Every human on Earth is a product of their past experience. Each chest-puffing triumph and crippling tragedy contributes to the person we become. But rather than succumbing to circumstance or being shaped by the whims of others, Weaponize Your Rage finds Not Enough Space confronting hardship head-on and choosing to transform pain into power. Reckoning with everything from religious trauma to body dysmorphia, the album burns brighter than a thousand suns.
“It’s about transformation through pain,” explains co-vocalist Lizzie Raatma. “When you create art, you need to make a decision: are you going to reopen old wounds and let them fester, or will you do something that allows you to heal? Music shouldn’t be about allowing the past to consume you. It should be about using that darkness to fuel something positive… If you literally weaponize your rage – it can lift the weight away.”
Female fury plays a vital part. In a world where women’s rights remain under attack, there is righteous relish in sounds as violently varied as the surging relationship lament Waiting For You and the lurid New Age Cannibal (‘Bow for the queen / I’m the New Age Cannibal!’). Universal themes of mental health and self-empowerment are also key. Devil Left Me On Read chronicles the numbness of chronic depression, while Kill Eat Repeat turns its wrath on organised religion and the human selfishness it conceals: ‘Self-serving righteous prick / Why don’t you get on your knees and suck this dick?!’
No track is more emblematic of NES’ outlook than the heartbreaking Solace In Silence. A thrillingly dynamic composition indebted to Avenged Sevenfold’s I Won’t See You Tonight, Part 1, it explores suicide from the perspective of the departed, tapping into both vocalists’ experiences with depression and the emotional devastation it leaves behind.
“It’s okay to be angry,” says co-vocalist Liv Mitchell. “It’s okay to feel all these different emotions. That’s why there are so many shades on the album. It’s about seeing emotion not as weakness, but as strength. Fighting for yourself is important.”
Despite the darkness, Weaponize Your Rage also embraces sharp wit. Viral success met the release of Primitive in late 2024 thanks to a single gasp mid-song that anointed NES as the tongue-in-cheek champions of ‘moancore’. Part rage-baiting, part piss-take, part earworm brilliance – it says less about genre and more about attitude.
“Everybody has a different definition of ‘being humble’,” adds Lizzie. “Most think it means not being too cocky. But you need to be careful about underselling yourself. We’re growing as artists, we’re growing as people, and we want to be as true to that as we can – onstage and off. Weaponize Your Rage speaks to all kinds of people. Any band can do anything they want, with any line-up, in any genre. Is there anything more exciting than that?!”
