Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008
GWAR, Kingdom of Sorrow, and Toxic Holocaust at H.O.B.
By Michael Wood
For Weekly Surge
Saturday night (Dec. 13), shock rock veterans, GWAR, came back to Myrtle Beach to bloody up our town once again. After seeing GWAR four times already, I have not yet become bored with the act, so I was pretty pumped to dodge some blood and guts one more time.
I got there and the line was wrapped all the way around the building. I guess I wasn't the only one hungry for blood. When I finally got in the building, I took a look around to see what kind of crowd GWAR was bringing out these days. There were a few Mohawks, lots of long hair metal-head guys, and a few fat dudes wearing suspenders. Not quite as entertaining as seeing people get their heads cut off on the stage, but taking a look around was entertaining nonetheless.
The first band of the night, Toxic Holocaust, basically sounded like a toxic holocaust. Toxic Holocaust is a three-piece speed metal outfit from Portland, Ore. with a C.C. Deville look-a-like for a singer. The songs were breakneck speed thrash/metal/punk with occasional metallic breakdowns, kind of like Slayer-meets-D.R.I., completely old school circle pit-style stuff. Despite the horrible lyrics (at one point someone turned to me and said "is he chanting 'HEAVY METAL ATTACK'?") and that every song kind of sounded the same, Toxic Holocaust was pretty awesome.
The second band was metal/hardcore super-group Kingdom of Sorrow. This band features the singer of Hatebreed, Jamie Jasta; bass player of Toxic Holocaust, Mathew Brunson; guitarist of Black Label Society, Steve Gibb; and the drummer of Unearth, Derek Kerswill. Jasta had the crowd eating right out of his hands. He's a great front man. I'm not a fan of Hatebreed, and this band sounded familiar to Hatebreed, but less brutal, and with a little more rhythm. While I did enjoy some of the Southern-style groove metal riffs that were threw into the mix, the whole thing was still a little too tough-guy for me.
Patiently waiting for GWAR, the anticipation increased as a screen popped up on stage with the words "900 Seconds Until Death", then the seconds start counting down. As it came closer to death time, Sleazy Martini (GWAR's manager) popped up on the screen and announced that he's running for president. He gave a nice little speech about the problems of the world, announcing that one of the biggest problems is that most humans are just "ugly and stupid". Then the show went straight into a mock talk show scenario, as Steve Wilkos was to confront Sleazy Martini on GWAR's questionable morals. Martini quickly changed the subject to the election and stated that "voting is for pussies" and explained that the real way to elect a president is having a death match and the winner gets the "Frank Sinatra Belt of Total World Domination", then the band came onto stage, and ripped Wilkos' head off, spilled the blood all over the audience and blasted straight into a loud set of metal. At this point I was a happy man. After a couple songs, GWAR's slaves came out and set up a wrestling ring. They introduced Bone Snapper, the current titleholder for world domination. Then they introduced his first opponent, Sen. John McCain. It did not take long before McCain's face was ripped off, then his stomach disemboweled. The Bone Snapper used McCain's intestines to choke him to death. The whole time this is happening, GWAR is playing the score to the opponent's death. It did not take long before singer Oderus Urungus got involved as it turned into a tag-team match up against Sen. Hilary Clinton and President-elect Barack Obama. Both politicians were destroyed. The whole night was wrought of blood and destruction, and I loved every minute of it. After they won the belt, Urungus celebrated by injecting a 9-ton crack rock into his penis. For a special treat, they played an encore of their older tunes and Martini came out to sing "Slaughterrama", where they killed a hippy, a skinhead, and an "art-fag". They also played their classic, "Sick Of You", which is one of my personal favorites.
Musically, I don't think GWAR is doing much with their newer stuff. The aforemetioned classics are actually catchy and fun, while the newer material is just over-the-top metal. But really, chances are if you go to a GWAR show, music isn't the main reason you are going. I had an excellent time and can't wait to see them again. Unless you are an uptight conservative and just don't like entertainment, treat yourself to GWAR next time they come around, just don't wear anything nice, cause it's going to get messy.
Click here for previous concert reviews