Violence Has Arrived

On November 6th, 2001, Gwar released their 8th album, Violence Has Arrived. This album was essentially a rebirth for Gwar, especially after We Kill Everything, as it was almost entirely thrash metal. Violence Has Arrived re-attains the brutal focus of the band's earlier albums. It has more of a thrash metal sound than any of their previous albums. It is similar to Scumdogs of the Universe, in that Dave Brockie was the dominant voice of the band again, and the theme is centered on generalized carnage. There’s some more “medieval” themes this time around, such a tourture (“The Wheel”) and truly ugly imagery that would make you sick, as in the songs “Licksore”, “Beauteous Rot”, “Immortal Corrupter”, and “Apes of Wrath”. “Biledriver”, is about a fluid-spewing cannon, which can be seen in the video for “Immortal Corrupter”. The cannon itself has become something of a staple for their live shows. The 11th century French epic poem, The Song Of Roland was the inspiration behind the song “The Song of Words”, which is the first song to feature Jizmak Da Gusha on vocals (he’d later sing some lines on “El Presidente” in 2017), along with Flattus Maximus (He’d sing lead on “Release The Flies”, in 2009). Although, on this song, none of them are really singing. All members have spoken lines, rather than singing. 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 the album touches on Gwar lore, there’s no real story. In large part this was due to the disappointing reaction to We Kill Everything, and due to Slave Pit Inc’s diminished ranks, as 3 members had left. This album is also one of the best Gwar albums when it comes to sales, and the album is a favorite among the fans and the band. The songs are also a regular for live shows.

According to an interview with Dave Brockie (Oderous Urungus), it was originally supposed to be released on September 11, 2001, but Metal Blade would not release it until November. According to Slave Pit Inc., it was not finished. According to other official sources, they did not even start recording the album until July, and the Dave Brockie Experience had a tour in September.

In an Ask Sleazy column on the now-defunct Bohab Central fansite, Don Drakulich (Sleazy P. Martini) named *Violence Has Arrived* as his favorite GWAR album.

## 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 only video from this album, and shows Orr in the role of Beefcake the Mighty for the last time before he left.

It is also the final album on Metal Blade Records until 2009. In a 2004 interview, Beefcake the Mighty (then portrayed by Todd Evans) said that the reason for the switch was because Metal Blade had some European distribution problems, and they were not being fixed. However, Brockie has also said 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 led 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 the bass guitarist 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* DVD, 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 appear on *Live From Mt. Fuji*, along with "Biledriver". Both are favorite concert songs, by fans and band alike.

## Personnel

* Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus) - lead vocals
* Zach Blair (Flattus Maximus) – lead guitar, backing vocals
* Mike Derks (Balsac the Jaws of Death) – rhythm guitar, backing vocals
* Casey Orr (Beefcake the Mighty) – bass guitar, backing vocals
* Brad Roberts (Jizmak Da Gusha) - drums, percussion
* Manisha Joshi - backing vocals on "Beauteous Rot"