Fearless Records
Out Now
After chatting with Wage War ahead of their recently completed Australian tour and being sent this album as an advance copy to at least make it sound like I knew what I was talking about, it was with an emphatic YES that I answered the call when the time came to dive into Landfall in greater detail.
Opening with a flat line murmuring steadily in the background, Wage War soon find their path to oblivion on album opener and title track Landfall. Unrelenting and uncompromising from the outset, Wage War seem intent on letting us all know they mean business with this album as Stephen Kluesener annihialates his drum kit in an open display of hostility that is only tempered slightly by the cleans from Cody Quistad that are there as much for our benefit as they are for the band.
This is a crushing and imposing introduction to Landfall that doesn’t let up as Sweet Dreams maintains the rage without thought or concern for personal safety. If you have looked through the tracklisting and earmarked this as potentially a cover of the Eurythmics song of the same name, let’s just say you might be a touch disappointed. Silk suggests it could be more on the clear sailing side of the tornado but quickly withdraws any possibility of serenity as it pummels and menaces its way through a barrage of breakdowns and some wicked guitar work courtesy of Seth Blake.
Going into this album I must admit I wasn’t sure how I would go with the clean/harsh vocal dynamics – which is a personal thing only – but so far Briton Bond and Quistad have found a happy medium whereby the two opposing forces of nature come face to face only sporadically and without the moments of overlapping emotions that can sometimes confuse things musically. Just as I say that Figure 8 opens with said cleans, but again they don’t feel like an over-zealous partner. Instead they act as a barrier between the forces of darkness and the optimism of light, resisting the urge to act as a duelling sonic referee by putting the whistle down and blowing it only when necessary.
God Complex is an absolute banger, blending industrial elements with massive breakdowns to great effect, before the first real surprise comes with Stay With Me which I’m guessing is as close to a love song as Wage War could get. And it’s a damn fine effort at that. If you like tissues with your metal anyway.
Sllence Has Spoken continues down the same path, with a touch more starch to keep the pace moving. I have to say it’s a strange one, two punch in the middle of the tidal wave of anarchy that has come so far but who am I to argue given that Wage War are obviously a band who like to venture outside of normal comfort zones and experiment with harmonies and the trappings that come with it. In all honesty, I think the two tracks could grow on me after a few listens. It’s not that they were bad by any means, it’s more they were unexpected which caught me off guard. Each to their own I guess.
Way Of Pain redeems things considerably before Red Dot showcases a more electronic and industrial fuelled side to Wage War, complete with lighter breakdowns that still hit with the ferocity of a sledgehammer. And that’s when it hits me and the musical lessons of Wage War hit home quicker than I thought. Their clever use of light and shade and shifting of moods is akin to a sonic journey that permeates through Landfall with the only thing standing in your way being yourself and your own expectations.
Well played gentlemen. Spellbound accentuates the point with a gentle acoustic intro that is soon swallowed by a wall of guitars and drums before easing back into an introverted and almost introspective track that is pretty fucken good. See, my walls have started crumbling already!
Closing out with the gentle strains of Silhouette, Wage War almost force you to take stock of things and remove any preconceived notion of what metal should be like, instead showing what it is. And that is simply a form of entertainment bound by no rules or ecxpectations. And at the end of the day, isn’t that what we love about it?
