Dinosaur-slaying metal shredders decimate Halifax crowd

Grade: B+

Metal gods Gwar brought their brand of extra-terrestrial rock to Halifax’s Cunard Centre Thursday night.

Loyal Fans clawed their way through a heaving mass of sweaty bodies to bathe in the showers of fake blood sprayed by their cosmic masters.

Claiming to have created the human race out of sheer boredom and interbreeding with animal populations, Gwar roam the Earth with the expressed goals of destroying humankind and existence itself. Serving this purpose for 25 years now, they hit the road in mid September to celebrate the release of their latest audio juggernaut Lust in Space. Since then, they’ve been alternating live shows with Red Chord, Job for a Cowboy and Lamb of God.

The release of this latest set of cuts adds to their library of 12 studio albums released since 1988. Fan favorite Scumdogs of the Universe came two years later in 1990 and gave listeners some of their most memorable Gwar lyrics fit for group bellowing. Lust in Space debuted at number 96 on the Billboard Top 200, making it the bands highest chart position in their career.

With classic tracks interspersed amongst the new, Thursday night’s audio onslaught was matched only by their visuals. Just seeing these guys live is well worth the $45 price of admission and won’t soon be forgotten. The evolution of those visuals has been ongoing with front man Oderus Urungus (David Brockie) as the only character to have existed in every incarnation. At 43 billion years old, Oderus has been around long enough to perfect his look. Starting off in the mid 1980s as a papier-mâché helmet sprouting aluminum foil spikes, the image has evolved into nothing short of a full on live cosmic, comic book gore fest. What else can you expect when you’ve got a supercomputer for a father and a petri dish for a mother?

Obviously absent from Thursday’s 12-song set was the anthem from Scumdogs of the Universe.

Research reveals that the track was reserved for encore performance only in live Gwar sets. However, that performance never came on Thursday night, which raises the question: did we just not want it bad enough? Although it was a bit of a disappointment for die-hard fans, Gwar can rest assured that Halifax is by no means “Sick of You”.