Wargasm (stylised in all caps and sometimes known as Wargasm (UK)) are a British electronic rock duo from London. The band was formed in 2018 by Sam Matlock, who had previously performed as part of Dead!, and Milkie Way, who had previously photographed their concerts. The band released several standalone singles before making headlines in 2021 over an incident after a performance at Scala. Their 2022 mixtape Explicit: The Mixxxtape charted at No. 19 on the UK Rock & Metal Albums Chart and appeared on Loudwire's "Best Rock + Metal Debut Albums of 2022", while their 2023 album Venom charted at No. 88 in the UK Albums Chart.

Critics commonly categorise the band's music as electro-punk, nu metal, and riot grrrl. The band, their 2022 Enter Shikari collaboration "The Void Stares Back", Explicit: The Mixxxtape, and Venom have all been nominated for various awards at the Heavy Music Awards. Alternative Press listed them as a defining part of the 2020s wave of nu metal, and NME listed them as one of 2021's essential emerging artists. The pair also took home Best New Noise at the 2022 Kerrang! Awards.

When I decided I wanted to do a new project, I knew I wanted it to have a riot grrrl attitude with female vocals and two characters at play, almost like you were getting two sides to a story and a conversation over the music. And that's exactly what Milkie brought to the party. The idea was for this to be the Keith Flint and Courtney Love collaboration that never was.

Sam Matlock met Milkie Way when she was hired to film his band Dead!. In 2018, after the band disbanded, Matlock approached Way, who by then had taken a job modelling in Tokyo, and bonded with her over a shared love of nu metal acts such as Limp Bizkit. At first the pair began writing pop punk songs and recorded an EP in that style called Sadgasm, which they opted not to release. Following an incident at a party in London that both had attended at Way's suggestion, in which Matlock had managed to wake up an unenthusiastic crowd by playing Limp Bizkit and then Linkin Park, the band diversified into a combination of rap and nu metal.

They formed Wargasm in August 2019, taking their name from the L7 song of the same name; the pair used a June 2020 interview to state that the "War" half of their name signified "this kind of angry, visceral red energy" and that the "gasm" half signified "the euphoria that you get when you listen to a song and think [that] this is so fucking hard". Wargasm are listed as "Wargasm (UK)" in several territories due to the existence of other bands from the United States, Finland, Sweden and France. They released their debut single, "Post Modern Rhapsody", in August 2019, before playing their first live performance a few weeks later at a toilet venue. They then released "God of War" that November; it was later used as the theme for NXT UK. In February 2020, they released a cover version of "Lapdance" by N.E.R.D. alongside a music video. Initially a SoundCloud-only release, the track was recorded as an exercise in how to best juggle their vocals after Matlock heard the track at a club, and was the first non-pop punk track they recorded. They then released their own composition, "Gold Gold Gold", later that month.

Shortly before the first UK COVID-19 lockdown, they played a socially distanced show with Death Blooms supporting them. They then flew from London to Way's parents' house to write. There, they recorded subsequent singles "Spit", "Rage All Over", and "Backyard Bastards"; they released the first of these in June. Later that month, they performed a set for Download TV, that year's virtual derivative of Download Festival, which they recorded in their kitchen. That September, they played a set for that year's Heavy Music Awards and released "Backyard Bastards", which they released a music video for the following month. The month after that, they released the single "Rage All Over", which they had written about their own rage at the declining condition of the world. At the start of January 2021, NME listed them as one of their essential emerging artists for the following year.

That April, they released the single "Your Patron Saints", a track about loneliness and isolation they had written after one of the band had a small breakdown in a supermarket, which they followed in June with "Pyro Pyro", which served as the song's B-side. Later that month, they performed at the 2021 Download Festival Pilot, and then the month after that, Alternative Press listed them as a defining part of the 2020s wave of nu metal. In August 2021, they announced their debut UK headline tour, with dates booked between 17 and 30 November 2021, and that they would tour with Creeper the month after. Later that August, they released the single "Salma Hayek", performed at the 2021 Reading and Leeds Festivals and at ALT+LDN festival, and featured on a remix of Death Blooms' single "Shut Up". The following month, they won "Best UK Breakthrough" at the Heavy Music Awards.

A November 2021 gig at Scala was marred by its security guards assaulting Matlock after they had performed, prompting the venue to fire several of its bouncers and set out a number of planned security measures for its subsequent performances. Later that month, the band released "Scratchcard Feeling", a track about continuing to feel lucky despite continued losses. The band then supported Neck Deep on a UK tour in early 2022. The following month, Rolling Stone reported that Wargasm would be joining Limp Bizkit on their North American "Still Sucks" tour. That May, Matlock and Way announced that they had signed to Slowplay and Republic Records and would release a single, "D.R.I.L.D.O.", and a mixtape, Explicit: The Mixxxtape. The mixtape was named Explicit due to the presence of swearing and sexual lyrics, and the single "D.R.I.L.D.O." was released later that month. The month after, they performed at that year's Download Festival, at which they were the only band to play the main stage to not be all-male. They then won the New Noise Awards at that year's Kerrang! Awards.