A couple of years and an intense behind-the-scenes journey after her impressive 2024 LP, The Prize, South Carolina-born artist Hannah Wicklund pulls no punches when it comes to the title of her fourth album, War on Women; Calling All Good Men. The record, set to release on August 28th via Domino Records, follows her through a tortured stretch of time in which she faced hardships of every kind from various aspects of her life, but ultimately emerges with a feeling of perseverance and strength, all wrapped in Wicklund’s spirited brand of rock music.
The thing that is immediately clearest about this record is that it is a very musicianship-heavy body of work. The compositional and structuring sides of the album reaffirm how talented Hannah Wicklund is at these things once again, and how much effort she put into refining every element instrumentally – creating great layering with things such as the woodwinds on “Diamonds”. The guitar performances, though, are once again the very best part, with the solo on the highlight track, “Cowards & Kings”, being arguably the best segment of the entire project; “Red Gorilla” and “The Pier” are also among some of the strongest on the tracklist from a guitar standpoint.
The album is also produced entirely by Wicklund herself, and recorded on her own resources, and she does brilliantly in this aspect as well. Every instrument roars to life with incredibly vivid textures, incredible tones, and a crisp, booming sound that gives every track plenty of power and impact. The contrast of the muscle behind the rest of the album is also set up perfectly by how sparse and minimal the acapella opener, “The War On Women”, is; that track gradually eases the listener into the project before it really comes into its own on the subsequent tracks. The same trick is used for the mirrored closer, “Calling All Good Men”, which rounds the album out on a similar, more subdued note.
The writing was always going to be a crucial component of whether an album such as this one could work, and Hannah Wicklund thankfully delivers. Her writing is to the point and never lacks conviction and genuine energy; there’s no point at which she leaves any room to question that she 100% means every word of what she’s saying from the deepest, most personal places amid her narration of some of the darkest experiences of her life. It comes off extremely compelling, especially coupled with her assured and powerful vocal performances throughout the record.
On the other hand, despite the individual tracks being written strongly, there is a slightly lacking element of this album’s writing and thematic building that is worth pointing out. While the two clear overarching messages, of fighting through the industry and through her former relationship, remain intact throughout, the album’s attempts to combine and balance them end up with it not quite going far enough in either direction. The first few tracks make the record seem as though it’s going to be a broader, more open-ended call to action, with messages of rebellion against corrupted cycles and systems; however, past the opening stretch, there isn’t really all that much overt political or protest messaging.
From there, the personal life arc mostly takes over, and, while it’s very compelling in its own way, and there is definitely a way to interpret the album title to work for it, it feels less in line with the overall branding of the record, and also leaves the sensation that it could’ve pushed for more when it comes to portraying that scathing portrait of something that didn’t work out and left Hannah with a lot to claw herself through.
Overall, however, while War on Women; Calling All Good Men falls slightly short of the mark on being either a brilliant protest album or a brilliant breakup album, it’s still a great record when it comes to the overall theme of injustice, personal struggles and growth. It’s also a captivating listening experience because of how well put together it is musically, how impeccably it’s produced, and how much authentic feeling is put into it from Hannah Wicklund’s vocal performances. This is unquestionably one of 2026’s more under-the-radar highlights, and one of the strongest albums of the year so far.
8.0/10
