Ragnarök

On October 24th, 1995, Gwar released their 5th album. 4th under Metal Blade. This album has the most varied vocal stylings of any other Gwar album, as the majority of the band lends their vocals to tracks, as well as guest characters. Ragnarök is essentially a heavy metal album spiced with a story about the end of the world. The story isn’t too clear, but it involves Oderous and his alien sister Slymenstra\* are forcibly mated with the help of rouge space aliens. Meanwhile, a comet hurtling towards Earth causes the population to revolt and anarchy spreads all over the world. An AIDS-like plague has cripplied the masses (“The New Plague” is sung by Brockie from the perspective of someone with AIDS). People await the metero’s arrival and their subsequent death. Though, it turns out it wasn’t actually a comet, rather Cardinal Syn, a robotic agent of harsh Catholic dogma. Syn is representing the Warrior Pope, who’s demanding that all bow down to him and obey his insane whims. But Syn is drawn to Slymenstra's baby, for a reason that is left for the listener to uncover. The album concept could also be supposed as a ridicule of Christianity (“Martyr Dumb” is very direct about this topic). Highlight songs include “Dirty, Filthy”, which is moreso a comedy anthem. “Meat Sndwich” is the opener, and probably one of Gwar’s best songs and most popular among fans. It’s incredibly catchy melodies and addicting instruments have the song being stuck in your head randomly all the time. Don Drakulich does a mock-rapping bit as Sleazy P. Martini on “Think You Outta Know This”. Another song to note is “Fire in the Loins” which is an energetic duet between Oderous and Slymentstra, which shows the contrast and arguments between men and women. “Crush, Kill, Destroy” features new bassist Casey Orr (having replaced Michael Bishop as Beefcake the Mighty) on lead vocals for the first time. 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, Hunter Jackson as Cardinal Syn does a vocal style similar to death growling. Between every song, this album has six vocalists (The titletrack has the Sexecutionor on it). Apart from the various vocal stylings, this album also has styles not found on other Gwar albums. Nowhere is this more apparent than in “Surf of Syn.” This song is the biggest change in Gwar's musical style (from the usual punk and metal to metal-fused surf) until Carnival Of Chaos in 1997. The keyboard and synths on this album are also heavily used. Ragnarök's songs are not performed in concert as frequently as songs from the other albums. With Gwar's change in musical style towards heavy metal (as opposed to punk-metal, or the surf-metal found only on this album), and with the absence of all but one of the album's vocalists (Beefcake), the number of usable songs from the album is limited (usually just to “Crush, Kill, Destroy" although "Meat Sandwich” was a staple in the 2006 Beyond Hell tour).

\*it’s not actually confirmed whether or not if Oderous and Slymenstra are siblings, it’s only mentioned in “Fire in the Loins” and even then it’s only implied, not confirmed. They’re from different planets, as well, which would further the suspicion that they’re not related. This is literally the only album where they are implied to be. I have no idea if they are or not, most other things outside this album very much lean to the fact that they aren’t.

## Videos

"Rendezvous with Ragnarök" was the film that was made to concide with this album. Though it's less of a movie like Skulhedface or Phallus in Wonderland. Most of it consisted of live footage with the studio versions of the songs dubbed over. The film featues Bob Gorman playing a paranormal investigator interviewing 4 members of GWAR, Balsac the Jaws of Death, Flattus Maximus, Techno Destructo and Beefcake the Mighty. The story of the tour is told through the interviews. Flattus does the most speaking he's every done in this video.

This film features 3 music videos:

* "Saddam A Go-Go" (though from 1994's *This Toilet Earth*, the video featured footage from the Skulhedface tour, after the movie "Skulhedface" was released),
* "Meat Sandwich"
* "Surf of Syn."

Multiple other songs have music videos with live footage just dubbed over. "Sonderkommando" in this video is not the one found on *This Toilet Earth.* It starts with the Pledge of Allegiance sung to the music and a line from "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" by Rush.

"Think You Outta Know This" was never performed on the Ragnarök N' Roll Tour; Drakulich stopped touring after Ragnarök was released. It was taken from the 1996 Halloween Slaugh-Tour, though it used the album's music.

The first video recorded for this album was "Surf of Syn" and it was done on a very, very small budget. "Meat Sandwich" was also most likley done on a small budget as no props or sets were made. "Meat Sandwich" almost got the band arrested as they were walking around the capitol building in Richmond, Virginia, in full costume with no permits and were rather exposed (multiple members have costumes that expose their butts and overall are very revealing). They also simulated Oderous being hit by a car.

## Personnel

* Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus) – Lead vocals
* Pete Lee (Flattus Maximus) – Lead guitar, backing vocals
* Mike Derks (Balsac the Jaws of Death) – Rhythm guitar, backing vocals
* Casey Orr (Beefcake the Mighty) – Bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Crush, Kill, Destroy"
* Brad Roberts (Jizmak Da Gusha) – Drums
* Dave Musel (Müsel) – Keyboards, samples
* Danielle Stampe (Slymenstra Hymen) – Lead vocals on "Fire in the Loins", backing vocals on "None But the Brave", and "The New Plague"
* Chuck Varga (Sexecutioner) – Lead vocals on "RagNaRok"
* Don Drakulich (Sleazy P. Martini) – Lead vocals on "Think You Outta Know This"
* Hunter Jackon (Cardinal Syn) – Lead vocals on "Surf of Syn" (Uncredited)
* Genna Anderson and Erika Jefferson – Backing vocals on "The New Plague"