On their third album,
Baltimore’s War on Women serve up
some top quality hardcore punk, with an extra helping or two of bile. Fiercely
political, as their name suggests, War
on Women’s main target is the patriarchy. Opener ‘Aqua Tofana’ sets out
their stall early by urging abused women to kill their abusers. Radical
feminism is front and centre, but it is not Wonderful
Hell’s sole thematic focus. For
example, there is the passionate ode to the Black Lives Matter movement, ‘White
Lies’, and the title track’s deconstruction of the social and economic inequities
of Trumpism. Fair to say, lyrically, this album is at the other end of the
spectrum from the ‘collection of vacuous love songs’ pop template. Musically, War on Women have really nailed it this
time, with inventive but very catchy riffs and choruses. This is hardcore punk,
and so is never exactly an easy ride, but it is very much at the accessible end
of that genre. Both thematically and sonically, therefore, think way more Against Me! than Biohazard. Its no-punches-pulled lyrics and musical hooks means Wonderful Hell could and should have an
appeal well beyond most hardcore punk. Vitriolic, vital, and very 2020.