Wage War – Landfall
Release Date: 09 October 2026
Seasoned Florida metalcore band Wage War have released their new album, Landfall, and its opener hits like a typhoon ripping through the Sunshine State. The title track kicks off with a weather-warning siren, setting the tone for the album: aggression. We are greeted with an opening salvo of chunky riffs, electronica and a metaphorical hurricane that represents a sense of helplessness. The pairing of Briton Bond’s guttural screams and Cody Quistad’s melodic vocals adds to the tempestuous atmosphere, culminating in a brutal breakdown that announces, “You’re not as safe as you think, all life becomes extinct.”
‘Sweet Dreams’ is familiar territory and exemplifies the sound fans would expect: mercurial vocals, rhythmic chugging and a touch of electronic instrumentation. Building on the blueprint introduced in ‘Landfall’, the band reiterate their ability to match pulverising extremity with hooky earworms.
‘Silk’ is far from soft. The gloves come off for three minutes of relentless, mathcore-esque bombardment. Breakdowns, frantic guitar work and vocals that would sit comfortably on a top-tier heavy metal album are perfectly suited to lyrics that ponder the journey towards death.
Confusion ensues with the follow-up, ‘Figure 8’, which adheres to a more conventional structure of soaring clean choruses, melodic guitar phrasing and lyrics focused on the inescapability of toxic relationships. The sharp contrast with the preceding tracks offers the first hints of the disjointedness that runs throughout the album, notably on ‘Stay With Me’ and ‘Silence Has Spoken ’. The former features restrained guitar riffs, while the latter leans heavily into electronic instrumentation, wrapping up with a guitar solo. Cody Quistad’s vocal range is on show, and his performance would fit comfortably into Bring Me The Horizon’s modern discography. It’s perfectly well-made radio rock, but here’s where the issue lies: these tracks are at odds with the tone established at the beginning of the album. It risks alienating new listeners while satisfying existing fans.
‘God Complex’ is a standout example of experimentation. Heavy synths create an interesting glitch effect which, paired with heavy guitar, evokes a metal band guided by an EDM DJ. The lyrical safe space afforded by its exploration of death ensures that the non-metal influences are held at bay, while the track still sails into uncharted territory.
‘Way of Pain’ returns to the unrelenting tone established in the album’s opening sections. A standard metalcore banger, it will satisfy fans looking for what they expect: breakdowns, harsh vocals and pit-worthy guitar work. ‘Red Dot’ is the album’s dark horse, breaking new ground by infusing metalcore with hip-hop elements without reverting to worn-out nu-metal conventions. Fans of PeelingFlesh’s brand of ‘gangster slam’ will relish the use of fuzzy Southern rap samples and a syncopated drum-and-guitar combination. Lyrically, the song transports listeners to the lawless streets of hurricane-hit Florida: “Sights set dead center of a red dot / Watch me turn a loud mouth into sleep talk / Cold steel runs hot when the hammer drops.”
With ‘Spellbound’, the band showcase their multidimensionality. A melancholic intro gives way to groovy riffs and the album’s catchiest lyrics, stirring up images of Florida’s otherworldly hinterland: “Hunt me down, hungry as a hellhound / Won’t you slither down my spine until I’m spellbound?” The journey into Florida’s darkest depths continues with ‘Songs of the Swamp’, a frenetically heavy standout that is the sonic equivalent of an alligator attack in the swamps. The combination of predatory metalcore and unabashed Southern character slots perfectly into a hurricane-themed album and would serve as an appropriate climax to the project.
The album concludes with ‘Silhouette’, a five-minute ballad that oscillates between electronic passages and pensive melodic vocals before giving way to gritty vocals and sludgy breakdowns. Alongside ‘Blindfold’, it is an emotionally raw, pop-oriented track that belongs on the radio, but feels out of place on an album built around the metaphor of a natural disaster. The band can deliver well-crafted rock anthems that stand shoulder to shoulder with the best of their era, but their inclusion here is at odds with the album’s broader theme.
For newcomers hoping for an album bursting at the seams with metalcore chugging, Landfall may leave them wanting more. Pit-fillers sit snugly alongside anthemic songs that encourage swooning more than moshing. This variety furnishes the album with a broad sonic palette, but at times, it feels like two albums that have accidentally ended up on the same playlist. There isn’t an objectively bad song on the album; however, the vast tonal differences result in a collection of songs that often seem at odds with one another.
Recommended Tracks: ‘Song Of The Swamp’, ‘Sweet Dreams’
Rating: 7/10