Ocala’s Wage War aren’t so much helping to redefine a stagnant, oversaturated metalcore genre as much as they are helping revitalize it. What they’re doing isn’t necessarily anything that’s new, but given the success and strong work ethic the band has displayed, one could surely say they deserve it. Wage War’s debut album Blueprints was a slow-burning album that started to gain traction recently, resulting in a highly successful run on Warped Tour 2016, as well as playing the festival circuit this spring.
All of this is now culminating in a sophomore album (Deadweight, out August 4th via Fearless Records) that is already catching fire via both esteemed music sites, as well as on social media. The lead single from the album, “Stitch”, just hit a huge mark – one million views on Youtube in just over 2 months. Granted, number of times viewing a music video isn’t a singular barometer of success, but it is still notable considering the band’s other music videos for “Don’t Let Me Fade Away” (400,000 views) and “The River”, “Alive”, “Twenty One”, and “Youngblood” are all either at or very close to the one million mark. In fact, “The River” is shockingly close to 2,000,000 hits.
Ocala may be the land of tourism and A Day To Remember, but Wage War are right there with those two as the pride of Ocala. All this for a band that 3 years ago, wasn’t signed but they were grinding locally. They’re a testament to what happens when talent and hard work meets opportunity.
Also in case you missed it, here’s our newest interview w/the band.
