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War Party

 
Album Review: War Party

  • Artist: Gwar
  • Rating: StarStarStar
  • Release Date: October 26, 2004
  • Type: Contains explicit content, Lyrics are included with the album, Enhanced CD-ROM
  • Genre: Rock

Review

When Gwar toured the United States in support of War Party in 2004, it was evident that thrash metal's most over-the-top parody band had no intention of becoming any less offensive; on-stage, they had a laugh at the expense of everyone from Lacey Peterson to Osama bin Laden to Ronald Reagan. Of course, anyone who actually bothers to be offended by Gwar misses the point -- they were always an exercise in satire, shock value and dark humor, and ultimately, their concerts and albums are goofy rather than genuinely disturbing. Some Gwar releases are stronger than others; at times, their studio recordings haven't been as memorable as their infamous live shows. But War Party is one of Gwar's more consistent efforts; in fact, it's almost in a class with 1990's excellent Scumdogs of the Universe. While this 2004 release doesn't break any new ground for the thrash veterans, Gwar's performances are consistently tight, focused and inspired; the songs are hooky, and the lyrics are clever (at least if you have a taste for sick, demented humor). Tunes like "Bring Back the Bomb," "You Can't Kill Terror" and "The Reaganator" are full of political references, but it would be a mistake to think of anything on this CD as serious political commentary -- Gwar's love of horror, sci-fi, gore and sleaze always keeps things tongue-in-cheek, and any references to political figures are strictly for entertainment value. Musically, Gwar hasn't become any less heavy, but for all its forcefulness, War Party is relatively melodic -- especially in comparison to all the ferocious, skull-crushing metalcore, death metal and black metal discs that came out in 2004. Longtime Gwar fans will be glad to know that while War Party doesn't reinvent the wheel, it is a respectable addition to their blood-soaked catalog. ~ Alex Henderson, All Music Guide

Tracks

Track TitleComposersPerformersTime
Bring Back the Bomb GWAR (4:23)
Krosstika GWAR (3:35)
Womb With a View GWAR (2:26)
Decay of Granduer GWAR (4:05)
War Party GWAR (3:16)
Bonesnapper (The Faces of the Slain) GWAR (4:42)
Lost God GWAR (3:58)
The Reaganator GWAR (3:05)
The Bonus Plan GWAR (1:16)
You Can't Kill Terror GWAR (3:17)
Fistful of Teeth GWAR (6:30)

Credits

Scott Stanton (Editing), Chris Radok (Photography), Oderus Urungus (Voices), Beefcake the Mighty (Bass), Jeremy Smith (Engineer), Mike Shipley (Assistant Engineer), Flattus Maximus (Guitar), Scott Stanton (Camera Operator), Scott Johnson (Art Direction), Glen Robinson (Mixing), Scott Stanton (Direction), Mark Silent Bear (Camera Operator), Glen Robinson (Engineer), Dave Brockie (Art Direction), Glen Robinson (Producer), Matt Maguire (Art Direction), Howie Weinberg (Mastering), Jack Flanagan (Management), Jizmak DaGusha (Drums), Scott Stanton (Engineer)
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Wikipedia: War Party (album)
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War Party
Studio album by GWAR
Released October 26, 2004
Recorded 2004
Genre Thrash metal
Length 38:26
Label DRT Entertainment
Producer GWAR, Glen Robinson
Professional reviews
GWAR chronology
Let There Be GWAR
(2004)
War Party
(2004)
Live from Mt. Fuji
(2005)

War Party is a 2004 album by the band GWAR. It was released on October 26, 2004, being the band's first album in DRT Entertainment. The album was released to positive reviews and has been said by the band to be GWAR's best selling album in years.[citation needed]

Contents

Overview

After Violence Has Arrived, GWAR switched labels from Metal Blade to DRT Entertainment. War Party was released October 26, 2004 and continues the decidedly more metal focus reintroduced in Violence Has Arrived. War Party is the most political GWAR album since America Must Be Destroyed tackling such subject matter as the 2004 American election and the war in Iraq in such songs as "Bring Back the Bomb", "Krosstika", "War Party", "The Reaganator" and "You Can't Kill Terror". Dave Brockie has said "...basically GWAR pledges support to the powers who support the war, and we make such a right-wing statement that the right wing would be ashamed to have us."

GWAR still has more gratuitous violent imagery in "Womb With a View", "Fistful of Teeth" and "Bonesnapper" and retains some trademark silliness in the Beefcake hollered French punk song "The Bonus Plan". War Party was supported in fall 2004 by the Mock the Vote tour. The Enhanced CD portion contains a music video for "Womb With A View," which shows a plethora of concert footage from their Spring 2004 tour.

Dave Brockie especially likes this album, as it continues with a heavier musical direction for the band. According to interviews with Todd Evans (Beefcake the Mighty) and Dave Brockie, "War Party" was selling very well, and was attracting new GWAR fans, as well as seeing old ones come back.

Concept

Although not following a true story per se, unlike many of the band's previous efforts, there seems to be an ongoing concept throughout the album about a fictional political party named "The War Party", with policies dedicated especifically to the eradication of the human race by supporting global war and hatred. Under the "Krosstika", a symbol crossing the christian cross and the nazi swastika ("Two great hates that hate great together"). The band refers to the Krosstika on their next studio album, Beyond Hell, and will often play this song towards the beginning of their concerts.

Though the War Party itself has disbanded (according to GWAR lore), the band will continue to play songs from this album in concert, as the album is among the band's favorites.

Track listing

# Title Length
1. "Bring Back the Bomb"   4:23
2. "Krosstika"   3:35
3. "Womb With a View"   2:26
4. "Decay of Grandeur" (Misprinted on the back as "Decay of Granduer" (sic)) 4:05
5. "War Party"   3:16
6. "Bonesnapper (The Faces of the Slain)"   4:42
7. "Lost God"   3:58
8. "The Reaganator"   3:05
9. "The Bonus Plan" (Vocals by Beefcake the Mighty) 1:16
10. "You Can't Kill Terror"   3:17
11. "Fistful of Teeth"   3:56

Line-up


 
 

 

Copyrights:

Album Review. Copyright © 2009 All Media Guide, LLC. Content provided by All Music Guide ®, a trademark of All Media Guide, LLC. All rights reserved.  Read more
Wikipedia. This article is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "War Party (album)" Read more