Baltimore’s War On Women were born screaming—at the world, at the status quo, in the face of oppression.
Riff-fueled manifestos are nothing new for War On Women. The co-ed feminist punk troupe has been tackling injustice one song at a time since their 2010 inception. Storming out the gate with teeth gnashing and spitting venom, War On Women’s self-titled 2015 debut crossbred riot grrrl ferocity with the nimble aggression of thrash. Hailed for their crystalline jabs at societal ills, War On Women prove that hardcore can incite change that ripples far beyond the parameters of the stage.
With hundreds of shows and years of activism behind them, Capture The Flag finds War On Women more dogged than ever. The band’s sophomore effort delves into injustices at both the macro and micro levels. Religious subjugation, gun violence, armchair activists, gender orgasm gap, female genital mutilation, the fetishization of motherhood, and toxic relationships—no breed of oppression defies War On Women’s purview. Recorded with J Robbins in Magpie Cage Recording Studio, Capture The Flag finds the band in their sonic wheelhouse, wedged somewhere between rebellious and rousing.
War On Women are neither a crew of young bucks nor a contagion of seasoned legends. They don’t fit neatly into metalloid machismo or hulking hardcore tropes. They have nothing to prove, and there’s nothing more delightfully dangerous than that.
