Customer Reviews

War Party

5 star:		(26)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

When I first heard this album I wasn't crazy about it. I thought it was good but perhaps a little to "HEAVY' for my GWAR tastes. But after listening to it a few times it has grown to be one of my GWAR favorites. It is their cleanest sounding album since A.M.B.D. The vocals are outstanding and the music is damn near untouchable. There is not a metal band out there today that can touch GWAR. They have kept it real for almost 20 years. I could name a lot of other great bands that somewhere along the line lost their magic but not GWAR. Sure they had some bumps in the road, but after 18 years of making music they are proving their status as metal gods.

Let me lead in to this review with the griping, because it is not good to appear soft while critiquing the bulbous flatulence that be GWAR. My first impression was, "Where's the production value?" The insert and art were pale compared to the fantasy art spread within VHA, and even the song tracks were not labeled when I popped it into my player. And only 38 minutes of music? After three years? Lazy stoners!

So that is the list of stuff that fell short. Why do they still have five stars lounging above this r-tarded review? Because you don't usually buy a CD for the special fold-out picture of a styrofoam dinosaur straddling wreckage (that you subsequently can never figure out how to refold properly)! I wondered where all those production bucks went, right up until I listened to the music and realized... ah, right there. Quite possibly this is the cleanest and most perfectly musically constructed thing GWAR has ever released, and true fans may need to splatter the CD itself with filth and juices to acclimatize themselves to a new approach from the Scumdogs: Putting 95% of their focus into the songs.

And actually, 38 minutes is far from short when every song is so searingly fast. Most of the songs are 3-4 minutes long, and at the speed they are played each one is worth a couple! Pure, dense, bloody-eared, abrasive substance. And while I mourn the lessening of excessive drug and necro-bestial slumberparty references, there is enough hardcore sickness in the new refined Oderus' words to keep me cackling and breaking my furniture for another three years.

So knuckles to concrete you sloppy-eyed slaves! Pay respect (and 3.95 shipping) to the masters' bilious concerto of demise, and buy copies for every person you hate or love (wuss).

Continued creativity and innovation for 20 years is a feat for any musical act. This applies especially to one whose notoriety is based on being comprised of intergalactic monsters bent on world-domination and baby-consumption. Therein lies the greatness of Gwar, whose dedication to repeatedly performing some of the best metal to befall human ears is often and unfortunatey under-appreciated due to their stunning theatrics.

Then along comes WAR PARTY, which I tore open on October 26th with the expectations of an 8 year-old on Christmas morning. The album exceeded my hopes, and has rarely left my CD player since. It represents a stripped-down, more focussed Gwar, Violence Has Arrived's angrier, and yet more concise, younger sibling. The title track and Krosstika are perfect demonstrations of this new, yet not unfamiliar Gwar sound, and Bonesnapper... well, Bonesnapper may very well be the war metal anthem of our generation.

Of course, no Gwar album review would be complete without considering the lyrics, which fit the ominous nature of the music perfectly. Gone are the days of "I Suck On My Thumb", and in their place, scathing satires of extremely current social issues, particularly the debacle in Iraq. And only Oderus, being who he is, can unite Christianity and Nazism in such a positive manner.

In summation, it doesn't matter if Gwar are considered an amazing theatrical act with the bonus of good music, or a great metal act with the benefit of an entertaining stageshow. Gwar have once again set the standard for satirical entertainment and music to joyously get your ass kicked to, next time they come to your town.

No metal fan will regret purchasing this album.

I have been a Gwar fan since high school (oh so many years ago). I stopped listening to their cd's after Carnival Of Chaos. Ragnarock and We Kill Everything just did not do it for me. But, my friends told me that Violence was really good. Alas, the shows for that tour in NYC were cancelled so I didn't pay much attention to them. But, I got to listen to some of the songs from War Party because they were going to be in town. Those songs blew me away. It was a return to the sound that attracted me to them in the first place. Great thrash metal with a sense of humor. War Party is a great album. So good it made me track down the cd's I had missed or didn't have anymore. You know, the search for songs to put on your ipod. It is the kind of cd that in the age of shuffle you can listen to from start to finish. And their live show for it is just as fun. This cd made me a born again Gwar fan. Stand outs include Krosstika, Womb with a view, Decay of Granduer and You Can't Kill Terror. And if you get a chance to see them on the Sounds Of The Underground tour, GO!!!! If only just to see them support this album. They play a lot of old stuff, but a lot from this cd. GWAR!!!!!

I've been a GWAR fan since Scumdogs first came out. I remember it well, because that was the first EVER cassette tape I bought as a kid. I believe I was only 10yrs old at the time and after listening to it, my mom found it and threw it away in disgust.

Isn't that the point of GWAR though? To disgust you in a way that when it boils down to it, becomes comedic?

GWAR gets a bad rep because they've been blown off numerous times as a "gimmick band" because of their costumes. Slipknot is a gimmick band, GWAR is talent with some costumes thrown in to create atmosphere (hell, they have a background story explaining that they're aliens that came to earth on a giant maggot).

GWAR is often times critisized for their music. Not only because most of it is extremely offensive and obscene, but also because they "lack talent". While there's quite a few songs that overall in their career, I really didn't like, they still make some GREAT metal, punk, hardcore, and hell...even country.

This album, along with their previous release, Violence Has Arrived will prove to the critics that they are more then a comedic band that does off the wall songs.

Their 2001 release, VHA along with this new album, show a more mature GWAR (is there even such a thing as "mature" and GWAR? haha). What I mean by that, is that there aren't anymore "comedy" songs, no more "country" songs, no more "obscure songs by the Morality Squad", etc etc etc. This album and their last album are considerably toned down from offensive content and concentrate on what matters most, THE MUSIC.

War Party put a smile to my face...these guys STILL rock. War party is a nicely put together meshing of punk and hardcore songs with some good metal in the mix as well.

Allthough some of their previous albums were actually pretty bad,it was mainly due to GWAR being "all over the place". Take a look at "Carnival of Chaos" for example. It has some good tracks, but many of them can't be taken seriously and quite a few of them are "experimental", many times not even using lead vocals "Oderus Urungus" for the vocal work and using other "spin-off" GWAR members like "Techno Destructo" and such.

GWAR is fun, no doubt about it. While they have "matured" over their last effort along with this one (concentrating on very well written music over gimmicks), I do kinda miss those good old days where you'd have Oderus singing about raping little kids (complete with "baby crying" sound bite in the background). It almost seems like there are 2 different versions of GWAR...

1)the over the top, offensive, "experimental" GWAR

2)the down to business, wonderfully thought out, music experts

...All in all, you really can't lose with either version of GWAR, but this album is number 2 on that breakdown.

GREAT ALBUM, if you like it, also pick up 2001's "Violence Has Arrived".

This release, the ninth, is by far and away the greatest Gwar release. From the song writing to the production quality this album is near perfect. The only track I usually skip is track 11, but the 10 tracks before it totally rock. Bring Back the Bomb, Krosstica, Womb With A View, Bonesnapper, and You Can't Kill Terror are instant Gwar classics. Forget all the scary clown bands, Slip-who? the original costume wearing crazies Gwar are back and better than ever.

BOnesnapper alone merits the buying of this album. Its kinda ike a trilogy of songs , if you take Short History of the end of the wolrd off of WKE, Immortal Corrupter on VHA and BOnesnapper off of WAR PARTY and play them back to back its almost like this metal trilogy. BOnus plan which is completely sung in French and is only 1:13 is awesome. Womb with a view and WAr Party are also good songs but you must listen to this album as a whole to really get into it because it rocks. The last three GWAR albums I think are their best. BUy WE KILL EVERYTHING and VIOLENCE also. War PArty is heavy not as melodic but really heavy and the drumming on Bonesnapper is .... well everyhing about that song is aweosme. SOme of the lyrics ( as usual) make you laugh at he same time as making wierd mental pictures in your head. Its disturbing and great at the same time.

If you saw GWAR on their summer 2004 tour, you've already likely heard a few of the songs on this album, and if you've been to see GWAR, you should know that you should be buying their albums.

For the GWAR fans, do I really need to tell you to get this? It's probably even heavier than Violence Has Arrived, while still having it's own sound (as all GWAR albums do).

People that haven't given GWAR a listen yet... well, go see them live. Just don't become overwhelmed by their show (which may be hard with blood in your face 90% of the time) and think the show is all these guys have. The music is fun to listen to, and just plain kicks ass. The usual political and social commentary is present in the songs of course, but this album has a more serious (for GWRR anyway) tone than probably all of their other albums, but it's not as if they've abandoned humor.

In addition to the audio tracks, the CD has a video containing some recent concert footage. You'll get to see bin Laden being skinned alive, George W. Bush's guts being torn out, Mike Tyson being hacked to bits, and of course, Gor-Gor the dinosaur shows up by the end. You're better off seeing them live or getting ahold of some of their videos, but it's a pretty cool bonus, especially if you were there to see all this live.

If you can't have fun with a band like GWAR, check your pulse.

All i have to say about this album is that it rocks. Well thats not all i have to say about it. It is somewhat more serious than their previous albums. Gwar seems alot more pissed off in this release. It does have its occasional funny moments though. The only thing that i was a little disappointed with this album is that it only has 11 tracks. I was definately left wanting more GWAR. Thats ok though. For its 11 songs, it kicked major A$$.

And another thing. To those people who listen to Cannibal Corpse, Napalm Death, Behemoth, and other death metal, grindcore bands, You dont know what your talkin about when you say Gwar doesn't have any talent. PFFT, I'd like to see those bands play the stuff Gwar can play with heavy A$$ costumes on. And believe it or not, Gwar can play just as good as those guys. Oh yeah, I almost forgot but good thing I didn't. Gwar is able to play death metal when they want to. Just listen to some of their cds. The great thing about Gwar is that they switch up from death metal to other forms of music (mainly to be funny). So there music doesn't get bland in 20 minutes like Six Feet Under, or Nile. The thing about Gwar's frontman Oderus Urungus, is that he can growl death metal style and can actually sing well. You don't hear too many people who can growl death metal style and then sing well.

And lots of people say that all those hardcore bands are sicker than Gwar, perhaps Cannibal Corpse. Sure their lyrics are worse, but do u see Cannibal Corpse performing anything gruesome onstage? NO! Gwar goes full throttle into sickness. You can see them rape Nuns onstage and other atrocities. They even shoot gore out into the crowd. Nowadays the gore and blood they shoot out is fake, but in their early shows, these guys actually shot out real animal's blood into their crowd. The reason they stopped using the real blood was becuase the real blood made so much of a mess and made it sooo hard to clean up that all the money they made at their shows had to pay for the damage they caused.
And gwar actually makes movies with nothing but gore as well. I have Skulhedface where they have a cooking show, and they teach the audience how to make human stew. And it shows them playing with intestines, brains and all that other fun stuff.

So all you losers who dissed Gwar on their talent and sickness, think next time before you talk some trash.

Political commentary on the current state of affairs is usually not reserved for a band who jokes around about dead babys and feces. Then again, most bands place limits on what they can and can't do. Gwar sees the limits, ignores them, and do what they do because they feel like it. Welcome to the War Party.

The album doesn't waste time. You start the CD, you're thrown into Bring Back The Bomb. No intro, no easy entry into a song, just an onslaught of metal awaits you.

Yes, there's still the horror comedy element that's known to Gwar that's in this album, but while Gwar has always seem to have an opinion on things, this album seems more political than what people typically expect of Gwar. It's becomes more and more prevalent that Gwar isn't really singing about obscenities when they're just reporting to us about the social injustices they see going on with the world. Five mutilated looking humanoid figures who look for global destruction are excited about what's going on throughout the world, while the musicians who portray them parody this mentality because of it's vulgarity. If you were to ask Gwar about their "obscene" stage show, they'll probably refer you to any relevant news outlet for things far worse that are going on in the world.

That's a large part of what I got out of this album. Gwar has always portrayed their characters as seemingly ignorant, but the human spirit that lives underneath wants to call attention to issues that are potentially relevant for people to be checking out. The thing is though is that Gwar backs this up. How many other bands do you know of would take the earnings of a lawsuit and donate it to charity? How many other bands take time off to visit high schools to promote music education? If you know of Gwar, then you know of a band who's done those things.

All and all, its a great album for metalheads, maintainers of the way punk should be, and music fans who have an appreciation for a smarter approach from a band who's made a career out of being vile and dumb.