Massive Wagons – Triggered – Album Review

A couple of weeks ago I thought I’d heard my album of the year in the shape of Skid Row‘s The Gang’s All Here. Then the new Massive Wagon‘s album lands in my musical lap and claims top spot almost immediately. This is a fantastic album from start to finish, and will deservedly see them achieve even greater things than they already have. 

I’m not gonna lie, I’ve been a fan of the Lancaster five piece ever since I first saw them supporting Ginger Wildheart at Manchester’s Deaf Institute about six years ago. I loved the Welcome To The World  album, and wondered if they could top it. Along comes Full Nelson and the likes of Billy Baloon Head and Back To The Stack to do just that. The album hits the UK top 20, and you think how much further can they go. Well, the answer was Top 10 with 2020’s House Of Noise. Where now? As Vocalist Baz Mills puts it “..our other albums felt like they had a foot in the previous one…But I think this one stands as a unique Wagons album.” He’s not wrong.

Whilst it outperformed the others in the charts, House Of Noise didn’t represent the same progression that Full Nelson had been to me. However, Triggered proves Baz very right indeed. The difference is obvious from the start. First single/video/ song to drop, whatever you call them these days, Fuck The Haters shows a very confident band making a big musical leap forward. Impossibly catchy, and destined to be a live classic due to the singalong chorus, it also tackles a very important subject matter. That being bullying, and a lack of empathy and understanding for our fellow man. Tolerance and acceptance of each other’s opinions and choices is more important now than ever. This song, and the albums title track ram this message home emphatically.

The two videos that have followed it, both demonstrate the musical growth that the band have undergone in the last couple of years. The most surprising of them is the most recent, Please Stay Calm. Boasting a riff that sounds like The Police covering Def Leppard‘s Hysteria, it manages to sound like a fresh direction, whilst still sounding themselves, no mean feat. 

In much the same way, Generation Prime pulls off the same trick, but at the other end of the musical spectrum. It’s a rollicking metallic track seamlessly interspersed with reggae passages. Baz, and guest vocalist Benji Webb of Skindred mercilessly attack the see it, want it now consumerism that is Jeff Bezos‘ gift to the world, in exchange for the billions he’s earned from our impulse buying. A really great track.

Indeed, the subject matters on this album show what a great lyricist Baz is becoming. He manages to get his messages across in a wonderfully British way, by being both serious and darkly funny at the same time. Whether tackling bullying, mental health or pointing out the error of someone’s ways in a track like A.S.S.H.O.L.E. he’s keeps your attention throughout.  

In the same way that the lyrics have moved on, so has the music. Brother’s Adam and Alex Thistlethwaite, guitarist and drums respectively, bassist Adam ‘Bowser’ Bowskill and Stevie Holl on guitar are spreading their wings more than ever too. There is a punk influence shining through on a couple of tracks here. Green Day being one of the influences that brought them together in the first place. Indeed, Skateboard and Germ both have that wonderful simplistic punk approach, without sounding remotely contrived. 

One could wax lyrical about every track here, but one track that really stands out for me on the second half of the album is Guilia. I went full Churchill dog and let out an ‘oh yes’ when the riff kicked in, and then proceeded to spend the rest of it trying to work out what this cracking piece of 80s style hard rock reminds me of. A great track indeed.

Also, an honorary mention must go to a track I could remember what it reminded me of. The title track. It boasts a hugely catchy, brass assisted riff that brought to mind Can’t Drink You Pretty by Ginger Wildheart. An infectious way of getting a serious message across as I mentioned earlier. 

As you’ve probably noticed, I quite like this album! As a fan, it’s going to be great to sit back and see how much further up the ladder it takes them. They really are in a purple patch at the moment. Let’s hope that moment continues for a lot longer yet! 

Score: 9/10 

Tracklisting:

1 – Fuck The Haters

2 – Please Stay Calm

3 – Generation Prime

4 – A.S.S.H.O.L.E.

5 – Skateboard

6 – Gone Are The Days

7 – Triggered 

8 – Giulia

9 – Germ

10 – Never Been A Problem

11 – Big Time 

12 – Sawdust

13 – No Friend Of Mine

Release Date: 28th October 2022

Label: Earache Records 

For all things Massive Wagons, click HERE and to purchase the album (in its many variations), click HERE