Album Review: Wrong War – Fixed Against Forever

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Wrong War

Fixed Against Forever - Council Records

Chicago’s Wrong War, who feature former members of Current, Calvary, OttawaThe Phenoms and Salvo Beta amongst their number, only formed in 2019, in the midst of arguably the most turbulent time in recent history. Shortly after their formation the coronavirus descended and decimated the live scene, something that saw the band focus their energies and record and release their debut full length “Fixed Against Forever” that is now available via Council Records, the recently resurrected label that was run between 1992 until 2006 by Wrong War‘s Matt Weeks. The release of “Fixed Against Forever coincided with the first day of the prolonged, and pointlessly disputed, American elections on November 3rd, even brief exposure to Wrong War tells you that this was not a coincidence.
 
Writers will often, in a desperate scrabble to describe whatever has landed in their inbox, or occasionally dropped through their letterbox, casually throw adjectives in, the word incendiary is one of these, but in this case it is one that is more than deserved. Wrong War‘s debut album deliver’s nine shots of political fury in around 20 minutes, anyone who has ever had nine shots in that time frame will tell you it’s a heady experience, well so is “Fixed Against Forever”. From the opening foreboding squall of feedback of ‘Words Were Mere Words‘ to the final fading chords of ‘We’re Through‘ this is a relentless well informed and passionate blast of political punk rock that is played straight from the heart.
 
Whilst the band is clearly influenced by the Chicago and Detroit scenes they came up in, there is a clear influence from the classic DC punk and Dischord Records releases of that era and a punch to the gut the emanates from the D-beat and UK82 scenes.  “Fixed Against Forever” is a blistering, politically-charged album of justifiably furious punk rock in a time when, more than ever, we need our voices to be heard. There are clear comparisons to the likes of old school bands such as Crucifix, Battalion of Saints, Discharge and Born Against, but this is not a throw back to the days of punk protest against Thatcher and Reagan era politics. The political world has become increasingly toxic and Wrong War‘s debut full length is the battle cry, or possibly a cathartic primal scream, we all need as events continue to escalate around us.
 
Fixed Against Forever” can be streamed and purchased via Bandcamp here