Wargasm, the electro-punk duo of Milkie Way and Sam Matlock, flirted with dreams of disaster in Heavily Armoured Venom, a performance live-streamed from a tank graveyard in the middle of England.
Wargasm – Heavily Armoured Venom
Words: Theo Allthorpe-Mullis
The Wargasm promise was to bring paying viewers a full, live playthrough of their debut album Venom, rain or shine. With a constant downpour from the start, the heavens gave it their all.
The opening twenty minutes were an ominous mash of national alert broadcasts, glitching live feeds and random gunfire. Roaring into the title track Venom, the band appeared, drenched and surrounded by grim armoured vehicles. A better title track for the apocalypse couldn’t be wished for.
There were more glitches through the next track, Minigun, though with gunfire and flashing messages ordering us to “Cull the Wheat from the Chaff,” it seemed apt. Intended or not, it doesn’t matter. It underscored the nihilistic hedonism that defined the set and much of Wargasm’s work.
Tech glitches again through Death Rattle and Ride The Thunder. An image that sticks is Milkie Way astride a WW2 tank roaring “Witness me” and holding aloft a smoke grenade over her head. 
Heading into fan favourite Do It So Good, something appeared to change in the mix. It had been a touch out of whack for the first few songs with the vocals hard to make out in some sections. The glitches also faded away.
Milkie, calling on Fred Durst to join them (he would in spirit), for Bang Ya Head and growled, “If you don’t bang ya head, I’m gonna bang it for you.” At this point, she didn’t have to tell me twice. I was fully on board.
Feral hammered on, Sam screaming, “I need a medic!” as the field and armour were bathed in blood-red light and strobes. The chaos darkened with Sonic Dog Tag, Modern Love, S.A.D (Self Assured Destruction) and my personal favourite, Outrage. All were polished and violent. The stream was stable, and the music was clear.
The show came to a close with Sombre Goodbye and the glorious image of Milkie Way in red light and burning flowers in a dumpster encircled by tanks.
Live tanks rage across the East European plain, and the world is more and more uncertain and dangerous. Wargasm set out to be a sound for generations that are living in ‘interesting times’. This pair revel in it, roaring “bring it on”, as the sirens call.
They stuck around for a DJ set from the inside of an APC, which was a nice touch. Wargasm also answered questions from the chat and announced their newly released single, collaborating with Corey Taylor’s 70% Dead.
All in all, it was a great show. I got to keep access to the recording of the live stream and will certainly watch it again.
To watch the playback, visit Vier.Live for details.
