Label: Island Records
Released: 27th October 2023
You don’t need us to tell you that everything feels pretty awful right now, and it only seems to be getting worse. Some artists tackle that general despair with joyous escapism, while others try to encourage meaningful action. Then there’s Wargasm, who’ve poured all that anger and fury into a ferocious debut album that offers pure, screaming catharsis. The spiritual successor to Limp Bizkit, there’s hope to be found in wanting to break stuff.
Opener ‘Venom’ sets the frantic, unapologetic tone for the record, with ‘Sonic Dog Tag’ and ‘Outrage’ channelling pure, trembling fury. Elsewhere, ‘Minigun’ adds a cinematic spin on Wargasm’s gnarled purge, while the Fred Durst-featuring ‘Bang Ya Head’ is surprisingly joyous. Likewise, the hammering ‘Feral’ is delivered with a smirk and the closing ‘Sombre Goodbye’ playfully mocks the idea of self-indulgent, artistic statements before one final, guttural breakdown. Then there’s ‘Modern Love’, a sleek, groove-driven song that adds a lashing of menace to Wargasm’s destruction. It’s a smart, stylised rager that sees the band refuse to soften their edges.
Building on everything that’s come before, while amping up the carnage, the energy and the emotion, Wargasm’s debut album is a lesson in excess.
