Their eponymous debut was rather a stormer, and they’ve followed up swiftly with an album that, while continuing in a similar vein, marks a definite progression. Sonically, it’s fuller, the jangly guitars propelled by a beefy rhythm section and solid, driving guitars. While the lyrics still deal with insecurity and bitterness, frustration and general spleen-venting, the overall delivery of both the vocals and the music is more assured.
As such, the Smiths comparisons are less apt as the muscularity of the whole sees War Waves on form and veering wildly between self-annihilation and with sleeves rolled, spoiling for a fight. It’s not uplifting, but it is intense.
‘Don’t Self-Destruct’ is the most Morrissey-like track on the album, but ruptures into an impassioned climax. ‘Bedding’ opens with the lines ‘I’m half asleep so I’ll forget we’re in someone else’s bed laying with someone else’s death’, before the chorus hits with ‘I’m wishing you would swallow this down and then say “fuck it, forget it…”’
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There’s no shortage of bleakness (‘when we die we’re dead and gone’, Newby sighs on ‘One’) and with surging guitars at an increasingly ear-bashing volume, The Twilight Sad feels like a more fitting reference point.
Difficult second album? With ‘All that We Lack,’ War Waves have smashed it.
War Waves On Bandcamp
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