‘When all is swept under the rug, When everything of value seems to be abandoned, Left to rust, Kids are managed with drugs, A nightmare vision of a future and of a people, Without trust’ (Without Trust)

Copenhagen’s The War Goes On return with their third full-length, Death Wish, and continue to hone the bleakly melodic, fiercely catchy hardcore punk that defined their 2016 self-titled debut and 2020’s Assisted Armageddon.  The band tautly braid their innate, contagious sense of melody with an unshakeable shroud of melancholy.  An air of powerless anger and bitter resignation pervades, as if in recognition that as bad as things are now, they are very unlikely to be getting better any time soon.  Still fighting but knowing that the war is all but lost.

Each of the tracks is adroitly assembled, equal parts polished craft and agitated grit, as the propulsive rhythm section underpins the insidiously enveloping guitars and gruff, gravelly vocals. The rhythmically compelling Knife’s Edge, the ominously forlorn cornerstone riff of The Fear, and the euphoric fervour of The Good Ship Murder are particularly powerful cuts.  The album also includes the desolate title track from the band’s 2022 EP, Discount Hope, which is no bad thing at all, as it’s an absolute banger.

As you find yourself singing along with the undeniably infectious choruses, it is easy to forget the rather more sobering lyrical themes that explore the relentless atomisation of late-stage capitalism.  Death Wish is an album that deftly draws on the pop sensibility of say Social Distortion and infuses it with the rather more bittersweet impulses of late 1980s’ / early 1990s’ UK punk. Dark melodies for desperate times.