WARDAY
Stay Behind
Phage Tapes
WARDAY’s sophomore release Stay Behind is some of the grimiest, punkiest techno industrial you’re likely to hear. Forgoing the four on the floor pounding for lean and efficient electro topped by oi style vocals courtesy of sole member Les Miserable (aka Pranjal Tiwari of S.C.R.A.M., Ransu’s Revenge and numerous other acts) it’s simultaneously angry, paranoid, politically strident, and a hell of a rush to listen to.
The main thrust of the music is keeping things simple and fast moving; a cut like “Damage” works because of its catchy pogo rhythm and manic delayed vocals, which keep pace with the rapidly cycling kick-snares while building towards a fevered series of yelps and shouts. “Arla Dawn” is even more anxious in execution, its whipcracking bass programming and a simple, ghostly lead backing up Miserable at a furious pace, eventually switching up into fast syncopated fills, escalating to incomprehensibility but never losing an ounce of thrust or power. For all the chaos bouncing through the mix in the form of synths, drums, echoing voices and extensive samples, the tracks feel crowded but never suffocating, bringing out the bracing release of a packed basement show.
The sheer density of these songs often belies how many different ways the simple toolset is used. The title track goes all in on double time drums that play against the short echo of the vocals, their interplay creating a weirdly elastic groove that holds itself together even as the kicks become more cavernous and the the atmosphere more subterranean. One the album’s best moments is the machinegunned arrangement of “Hidden in Plain Sight”, its now familiar use of samples outlining state backed atrocities made all the more horrible by their dispassion in contrast to the song’s desperate and uncertain pacing.
Stay Behind is what so much synthpunk aspires to but fails at; it’s cacophonous and lawless but never purposeless or overly minimal. WARDAY’s maximalist approach relies on an efficient selection of sounds, which are then bounced off one another, their impact and rebounds making up the broader shape of these track. It’s a great example of how to do a whole lot with a little, and one of the more unique things we’ve heard thus far in 2026. Recommended.
