Violence Has Arrived

Violence Has Arrived
Studio album by Gwar
Released	November 6, 2001
Recorded	2001
Genre	Thrash metal
Length	43:17
Label	Metal Blade Records
Producer	Grant Rutledge, Gwar
Gwar chronology
You're All Worthless And Weak (2000) Violence Has Arrived (2001) Let There Be Gwar (2004)

Professional ratings
Review scores
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Allmusic	[1]

Violence Has Arrived is the 2001 album by the band Gwar. It was released on November 6, 2001.

According to an interview with Dave Brockie, it was supposed to be released on Sept. 11, 2001, but Metal Blade wouldn't release it until November. What actually happened (according to Slave Pit Inc.) was that it wasn't finished (according to other official sources, they didn't even start recording the album until July, and the Dave Brockie Experience had a tour in September).

Album Layout and Concept

Violence Has Arrived re-attains the brutal focus of their earlier albums. It is similar to Scumdogs, in that Brockie is now the dominant voice of the band again, and the theme is centered on generalized carnage. Gwar takes on more "medieval" themes this time around, such as torture ("The Wheel") and conjures up some truly ugly imagery in songs such as "Licksore", "Beauteous Rot", "Immortal Corrupter", and "The Apes of Wrath." "Biledriver" is about a fluid-spewing cannon, which can be seen in the "Immortal Corrupter" video and on tour; the cannon itself has now become somewhat of a staple at their live shows.

"The Song of Words", inspired by the 11th-century French epic "The Song Of Roland", is the only song to feature the voices of Jizmak Da Gusha and Flattus Maximus (though Flattus does sing lead vocals on the 2009 album Lust in Space), though neither of them are really singing. Nobody is really singing on the song (Beefcake the Mighty, Balsac the Jaws of Death and Oderus Urungus all speak, as opposed to sing - appropriate for a "Song of Words"). Technically, it is tied with "Jiggle The Handle" for the most vocalists on a Gwar song, though Flattus and Jizmak each have five words. Indeed, the entire album has a narrative feel to it.

Though touching on the "Gwar lore" that began on Hell-O, Violence Has Arrived follows no individual story. This was due in large part to the disappointing reaction to We Kill Everything by the band, and due to Slave Pit Inc.'s diminished ranks - the previous year saw the departures of Danielle Stampe (Slymenstra Hymen) and Hunter Jackson (Techno Destructo), as well as "slave" Davis Bradley (though retired from touring for spinal reasons, he did build the Biledriver).

The cover artwork was created by Games Workshop illustrator Adrian Smith. There are two versions of the illustration used for the cover: the version used on the album cover featuring Oderus with a codpiece, and the poster in the booklet features the Cuttlefish of Cthulhu uncovered.

Departures

Violence Has Arrived was Casey Orr's last Gwar album before he took an extended leave from the band. It is also the only Gwar album with Zach Blair on guitar. Blair left in early 2002, while Orr left shortly before the Halloween 2002 tour. Orr has since returned to the fold, replacing Todd Evans in April 2008. "Immortal Corrupter" is the sole video from this album, and features Orr in the role of Beefcake the Mighty for the last time before he left.

It's also the final album on Metal Blade Records until 2009. In a 2004 interview, Beefcake the Mighty (then portrayed by Todd Evans) would say that the reason for the switch is because Metal Blade had some European distribution problems, and they weren't being fixed. However, Brockie has also gone on record as stating that their departure was a result of them being denied payments owed to them for a number of years (due to the poor sales of the previous two albums, which also lead to cutting off the Europe deal). The band returned to Metal Blade Records for their 2009 release, Lust in Space, which is also their first album since reuniting with bassist Casey Orr.

"Immortal Corrupter"

"Immortal Corrupter" is the only song on Violence Has Arrived with a music video, and is found only on the "Ultimate Video Gwarchive," released at the end of 2002. The DVD features commentary from Brockie, Scott Krahl, Matt Maguire, Bob Gorman and Michael Derks, with special commentary from Mike Bonner for the video to "The Road Behind." The video is Casey Orr's final video; Zach Blair had left just prior to recording, so fill-in Flattus Tim Harriss (who portrayed Flattus on their previous album) had to wear the Violence Has Arrived-era Flattus costume for the video.

The spelling for "Immortal Corrupter" is incorrect - the word "corruptor" does not have the letter e. It is corrected on the back cover of Live from Mt. Fuji. The video has it with the "Violence Has Arrived" spelling.

"Immortal Corrupter" was one of the two songs from this album to be featured on Live From Mt. Fuji, along with "Biledriver." Both are favorite concert songs, by fans and band alike.

Reaction

Violence Has Arrived was an album that the band enjoyed recording - "Everyone was ecstatic when Gwar put out “Violence Has Arrived” in 2001—it marked Gwar’s triumphant return to metal, and the world breathed a collective sigh of relief that we hadn’t put out another “We Kill Everything”" (from a March 23, 2006 news entry at gwar.net) - and is still featured heavily on tour, be it in song ("Biledriver" is often used to end shows) or in theme (story-less carnage has been a big part of Gwar's tours in the past few years, though that changed in the fall of 2006, with the tour supporting Beyond Hell). Violence Has Arrived was also a more successful album in terms of album sales, which had been on the decline since RagNaRok.

When asked about his favorite Gwar album to listen to, Don Drakulich (Sleazy P. Martini) named this album.

Track listing

Personnel

• Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus) - lead vocals
• Zach Blair (Flattus Maximus) – lead guitar, background vocals
• Mike Derks (Balsac the Jaws of Death) – rhythm guitar, background vocals
• Casey Orr (Beefcake the Mighty) – bass, background vocals
• Brad Roberts (Jizmak Da Gusha) - drums, percussion

References