REVIEW: Wealthy Women - Children
- Ellen Lovell
- 6 hours ago
- 3 min read
When Republican presidential candidate and TV personality Donald Trump was elected as president of the USA in 2016, the rest of the world looked on in disbelief. When he was elected again in 2024, for many that disbelief turned into utter despair. Children is a direct and pointed product of the first hellish year of this second term of presidency - and a president that has overseen and engaged in war, genocide and violent anti-immigration policies. On their debut album, San Francisco-based trio WEALTHY WOMEN explore the grief, rage and despair of living in a country governed by people who want to watch the world burn. Employing grimy sludge guitars, bleak lyrics and vocals that go from purposefully apathetic to gravelly and intense, this is a debut that isn’t afraid to be outspoken.
Opening track 37 Days sets the political tone perfectly for the rest of the record. Grimy guitars chug behind a retelling of the story of Asaad al-Nasasra, a Palestinian paramedic who was detained by Israeli forces in March of 2025 and held for 37 days without legal counsel. The anger is palpable in Sisk’s gravelly vocal delivery, but the rage radiates through every element of the track just as viscerally.
This rage is truly the lifeblood of Children. Later, on Take It Back, the band takes direct aim at right-wing America, parroting commonly held beliefs by those who support Trump and flipping them on their head. The guitars are beefy and loud, sludgy and thick against a droning bassline and explosive drums, from Kansas born Andrew Harms. Lines about immigration policies hit harder when considering that bassist Don Doblados is the son of Filipino-born immigrants, and vocalist Peter Sisk immigrated to the country from Ireland shortly after Trump first came into office. For this band, it’s personal. On Siege, lyrically this frustration and anger comes to a boil. ‘You don't look like us, don't live here no more’ is growled out in the chorus, in amongst lyrics about troops on the streets and children in chains.
It’s in the darkness where WEALTHY WOMEN hit their stride, but there’s another side to the tracklist. Worst Date sees the band sarcastically taking aim at toxic masculinity, in a tongue-in-cheek retelling of a date with a testosterone-taking finance bro. The lyricism here isn’t the strongest, and it feels too straightforward to get the message across without feeling ham-fisted. Paired with a bare and repetitive droning instrumental for much of the song, it’s hard not to wish that some more editing and refinement would have taken place here for this idea to really hit home.
Atheist Wife has some similar issues in regards to the lyricism. The light-hearted approach feels out of place here, and although the frantic and blistering instrumentation does a lot more to draw the listener in, the heaviness of the rest of the album makes songs like this feel awkward and out of place. In contrast, Shit Breaks is a standout on the record. Whilst the verses are fairly instrumentally bare, the sludgy bass and guitar in the verses do a lot to build up suspense, whilst also highlighting the more refined and thoughtful approach to lyric writing – here, things are shown a lot more often than they are outright told to the listener. The chorus is one of the only standout hooks of the album, and one that will get wedged in your head all day once you hear it. It’s gritty and immense, and wouldn’t be amiss on a CHAT PILE album at all.
Closing out the album is the title track Children, which also serves as a tribute to the children of Gaza and Ukraine, lost in conflicts that they had no say in. It’s a bleak and impactful send off for an album with a lot to say, and comes off as a track with a quiet rage set against a steady drum beat; it feels inescapable and oppressive, but there’s no brashness here. Just sorrow.
Children succeeds in being a political critique at a time where for many, it’s hard to see a way forward through the right-wing noise. With some more lyrical development, this could have been a home run, but as it stands, the songwriting does leave a lot to be desired on an album that is sonically sludgy and bleak enough to handle some darker, more introspective material. With more time, it wouldn’t be surprising to see this trio amongst the Flenser roster - but for now, they can feel safe in the knowledge that they are on the right side of history.
Score: 6/10
Children will be released on 7th August 2026.
Words: Ellen Lovell
Photos: Nate King
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