WAGE WAR – Emergency Broadcast Tour – HOBLV

October 29, 2026 –  Wage War brought their Emergency Broadcast tour to the House of Blues, Las Vegas, in support of their latest release, Landfall which hit the airwaves on October 9th. Wage War also released an EP back in April titled It Calls Me By Name. The dudes have been busy, that’s for sure! On this go around, they brought support acts Cane Hill, Varials, and We Came as Romans. 

Cane Hill

First to take the stage, Cane Hill. These guys are from NOLA, and if you’ve kept up with me at all, you know in my home we absolutely have a thing for so many of the bands that come out of that scene down there in the south. There’s just something so gritty and raw about them.

At any rate, this was a fun set to start off the night. By the end of Cane Hill’s set, vocalist Elijah Witt had incited the crowd surfers to start flowing over the barricade, and this pretty much continued on through the rest of the sets of the evening. 

Most of Cane Hill’s set featured tracks from their 2024 release, “a piece of me I never let you find.” This record (along with the rest of their catalogue brings some interestingly fresh elements to the realm of metalcore with their haunting clean vocals in contrast to the gutturals, and some pretty gnarly riffage. This band hadn’t crossed my radar until this night, which is surprising because over the last decade they’ve landed some pretty great tours. They’ve also been around since 2011 with their first self titled record having been released in 2015. And that alone is just making me wonder… “Where the fuck have I been!?” 

Varials

Up next on the bill, Varials from Philadelphia, PA. This is the second time Varials has hit Vegas this year, and I really wish I would have stayed the whole time for their headlining set at Backstage Bar & Billiards back in March. (I was called out to give UnityTx some love, and well… I’m kicking myself for not staying and checking out the rest of the show. When I’m wrong, I’m wrong. I know, I know.)

Among some more digging, these guys have been a little bit of a regular at the smaller places here in town that put on the hardcore shows, so they definitely already have a pretty good fanbase on the Vegas front. 

Varials exploded on the stage with an insane amount of energy. Vocalist Skyler Conder could be seen running back and forth on the stage like a ball of fury. These guys are definitely one of those all killer, no filler kind of live bands. They stay heavy, tight, and aggressive through the entire set. I definitely walked away from this one eager for more, and their opening song, “Where the Light Leaves” as well as their closing song, “I’ll Find the Dark” were my favorites, and are definitely added to my heavy playlist. I look forward to seeing these guys hit Vegas again in the future.

“Where the Light Leaves” was released on February 27th on Fearless records, and it’s absolutely a must have if you’re into the more underground realm of hardcore/deathcore/metalcore. 

We Came as Romans

I couldn’t tell you all exactly when the first time I heard We Came as Romans. Just that it was at some point in the beginning of their journey, and I was working at Hot Topic. They were one of those bands that got pretty popular pretty quickly, and metalcore was all the rage back in 08-09. I’d definitely say they’re one of those essential bands of the 2000’s wave of the genre. 

The last time I caught these guys was a few years back opening for Architects, and I’m starting to get a little bummed that I haven’t seen these guys on a headliner tour. I know they’ve had headlining bills, and I really, really need to catch one of those shows in the future. This set was filled with uplifting energy, jumps, and really cool flashes of lights. I really loved vocalist Dave Stephens’ heartfelt words before playing “no rest for the dreamer”, because… well, I’m a bit of a dreamer myself. We Came as Romans have persevered over the last decade, and continue to give fans their all. This was my third time getting to cover them on a tour coming through, and I am left in awe each time. 

But seriously, you guys… let me know when you’re headlining out here. Okay? Okay. I may not know all the lyrics to the songs, but I love everything I hear, and I just want to keep hearing more. 

We Came as Romans released their seventh studio record in August of 2025 via Sharptone Records. 

Wage War

The first time I saw Wage War was back in 2017 opening up for A Day to Remember, and I distinctly remember thinking, “Holy fucking shit.” While their first record was released in 2015, they really had a big break out with their 2017 release, Deadweight. I’ve pretty much been hooked on them ever since. Their songs have been scattered through my METALCORE MADNESS playlist for years now, and they have to be one of my favorite growth and evolution journeys of the entire modern metalcore genre. 

Wage War are currently touring on their latest release, Landfall, which came out earlier last month and it is a truly solid record that showcases an incredible shift in sound and emotion. The last few years and releases the guys have been experimenting with a number of different and interesting elements, and this new release really ties everything all together while beautifully contrasting clean/guttural vocals. (Briton Bond and Cody Cody Quistad really are a phenomenal duo with this.) They stay heavy where you want it, and more tender where you need it. I would be lying if I told you I didn’t have this record on repeat these days. 

Watching all of these things all come together in the live setting was something else. Wage War has come a long way since I first saw them on their opening spot all those years ago. The most notable thing for me, especially live, is their light show. This time, just like the last time I saw them on their Sick New World sideshow a couple years ago, they made us really work for those photos. Keeping it dark and moody to match all of the ups and downs of the sounds they’ve created. It’s easy to get frustrated when you can barely see the band through the dark red and green lights, but then the lights move around ever so slightly and BAM you get a really cool interesting moody shot, and it just makes it worth it. They also could very well just be using the crazy dark lights to bring the swamp with them wherever they go. Just a theory (maybe), they ARE from Florida, after all.

The band powered through an impressive setlist, highlighting some of their bests alongside a mix of songs off the latest release. I was so excited to hear “Low” in that first three songs in the pit, and “BLUR” has become one of my all time favorite songs of theirs, along with “MAGNETIC”. (Honestly, STIGMA from 2024 is a solid fucking release as a whole.) The very soft and emotional version of “Gravity” in acoustic by Cody Quistad & Seth Blake was pretty euphoric and slowed it down just a little before building the energy back up for “Stay With Me” and “TOMBSTONE”. It’s no surprise that they closed out their set with “Stitch” off of 2017’s Deadweight. That album still stands solid after the last almost 10 years. 

My mind wants to keep going back to the overwhelming emotions this band provokes in me. There have only been a few bands in my musical discovery journey that tear me down and then build me back up, and Wage War is one of them. They’re just one of those bands that I don’t find myself ever getting tired of.

Setlist:

1. Landfall
2. NAIL5
3. Low
4. Karma
5. God Complex
6. BLUR
7. The River
8. Circle the Drain
9. Death Roll
10. Spellbound
11. MAGNETIC
12. Silk
13. Gravity  (Acoustic)
14. Stay With Me
15. TOMBSTONE
16. Song of the Swamp
17. Blindfold
18. Figure 8
19. Sweet Dreams 
20. Manic
21. Stitch

Anyway, there’s still a bunch of dates left on this tour, so you should definitely go out and indulge in all the greatness that is hitting these stages. And also go pick up all of these band’s records, because they’re fucking great.

Until next time… 

PHOTO CREDIT: Live photos by Courtney Ware for ZRockR Magazine – @2026 – All Rights Reserved.