GWAR
Battle Maximus

Their new album “Battle Maximus” starts off with an acoustic intro and an epic sounding voice of Oderus Urungus over lead guitars. Then in comes “Madness At The Core Of Time” Thrashing old school way made to start a mosh pit in live shows, including a great chorus and some really catchy riffage. A drum intro brings us “Bloodbath” followed by groovy death metal-esque riffage before swifting into Thrash mode then back into a groovy chorus generally showing the fun side of the bands music. Headbanging riffage leads us to “Nothing Left Alive” where the drums dominate with their grooviness throughout the song, including a breakdown right before the chorus then back to the original groove. “They Swallowed The Sun” comes next to bring back the mid tempo Thrash feel including a dark melodic chorus using keyboards and clean sounding guitar. Also we have a break towards the end with a really catchy melody repeating the track title and some great soloing.

“Torture” keeps up the speed from the previous track bringing a really groovy and addictive chorus as well as a small bass break adding some more flavour to the song. “Raped At Birth” starts with the chorus before going into a midtempo Thrash-o-rama then into a kick ass melody in the chorus, some death metal flavour here and there as well as great soloing. “I, Bonesnapper” keeps up the violence with some Anthrax/Exodus-style riffage and the well known humour of the band as well as some groove. A horror movie sample brings us “Mr Perfect“, with its doomish intro riffage over the screams, and back into the midtempo headbanging Thrashy riffage.

The speed comes back again for the self-titled instrumental with its great intro riff/lead showing some strong Testament influence and balances between Headbanging and Thrashy parts including some more great solos and a kind of Lamb Of God outro. “Triumph Of The Pig Children” is more of a midtempo track leaving room for some headbanging and a funny pig squeal in the end. “Falling” is one of the more mainstream tracks being melodic in the chorus starting with a mellow melody reminding a bit of Black Label Society. “Fly Now” ends the album on a heavy note in terms of headbanging riffage and a kick ass chorus. GWAR don’t seem to take it too seriously. And they love it. Support them. I had a great time listening to this one!