STIGMA by Wage War Album Review
Wage War formed in Ocala, Florida back in 2010 under another name, Empires. Wage War just released their fifth studio album, STIGMA, on June 21, 2024, after being on a co-headlining tour with friends, Nothing More. If you were like me and went to Wage War’s Meet and Greet, you got a first listen to songs that had yet to be released, Tombstone and Blur. They had already released Magnetic and Nail5(s) before the tour had started.
STIGMA was on track with its predecessor, Manic, which was released during the height of the COVID pandemic. Manic was brilliantly produced by Drew Fulk, who is also known for producing Motionless in White, along with A Day to Remember’s front man, Jeremy McKinnon, Andrew Wade and Wage’s clean vocalist, Cody Quistad. Quistad is really showing growth in his personal career with his writing and producing efforts.
Manic was very different from their previous album, Pressure. For me personally, I could see the growth and their turn more towards a progressive sound with Fulk’s assistance. I expected to hear similar music on STIGMA, because of this. During the Meet and Greet that I attended in New Orleans, Louisiana, Quistad stated the following.
“If you don’t like a song, you will like another. We wanted to make sure that all the songs were different, but yet in their own element.”
Chris Gaylord, the band’s bassist, reiterated the statement and said, “I feel like this is some of our best work.”
Briton Bond, the band’s unclean vocalist, who many will tell you is such an underrated unclean vocalist in the metal community, seemed to be very proud of their song Tombstone, even though according to him, was probably one of the hardest to actually write.
“I’m really proud of that song,” he said after it was played for the crowd that afternoon.
There is no bad song on STIGMA, in my opinion. You can go hard with Tombstone or Self Sacrifice, or you can go the emotional route with Hellbent or Is This How It Ends? As Quistad stated, every song is different, so if you don’t like Tombstone, you will like Hellbent. Hellbent, ironically, is my favorite song on the album as it highlights Quistad’s vocal ability. I definitely give STIGMA by Wage War a five out five stars.