This week we have something a little bit different for you guys. We are starting a new segment, In The Field in which our field corespondant, Adam, will be taking us through his experiences in the metal and horror scene. This will be his first hand account and review of sorts that he has to give about the shows at hand. For this first one he is reviewing the GWAR concert. Right now they are touring with Nekrogoblikon.
In The Field
Blood spewing from the the stage. Decapitation and mutilation for a blood-soaked audience to witness. All to the sound of some of the most kickass heavy metal music ever made. Yep, it’s a GWAR show alright! On the evening of June 5, 2022, I bore witness to the carnival of chaos that is a GWAR concert for the 5th time in my life at The Underground in Charlotte, North Carolina. Any fan (or “bohab” as they are commonly referred to in the fandom) of the band may remember the infamous Charlotte show GWAR played in 1991 at the 4808 Club in which the police arrested late frontman Dave Brockie aka Oderus Urungus for his blood spewing, herpes-encrusted penile cod piece known as the “Cuttlefish of Cthulhu” for obscenity charges. They were promptly banned from even playing in the state of North Carolina for a few years, but as many decades have passed, GWAR has come back time and time again to wreak havoc onto the Queen City. Promoting their new album “The New Dark Ages” released on June 3rd of this year (2022), the Scumdogs of the universe are currently embarked on the “Black Death Rager World Tour”, and accompanying them are NOLA extreme metal veterans Goatwhore, the very comedic and melodic death metal group Nekrogoblikon (featuring their lovable goblin mascot John Goblikon), and a unique group that seems to have invented a genre they refer to called “thrashgrass” (thrash metal and bluegrass) known as The Native Howl.
Upon arriving at the venue, I noticed a clash of audiences. There was the obvious crowd for GWAR, but there were also many middle-aged adults in Hawaiian shirts carrying lawn chairs. I thought Jimmy Buffett had come back to Charlotte already after his April show here. It wasn’t until my sister researched and found that the Charlotte Metro Credit Union Amphitheater behind the Underground was hosting a Barenaked Ladies show on the same night as GWAR. If that’s not the strangest/funniest combinations of bands to play on the same night at practically the same venue, I don’t know what is. Needless to say, we got plenty of weird stares from the Barenaked Ladies crowd as we went in to the venue to take our spots.
The first band to take the stage was The Native Howl. I had not heard of them prior to the show, and hadn’t checked out their music. I’m glad I did not so I could be as pleasantly surprised as I was by their sound. They had a bassist, a drummer, a vocalist on acoustic guitar, and a banjo player. No electric guitars whatsoever. They still managed to rock the shit out of the place. The rhythm section provided a thrash beat behind them, while the acoustic guitar and banjo provided a bluegrass sound that one would expect to clash with the thrash portion of the sound, but they blended well together. They described themselves as a “thrashgrass” band to the audience. If you’re a metal fan who also appreciates bluegrass and old-fashioned outlaw country, give The Native Howl a listen. You will love what you hear. I sure did as I led the mosh pit to give a hearty “YEEHAW” as the band finished their set.
Next up was a band I had seen previously on Warped Tour in 2018, the comedically charming and experimental yet technical death metal group many metal heads know and love called Nekrogoblikon. They are always a blast to experience in a live setting, as they are always so energetic onstage while providing comedic banter in between songs. Oh, and of course there’s their lovable mascot John Goblikon, a shirt goblin who loves Chili’s southwestern egg rolls and hosts and interview show with many metal guests called “Right Now”. Seeing him dancing on the stage as Nekrogoblikon blasts through their hits such as “Dressed As Goblins”, “Powercore”, “This Is It”, and my personal favorite, “The Magic Spider”. If you like technical and melodic death metal with tinges of comedy thrown in and love goblins, this is the band for you. I’d recommend checking out their 2017 release “Welcome To Bonkers”.
After Nekrogoblikon, NOLA extreme metal legends Goatwhore took the stage. I hate to confess that I was not too familiar with their music (that’s gonna change, I swear), but I’ve known about them for many years and have always been interested in seeing them play live. In particular, I’m very familiar with their legendary guitarist Sammy Duet, who also played for sludge metal legends such as Crowbar (who were supposed to be on the tour originally but had to drop) and Acid Bath, one of my favorite bands of all time. Needless to say, Goatwhore shredded the audience’s faces off, blasting through favorites such as “Chaos Arcane”, “Apocalyptic Havoc”, and “An End To Nothing”. Frontman L. Ben Falgoust II was as energetic as ever, high-fiving basically every crowd surfer that made their way over the barricade. Of all openers for GWAR I’ve seen, Goatwhore have to be one of three contenders for the absolute heaviest and best at getting the crowd rowdy and ready for the lords and masters themselves (the other two being the aforementioned Nekrogoblikon and Napalm Death when I saw GWAR last year for the Scumdogs 30th Anniversary tour). Hands down, they are one of the best metal bands New Orleans have to offer, which is saying something considering how many metal bands have come from that scene, such as Acid Bath, Down, Eyehategod, and Exhorder just to name a few.
Then came the lords and masters themselves. As per usual tradition, Black Sabbath’s anthem “War Pigs” came on over the PA system and the entire audience became a chorus echoing the song. The lights came up as the band launched into their classic heavy-hitter “Let Us Slay”, and the whole audience broke out into a frenzy. Bodies were being tossed left and right. Right after, a caricature portraying current U.S. President “Sleepy” Joe Biden came out announcing the show was over as he needed GWAR’s help to solve the Ukraine crisis. Needless to say, he was immediately decapitated as the band launched into their smash hit “Sick Of You”. The crowd was unforgiving as I was shoved from place to place so many times as they raged on.
Noticeably absent from the show was their current frontman, Blöthar The Berserker (formerly the original Beefcake The Mighty who played bass on classic GWAR albums such as Hell-O!, Scumdogs Of The Universe, America Must Be Destroyed, This Toilet Earth, and the infamous We Kill Everything), who replaced the late legend Oderus Urungus who unfortunately passed away in 2014. It wasn’t until before the third song that lead guitarist Pustulus Maximus (who is also filling in for the late Flattus Maximus that unfortunately also passed in 2011) purposefully injected him with the COVID-19 virus just so he could take a shot at lead singer. Despite being a saboteur and angering rhythm guitarist Balsac The Jaws Of Death, I will admit Pustulus did a great job taking on the task of performing both vocals and lead guitar. Surely it cannot be an easy task to accomplish, but he absolutely killed it in both departments. However, he wasn’t the only one to have a shot at lead vocals that night, as Beefcake The Mighty sang two of his classics “Crush,Kill,Destroy” and “Hate Love Songs”. Even Balsac got in on lead vocal action by performing his pop-punk love ballad “Mary Anne”, a favorite deep cut of mine that has not been performed in over a decade.
The set list featured three new songs from their new release, The New Dark Ages. Of the new songs featured were “Mother Fucking Liar”, “Berseker Mode”, and the latest single, a pop-rock song about abducting children called “Ratcatcher”. Of course, there were old favorites included such as “Saddam A Go Go”, “The Salaminizer”, “Immortal Corrupter”, “Womb With A View”, “Meat Sandwich”, and the all-time heavy classic “Bring Back The Bomb”. Some more obscure songs such as “War Toy” and “Krak Down” made their way in to the set list as well. The show of course was complete with GWAR murdering many people onstage, such as a redneck, a biker transvestite (poignantly coming out onstage to a pre-recorded parody of “Sweet Transvestite” from the Rocky Horror Picture Show), a glam-rock keyboardist, and a vampire woman claiming to have been impregnated by the band who was promptly given an abortion onstage by the band’s slave catcher Bonesnapper the Cave Troll. Ultimately the show culminated in Bonesnapper fighting Russian president Vladimir Putin, who angered GWAR by causing many interruptions to their show because of his invasion of Ukraine, causing world leaders to seek out GWAR for a peace conference to end the conflict (just go with it, I don’t care if it doesn’t sound like it makes sense). Of course, Bonesnapper ripped Putin apart, spewing blood all over the audience. Ending with a newer anthem of theirs, “Fuck This Place”, the show unfortunately drew to a close like all good things must do.
After the show, my group and I were of course covered in blood and spew from the carnage we witnessed onstage. Upon leaving the venue, I ran into metal YouTuber KillbotAndGorGorAttack, who I previously ran into at a Judas Priest/Deep Purple show in 2018 (check his channel out, he’s one of the best metal YouTubers and most down-to-earth people you could possibly meet). He gave me a free patch of his logo and was kind enough to take a photo with my group of friends. We exited the venue to receive even more confused and judgmental looks from the Barenaked Ladies crowd. Of my group, I brought two of my bandmates, my girlfriend, and my sister, all of whom who had never seen GWAR before (I also brought a friend I used to work with whom I dragged to the Asheville show for GWAR’s Scumdogs 30th Anniversary tour). Aside from having to deal some drunk assholes who stumbled and pushed their way to the front and shoving aside people who got their early and earned their spot near the stage, my fifth time seeing GWAR was a blast as always, especially getting to introduce so many friends and family to them for the first time. I even managed to run into Nekrogoblikon’s keyboardist who said that they will be touring again later this year, so be on the lookout for them. All in all, even without getting to see Blöthar The Berserker at the helm again, GWAR delivers every time onstage, both musically and with their wild stage show. If you get a chance to check GWAR out this year and/or have never seen them live before, do yourself a favor and go see them. You will not regret it. 30+ years and they are still one of the best bands live I have ever seen, even if they are soldiering on without seminal members Flattus Maximus and the prime minister of the sinister, Oderus Urungus. Hail Oderus. Hail Flattus. Hail GWAR!
