Philadelphia’s industrial sludge unit WORST ONES returns with “Vex,” a new single and lyric video premiering exclusively right here on IDIOTEQ. Written in response to the violent cycles of war, systemic propaganda, and the weight of American decline, the track takes direct aim at the false promises of freedom and peace sold by a crumbling empire.
Fueled by the tragic protest of Aaron Bushnell—who set himself on fire in defiance of the U.S. military’s support of the war in Palestine—“Vex” doesn’t flinch. It seethes. Laced with the band’s signature rhythmic noise loops and jagged riffs, the song folds the raw edge of ‘90s hardcore into the suffocating drag of sludge and the machine grind of industrial.
References to BIOHAZARD, EYEHATEGOD, and GODFLESH aren’t aesthetic name-drops—they’re structural DNA.
The band’s statement is both personal and political: “Vex is an expression of disillusionment and resistance under the weight of a system built on lies,” WORST ONES explains. “The lyrics question what freedom is when we live in a country that supports widespread oppression and death.”
The song’s opening line, “Wasted life is on us, covered all up in flames,” calls out the erasure of war victims—nameless, bodiless, incinerated by high-tech bombs. The track closes with “They want to destroy us, but we can’t be beat,” framing survival as rebellion, and resistance as a necessity.
The death of Bushnell, a U.S. soldier turned protester, forms the emotional and thematic core of the track.
“His act of protest was a refusal to be complicit in a system that had deceived him,” says Drew Ew. “As a Syrian American, these themes aren’t just abstract ideas to me… I’ve experienced how propaganda shapes people’s perceptions, how violence is justified in the name of power, and how the most vulnerable are always the first to suffer.”
“Vex” was recorded by Drew Ew, mixed and mastered by Jared Birdseye. The lyric video, created by WORST ONES and Luz Karolina Sanchez, is available now ahead of the track’s official release.
WORST ONES is Drew Ew (vocals, guitar, programming) and Doppleganga (drums, programming). The project was founded in 2016 and gained recognition for tracks like “Found Out,” “Born of Pain,” and “Funeral Flowers,” earning support from outlets like Decibel Magazine, Indie Nation, and Weedian.
Their sound fuses industrial percussion, distorted low-end, and hip-hop-inspired production into a relentless barrage of noise and defiance.
