Ragnarök | ||||
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Studio album by Gwar | ||||
Released | October 24, 1995 | |||
Recorded | 1995 | |||
Genre | Heavy metal, crossover thrash comedy rock, shock rock | |||
Length | 47:11 | |||
Label | Metal Blade Records | |||
Producer | Robert Margouleff | |||
Gwar chronology | ||||
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Ragnarök is the fifth album, released in 1995 on Metal Blade Records, by the rock/heavy metal/punk band Gwar. This album contains the most varied vocal stylings of any Gwar album, as the majority of the band lends their lungs to the track list (only We Kill Everything features as many different vocalists), as well as guest villain Cardinal Syn.
Ragnarök is essentially a heavy metal album and it is spiced with a story about the end of the world. The story involves Oderus and his alien sister Slymenstra being forcibly mated with the aid of rogue space aliens. Meanwhile, a comet hurtling towards planet Earth is inciting the populace to revolt, and anarchy has set in all over the globe. An AIDS-like plague has crippled the masses ("The New Plague" is sung, by Dave Brockie, as a human with AIDS), who await the meteor's arrival and their subsequent death. However, it turns out that the comet is actually Cardinal Syn, a robotic agent of harsh Catholic dogma. Syn is representing the Warrior Pope, who is demanding that all bow down to him and obey his insane whims. But Syn is drawn to Slymenstra's alien baby, for a reason that is left for the listener to uncover...
As it could be supposed, the concept of the album is about the ridicule of Christianity (especially in the song, "Martyr Dumb"). The highlights of the album include "Dirty, Filthy" (a rousing comedy anthem), the title track (featuring the final appearance of Sexecutioner on a Gwar album), and "Meat Sandwich". Drakulich does a mock-rapping bit as Sleazy P. Martini on "Think You Oughta Know This" (a song about ripping people off. It's Sleazy's last album appearance), and there is an energetic duet between Oderus and Slymenstra in "Fire in the Loins". "Crush, Kill, Destroy" features new bassist Casey Orr (having replaced Michael Bishop as Beefcake the Mighty) on lead vocals for the first time (he would also sing lead on Carnival of Chaos two years later). The one song featuring a character exclusive to the storyline is "Surf of Syn" – though the vocals aren't the main emphasis of the song, Cardinal Syn does a vocal style similar to death growling. This brings the total number of vocalists up to six – Brockie, Orr, Stampe, Drakulich, Varga and slave Matt Maguire in his only song on a commercial release (one of the Slave Pit Singles, "MC Rhythmless," features him in the title role – a robot impersonating a talentless white rapper) to date (Maguire portrayed Cardinal Syn).