Wage War, Upstate Concert Hall
True to the band’s name, the lyrics to “Grave,” a single from Wage War’s latest album, “Pressure,” show little readiness to declare a romantic truce. After a few choice words mocking that certain someone’s need to be the center of attention, the singer snarls “You will never change, you’ll take it to your grave.” Well, given the source you probably were not expecting a tender ballad, right? “Grave” is currently featured on the band’s website, wagewarband.com. (While you are there, check out the merch section, which is offering a green holiday sweather emblazoned with the band’s name; could be the perfect fashion choice to warn off any in-laws trying to get that turkey leg you covet. Get yours before they sell out.) The boys of Wage War started on the road to metal music fame in 2010 in their hometown of Ocala, Fla. They released their first album in 2010 and have been building a following ever since. (And ya gotta love metal: Like many other outfits in the genre, Wage War divides vocal credits in a telling way — frontman Briton Bond gets the tag for “unclean vocals,” while Cody Quistad handles rhythm guitar and “clean vocals.”) Their Facebook page bio says the title of “Pressure” refers to how the band felt about their creative situation as they prepared to make the record: “The right amount of self-applied pressure causes growth.” Elaborating on the theme a bit, Quistad says, “There’s always pressure to make a great album, but we felt it even more so this time around. The theme was to be as catchy and as heavy as possible. Ultimately, we tried to deliver a benchmark that says, ‘This is Wage War. This is what we can do.’” Given that the album’s cover image is a diamond, they seem pretty pleased with the result.
■