On a cold night in late October, Wage War truly lived up to their name. With their rowdy fans bundled into the 02 Institute, Wage War set the room ablaze with a suitably punchy metal show that barely took time for a breath between songs. With a setlist packed with both old and new tracks, Wage War’s Manic tour is the perfect show for metal heads looking to mosh all night. This show will not be for everyone, it was my first time at a metalcore gig, and I do not think it is a gig environment that Wage War novices can turn up at on a whim.

Wage War demands high energy from their crowds, but luckily fans receive the same head-banging energy in return. Opening with ‘Relapse’ from their 2021 record Manic, Wage War start off relatively tame. ‘Relapse’ puts more focus on the melodic side of Wage War’s style, featuring fewer breakdowns and blistering vocals from lead singer Briton Bond. This does not last for long, as they follow this up with the grittier ‘Teeth’, which puts Bond’s vocals front and centre. It did not take much to get the crowd in full mosh pit mode, but the opening two tracks felt like a good combination of what Wage War fans expect from them, beautiful clean choruses from Cody Quistad, followed up by unforgiving verses from Bond.

Considering the unforgiving nature of Wage War’s show, a lack of proper metal energy on stage was felt a few times. Bond was giving it his all, but compared to their support band The Devil Wears Prada, it felt like Wage War were mostly static in their movement. It would have been nice if they had switched up their positions a few times, and would have added a bit of dynamism to their stage presence. It is not likely this would have changed the energy in the room much, but it did mean at times that Wage War’s set felt slightly rehearsed. Wage War have been on tour for a while now, so it is not their fault if not all the band’s members have the same energy as night one. But, a bit more movement could have turned their show from a ten to an eleven, even if the crowd was too amped up to notice.

Despite a lack of movement on stage, Wage War command attention. A non-Wage War fan could be easily forgiven for thinking their songs blended into each other, but Wage War still managed to create an enjoyable rhythm to their show. They paused enough times to keep the crowd energised when they were getting tired, and briefly spoke to the audience a couple of times, expressing their gratitude for the crowd being there. This came as a welcome respite towards the end, as Wage War refused to slow down and packed their back heavy set with some fan favourites they knew would get them going towards the latter half.

It is a testament to the band that their set felt back loaded, but it still worked well. Their songs ‘Manic’ and ‘Death Roll’ inarguably got the best reaction from the crowd, forcing them to regain their energy and keep the metal setting high octane. When they lowered the room for the considerably less in-your-face ‘Circle the Drain’, the crowd was more than willing to follow. The crowd felt like its own separate entity throughout, but ‘Circle the Drain’ united the crowd and the band, and was a highlight of the show. Their encore ‘Stitch’ also is worth mentioning, feeling like a conclusive ending. Its final moments from Bond was the best he produced all evening, delivering some wonderfully disgusting screams to carry the crowd to the end of the set.

Overall, Wage War’s Manic tour feels tailor made for metal fans to go crazy to some great tracks. It is not a show for the faint of heart, or one for non-metal fans. The set did feel slightly too long for my taste, and by the end I was exhausted. This is to be expected, and the highs of the set easily outweigh the lows. When ‘Manic’ played and me and my friend yelled in each other’s faces, the flaws of the show melted away into a Wage War style scream.

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