are as technical or easy and the listener really can tell the difference between a drummer of the calibre of Stephen compared to ones that aren’t as good, it makes all the difference in the world. Putting the drummer on display with all tracks is risky but having one of two that really showcase how good your drummer is can be an effective way to show what they have got under their belt.
Ghost
If there is one word to describe Ghost that word would be HEAVY. However, the coolest part of this banger is the cleaner aspects that are also added into it. A ripper guitar solo from lead guitarist Seth Blake is something that is not utilised a great deal with wage war but is always fun to hear.
Plus, the high range clean vocals in the chorus are such a power hitter that fans everywhere will be trying to hit while they are driving along listening to the album. I love the dynamic shift from the verses to the choruses because it shows how the change in vocal style can really impact the width of the arrangement to give variety throughout the song.
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Me Against Myself
Every band must progress and mature through writing songs that show diversity, especially when there are multiple members who all have different tastes and inputs into the writing process. Right from the word go of this track you can tell it’s going to be different to majority of other Wage War songs and it send an emotion through you like “oh no, is this going to work?” The answer is yes.
The utilisation if clean effects on the guitars in the verses and the back bone of the song being bass player Chris Gaylord allows for a bit more of a ballad pop-punk kind of feel. I like the changes in each song as it gives the listener some range and there is something for everyone to listen to.
The utilisation of both vocalists taking clean sections in the song shows that this band is so much more than just your everyday metalcore band and can really produce a melodic ballad as well as blow your mind heavy songs. I really like it when bands make transitions to different styles within albums because it shows that they are stuck to the convention of one style and that is it, which is a common issue with many bands. Well done on an absolute banger.
Hurt
Personally, this is my favourite track off the album and the song that has been stuck in my head ever since the first time I listened to it. I feel it has a similar feel to it as my favourite track from last album “Gravity”. The slower anthem style with the utilisation of background licks in the verses and straight chords in the chorus with beautiful vocals the whole song is arranged perfectly. The use of synth drums in the verses adds to the dynamical drops in the verses to build into the power choruses.
I love it when they write songs that have a bit more of stripped back feel to it to put the focus on the vocals from both singers doing clean vocals, it puts the raw talent of these vocalists on display for the world to hear. This is a sing-along banger that I believe will be a fan favourite.
Low
Low was the first track released off the record and what a way to start dropping tracks. Some say that the first tracks released must be a staple point for the album and Low does not disappoint. The start of the song with the eerie background sound before the guitar burst through with a slight variation of the tone to produce a build effect for the rest of the band to smash through for part two of the intro.
This works as a footpath to the massive build before that explosion led by “YOU DONT KNOW LOW LIKE I DO”. When the band comes in it’s enough to give any listener Goosebumps. The way the drums work with the guitar licks throughout the song is a listener dream and will get stuck in your head for days. I promise.
The production of the song is done in such a way that each section compliments each other. The tone of the kick drum having that low-end pop to compliment that snappy snare is mixed to perfection and is a staple point for how good the production is overall.
The clean vocal use in the choruses is the high register masterful work that we as wage war fans have come to admire. In fact, the arrangement of the chorus is something of beauty, with the use of almost a strip back from the heavy licks of the verses and correct me if I’m wrong but is that an acoustic guitar in the background there. I love the build and drop system for the increase of anticipation that they have utilised in this song.
The Line
After the last song being such a banger and the whole album really living up to the hype it’s hard to see how anything could be as good from here on in, well strap in because The line is a fun song that brings to the front and centre elements that are generally considering backing.
This song draws a lot of electronic music elements with the use of a synthesiser in a lot of the song becoming the main focal point of the arrangement in the intro and the breakdown. I especially love the use of the synth in the breakdown because it breaks the mould of the stereotype for what a breakdown should be.
It incorporates the heavy chug guitar with a creepy kind of synth sound in the breaks. I feel that the key to the writing of this song was aggression. With everything from the hard style EDM influence, the hard hitting dirty vocals and the lyrics in the chorus written cantered around the internal battles that people go through “perfect on the outside, broken on the inside”. This song is a pleasure for the harsh reality that we never really know how someone is unless we ask. They may seem great but be fighting the battle for their life on the inside.
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Fury
A common aspect of each Wage War album so far is there has been the stand out heaviest track from the album, with ‘Deadweight’ it was ‘Stitch’, with ‘Blueprints’ it was ‘The River’ (this is debatable), with ‘Pressure’ it is without any shadow of a doubt ‘Fury’ that takes this title.
The ruthless aggression of the unclean vocally driven song makes for a pump-up song that will have any gym junkie lifting there 1RM while listening. The use of the almost Slipknot sounding guitar licks with the fast-paced kick drums to keep a pace makes me think of the circle pits that will take place during the performance of this song live.
The use of electronic effects during the breakdown section of the song is hands down my favourite part of the song because it just gets the blood pumping and makes you want to bang your head to the beat. What an awesome song!!
Forget My Name
I know I say this a lot, but this song really does have a completely different but strangely similar sort of feel to it from the word go right though to the end of the three and a half minutes.
The clean guitar lines side by side with the fast paced un-melodic almost spoken feel vocal line sets the tone of the song being a showing of the diversity of the band. The guitars in the verse riff sound like they have an octave effect over the distortion which is a fun thing for bands to play around with, it works well to give a single string heavy riff an even heavier feel.
The mix of not just high and low vocals but also melodic and non-melodic vocals is weird touch to the song but really shows the experimentation of this album. This album seems to have been a lot of experimentation into their sound as a band and in the turn around they have created an album full of unique songs that aren’t all that like each other and anything else they have ever released.
Take The Fight
Every good metal album requires a fun song with a drop tuning heavy bend riff and that title lays on Take the Fight. The whole song except for the choruses feels like it could be one big break down for the metal heads to head bang to.
The repetition of the riffs in this song show that simplicity is still very much key to writing a good song. The use of the heavy breakdown style riff really compliments the open melodic chorus in the sense that it is a change up from the rest of the song, I like that as it leaves no expectation of the power clean vocals in the chorus, just leaves it open for the writer’s interpretation and the listeners enjoyment.
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Will We Ever Learn
Here we come to the end of the record and in similar taste to the rest of their albums the final song is a completely different style with newer elements that we haven’t heard before mixed in with old ones we know and love. Ambient sounds used in the beginning to create the mood of the song before a random introduction of a quick band line before dropping back again to the ambience with the addition of clean vocals and drums dubbed into the background for a layer effect. I love this effect.
It’s like ‘aww sweet…. BAMM…. aww okay sweet again’ leaving the listener on their toes. This drop in heavy to lead into a sweet ambient tone happens many times throughout this song and creates a lot of dynamic range and anticipation within the arrangement.
The cutting chorus featuring the beautiful mid high range vocals that we love one last time on this record that works hand in hand with the straight melodic chording of the guitars and bass. As the same with a few tracks on this album they utilise the build up to drop in system for anticipation throughout the track.
Might I say what a way to finish off an already incredible album. The whole album was filled with songs that are all different in their own unique way and that is just one reason that makes Wage War something special.
In conclusion, what can I say about this album that hasn’t already been said? There is a little bit of everything, and it really is a beautiful showing of how amazing this band really is. With every release that they bring out they step it up each and every time. Now all we must do is get them over this side of the pond for a tour soon. All in all, this is in my opinion Wage War’s best album to date and I really can’t wait to hear how people will love it as much as I do.
TRACK LIST
Who I Am
Prison
Grave
Ghost
Me Against Myself
Hurt
Low
The Line
Fury
Forget My Name
Take The Fight
Will We Ever Learn
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