Announcement
Collapse
No announcement yet.
GWAR - The Blood Of Gods
Collapse
X
Collapse
-
GWAR - The Blood Of Gods
GWAR - The Blood Of Gods
Released by: Metal Blade
Released on: October 20th, 2017.
Year: 2017
Purchase From Amazon
GWAR have been touring without the late, great Oderus Urungus for a while now (check out our review of an NYC show from last 2015 here) but 2017's The Blood Of Gods marks their first recording without him. The lineup this time is the same as the last record, 2013's Battle Maximus, save for the fact that Oderus has been replaced with The Beserker Blí³thar (Michael Bishop, who was the original Beefcake The Mighty). It's a noticeable change - nobody sang like Dave Brockie sang and Blí³thar doesn't even try (thankfully) - but it's not a bad change. Rounding out the rest of the band is Beefcake The Mighty on bass, Pustulus Maximus on lead guitar, Bí¤lSí¤c the Jaws 'o Death on rhythm guitar, JiZMak da Gusha behind the drumkit and then there are various vocal contributions from not only the rest of the band but also Bonesnapper (the band's bodyguard) and Sawborg Destructo, their 'annoying nemesis.'
War On GWAR, the seven and a half minute opener, sets a fairly epic tone for what's to come and basically introduces us to the concept behind the album. Blí³thar pleas to the 'father of war' and rants about uniting armies, how the children of Earth have been deceived and how the gods shall be hanged. From there, the band gets heavy, chunky, doomy - channeling Black Sabbath for a bit and then from there, the restraints are broken and the song blasts through the next six minutes with a mix of seriously solid playing and unhinged, pissed off vocals.
Viking Death Machine is a bit more 'traditional' in terms of what you'd expect from GWAR. This one is a straight ahead rager, a dirty, sleazy rock n roll track about fighting and fucking that channels influences as varied as AC/DC and Thor while still managing to sound like GWAR. Blí³thar's vocals really shine here, they're raspy and dirty sounding and they work really well. If Nashville Pussy were into Viking stuff it might sound a bit like this four minute blast of insanity.
El Presidente, another four minute track, sees the band in familiar territory taking some well-aimed potshots at a certain political figure. No surprise there, if you've seen any of their recent live shows (Kathy Griffin has nothing on GWAR). It's also interesting to hear some horns in the mix here, and to hear some of the other band members chime in behind the mic from time to time. This track is clearly done in GWAR's inimitable style, which means there's a certain amount of satire to it, but the anger and frustration that work their way into the lyrics and overall tone of the track would seem to be entirely legitimate.
I'll Be Your Monster brings that riff-rock style from the second track back to the album in a big way, offering up three minutes of straight ahead boogie rock, albeit done with the heaviness and smarm you'd expect from the band. This track is, in a word, fun.
Auroch is straight ahead thrash, a dark sounding track that doesn't relent for a second. This is the fastest, grubbiest track on the album. Blí³thar's vocals sound like a machine gun at times, they just go off in a steady stream of vitriol, while the band has never sounded tighter. Putulus' guitar work in particular really shines here, while Beefcake and Bí¤lSí¤c holding their own too. This one will peel the skin off your face if you're not careful.
Swarm starts off with the sound of changing radio stations - we hear news blurbs and then eventually we settle in on a quick guitar riff over which comes the rest of the band, hammering away with speed and precision. Saw what you will about GWAR but the recent lineup really show some serious chops - it's easy to dismiss them as a novelty act but they play extremely well. At any rate, this one is pretty solid, a four and a half minute long punk influenced slugger with a seriously catchy chorus and a genuinely dark tone to it. Great stuff.
Those expecting the new album to continue the 'story' will appreciate The Sordid Soliloquy Of Sawborg Destructo, which is four minutes of GWAR's trademark wonkiness, it's less inspired than most of the other material on the album but it helps to push the narrative forward. That said, it lets Blí³thar takes his vocals into some different territory and show some serious range.
Death To Dickie Duncan is a three and a half minute track that takes some shots at the fast food industry and its tendency to market to kids and feed them garbage. GWAR has always had a bit of a social conscience even if it wasn't' always obvious and this track is a good example of it. The band sounds great here, the vocals are solid again, but the parts done 'in character' as Dickie take away from it a bit. Still, when Blí³thar howls the way he howls here you can't help but pump your fist. Eat healthy kids!
From there, it's time to be Crushed By The Cross, a four minute track that stands as one of the best on this record. This one blazes, it's fast, it's punchy, it's angry and it is insanely fierce. It's tracks like this that prove Blí³thar was the right choice to replace Orderus, as he really is completely 'in the zone' on this one. At the same time, again, the band fire on all cylinders. This might be a fairly straight forward thrash/punk track but it's fantastic.
Equally ass kicking is Fuck This Place, a five minute track that brings us closer to the album's finish. Again, this is a track that furthers the story as Blí³thar rants about GWAR's birthing of the human race, their thoughts on how shitty the planet is, and the loss of Oderus who they feel has left them stranded on this rock. It's done with a sense of humor, of course, but at the same time there's a weird sadness to the track that makes it a little more emotional than you might think it would be. Either way, this is everything a good GWAR track should be - angry, catchy, heavy and gleefully crass. Definitely one of the stand out tracks on a genuinely solid album.
Phantom Limb is a bit on the longer side at six minutes in length. It starts off 'big' with some booming drums, dual guitar work and a heavy bass line. From there, it keeps up with its 'slow jam' style as Blí³thar croons about having to work for the master and the trials and tribulations of being an alien stranded on Earth. Again, there are nods here to having lost Oderus and the band's history and it is more moving than any GWAR song should be. There's a seriousness to the intent here that's impressive, but of course, it's all done completely in character as it should be. This is an odd one, almost a ballad, but it's still dark and brooding and heavy. Shades of The Road Behind on this track, but it works really well and once again the vocals impress as does the musicianship backing them up.
Last but not least, there's a cover of AC/DC's seminal If You Want Blood (You Got It) - an entirely appropriate track for the band to cover and a great way to close the album off with what is essentially a celebration of their ethos after the far more brooding Phantom Limb. With this last track the band just sound like they're having fun, waving a middle finger at the fucking naysayers.
There are going to be those out there that dismiss the album simply because Orderus isn't on here, and to an extent I get that. He was such a huge part of the band for so long that it is impossible not to think of him when thinking about GWAR. Having said that, Blí³thar and company have done a fine job with this album, simultaneously expanding on the band's legacy (now more than three decades long) and honoring its fallen leader. As is always the case, there are tracks here that work better than others but by and large this is a really solid slab of the kind of metal/punk/nonsense that's made GWAR so fucking rad for the last thirty plus years. Dismissing it because Brockie is gone would be a mistake - give this one a fair shot. The Blood Of Gods is a seriously good record.Posting comments is disabled.
Categories
Collapse
article_tags
Collapse
- album review (218)
- album reviews (274)
- arrow video (271)
- blu-ray (3225)
- blu-ray review (4162)
- comic books (1392)
- comic reviews (872)
- comics (988)
- dark horse comics (484)
- dvd and blu-ray reviews a-f (1969)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews G-M (1711)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews N-S (1757)
- DVD And Blu-ray Reviews T-Z (878)
- dvd review (2512)
- idw publishing (216)
- image comics (207)
- kino lorber (391)
- movie news (260)
- review (318)
- scream factory (279)
- severin films (298)
- shout! factory (537)
- twilight time (269)
- twilight time releasing (231)
- vinegar syndrome (497)
Latest Articles
Collapse
-
Released by: Sony Music
Released on: December 9th, 2003.
Director: Wayne Isham
Cast: Judas Priest
Year: 1986
Purchase From Amazon
Judas Priest - Electric Eye – Movie Review:
The Judas Priest – Electric Eye DVD from Sony Music/BMG captures the band at the height of their popularity and was released just in time for what was, at the time, the upcoming reunion tour which saw original vocalist Rob Halford reuniting with the band...-
Channel: Music
07-17-2022, 05:06 PM -
-
World War IX - Phoning It In (Emergency Breakthru Records) Album Review
Released by: Emergency Breakthru
Released on: May, 2021.
Purchase From The World War IX Website
It's been a while, but NYC's own World War IX are back, this time with a new 10†EP and a new lead vocalist, following up 2015's If One Of These Bottles Should Happen To Fall EP.! The skinny, smelly looking flexible guy named Filthy Phill is gone, replaced by new guy Johnny Celentano...-
Channel: Music
06-01-2021, 07:11 PM -
-
Released by: AFM Records
Released on: June 4th, 2021.
Purchase From Amazon
FLOTSAM AND JETSAM have been at this since the early 1980s and are probably best remembered for giving bassist Jason Newstead to METALLICA. Their first two records - Doomsday For The Deceiver and No Place For Disgrace are considered classics of the thrash metal genre but like many other acts that started strong on an indie label and wound up on a major label during the thrash signing boom ...-
Channel: Music
05-25-2021, 10:02 AM -
-
Released by: AFM Records
Released on: March 19th, 2021.
Purchase From Amazon Recorded in Bulgaria - where life is cheap! Hot on the heels of his utterly bizarre We Are One collaboration (also reviewed here at RSP!), everyone's favorite Teutonic Metal ogre Herr Udo Dirkschneider returns with that ubiquitous staple - the live album. For a while now it has been common practice for legacy acts, or pretty much any band with a history over 20 years long, to release a live album...-
Channel: Music
03-05-2021, 01:04 AM -
-
Released by: Massacre Records Released on: February 12, 2021. Purchase From Amazon “Metal in my head... EXPLODING!†Germany's WIZARD have been at this since 1991 and at this point have pretty much nailed this “true metal†thing down to a science. This, the band's 12th full length offers very little in the way of musical surprises and appears to be purposefully designed that way. WIZARD are catering to a very specific demographic - aficionados of gloriously irony-free...
-
Channel: Music
01-28-2021, 10:19 AM -
-
Released by: Skydog Records/MVD
Released on: December 18th, 2020.
Year: Various
Purchase From Amazon
Iggy And The Stooges - From K.O. To Chaos Review: This eight disc boxed set, made up of seven CDs and one DVD, gathers together all of the Iggy And The Stooges releases that have been released over the years from France's Skydog Records, including the infamous Metallic KO album from 1976 and the two complete shows that that album was culled from, in ad...-
Channel: Music
12-30-2020, 02:21 PM -
Neigh sayers would be horses, but then again, I don't know if they like Gwar, so maybe the correction isn't needed.