They are persistent, those ancient inhabitants of Antarctica. Even after the untimely demise of guitarist Flattus Maximus in 2011, Gwar carry on the fight against evil on this puny little planet of ours. And, I might add, the quality of their music goes up, still.
It's no secret that Gwar wasn't all about the music from the beginning. They are a hilarious live act, and you could argue that the music was of little importance and purely a vehicle for the band to reach the venues. In plain words: Most of the Gwar back catalogue isn't really worth your pocket money.
This has changed. With the past couple of albums, Gwar has become considerably more metal and more coherent. Yes, you could say they started writing real songs. 'Battle Maximus', the new opus from Oderus and the other creatures is that one tick better than what has come before.
I'd go as far as to say that this is a real metal album, with real solos, with real acoustic pieces, precise riffing and all the other things we expect from a REAL metal band and not someone who's 'just' up there for the sake of entertainment. That, for me, makes Gwar so much more relevant and a band I'm looking forward to seeing live again, because in the end, a show is just a show - if the music can't stand the distance, then you can't really be bothered seeing them more than once or twice.
A job well done - non-believers can start here:
