The album’s heaviest track ‘Death Roll’ begins with low tuned chugging guitars which has put a smile on my face. Yet again, we are given the opportunity to hear angelic clean vocalist Cody thrive with his roles and in no way am I complaining about it. Anthemic drum rhythms maintain their position at the forefront of this song the whole way through. We are quickly returned to the faster tempo we know this band loves to play with ‘Godspeed’. Big melodic hooks and repeating drum patterns lead the charge on this ‘commercial’ take of a Wage War track. ‘Circle The Drain’ is a slow ballad that leaves Quistad to take to the role of main vocalist as Bond’s screams are given a bit of a break.

Technical guitar riffs lead us into ‘High Horse’ which slowly builds up momentum throughout the length of the song until it climaxes at the breakdown in the outro and feels like a fun journey to be a part of – arguably one of the band’s finest songs in years! The intermittent burst of heavy instrumentals, followed by a breakdown towards the outro brings the track back to the band’s staple metalcore sound. On first listen, I found it impossible to gauge which direction this song would go. Title track ‘Manic’ starts in a unique place where softly-spoken lyrics closely followed by electronic synths take the lead. A drum rhythm that abides strongly by the saying ‘less in more’ is nothing less than satisfying to take in. Industrially sounding whispers take us into ‘ Teeth’ where Quistad takes the opportunity the flourish as his range manages to compliment the rhythms section as the spotlight turns towards him. Quistad and Bond offer an amazing dynamic as not one of their vocal styles overpowers the other, it all seems so perfectly balanced. Kicking off the album is ‘Relapse’ with frontman Cody Quistad ‘s soothing vocals taking us into djent styled guitar riffs as unclean vocalist Briton Bond ‘s introduction on the album is wholeheartedly welcomed while he screams “Sever my sense of truth”. The reflection of this period and the suffering of our beloved music scene is the basis for Manic.

We last managed to catch a glimpse of the band when they performed alongside Polaris around the country in early 2020 (revisit our coverage here) before the world went into chaos as the pandemic worsened. Wage War – Manic Released: October 1st, 2021īriton Bond // Lead Vocals Cody Quistad // Rhythm Guitar/Clean Vocals Seth Blake // Lead Guitar Chris Gaylord // Bass Stephen Kluesener // DrumsĪfter having spent the vast majority of the COVID pandemic staying quiet, Wage War are making noise once again and our ears are wide open to take it all in.

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