RagNaRok
Encyclopedia
Ragnarök is the fifth album
Album
An album is a collection of recordings, released as a single package on gramophone record, cassette, compact disc, or via digital distribution. The word derives from the Latin word for list .Vinyl LP records have two sides, each comprising one half of the album...

, released in 1995 on Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records
Metal Blade Records is a record label which was founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The U.S. corporate office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Arizona, Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distributed in the U.S. by Sony BMG Music...

, by the rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...

/heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

/punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...

 band Gwar
Gwar
Gwar is a satirical heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia, United States, in 1984. The band is best known for its elaborate science fiction/horror film inspired costumes, obscene lyrics and graphic stage performances, which feature humorous enactments of politically and morally taboo...

.
This album contains the most varied vocal stylings of any Gwar album, as the majority of the band lends their lungs to the tracklist (only We Kill Everything features as many different vocalists), as well as guest villain Cardinal Syn.

Ragnarök is essentially a heavy metal
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...

 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 hurdling 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
Dogma
Dogma is the established belief or doctrine held by a religion, or a particular group or organization. It is authoritative and not to be disputed, doubted, or diverged from, by the practitioners or believers...

. 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 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". In other news, Drakulich does a mock-rapping bit as Sleazy P. in "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
Beefcake the Mighty
Beefcake the Mighty is the bassist in the rock band Gwar. He appears as a stout humanoid girded in Roman-style armor. He is usually portrayed wielding either an oversized Gladius sword or a large battle-axe .-Background:According to Gwar mythos, Beefcake originates from the planet Cholesterol...

) on lead vocals for the first time (he would also sing lead on Carnival of Chaos
Carnival of Chaos
Carnival of Chaos is the Gwar's sixth studio album. It is perhaps most notable as their longest album , and also as the album that contains Stampe's solo number: "Don't Need a Man". Hunter Jackson also returns in "The Private Pain of Techno Destructo", and there is an ballad entitled "Sammy" about...

 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 sing (or speak over the music). 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).

This album, as well as having a variety of vocal stylings, also features a musical side of Gwar not found in previous 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 1997 (with "Sex Cow" and "Don't Need A Man," both from Carnival of Chaos
Carnival of Chaos
Carnival of Chaos is the Gwar's sixth studio album. It is perhaps most notable as their longest album , and also as the album that contains Stampe's solo number: "Don't Need a Man". Hunter Jackson also returns in "The Private Pain of Techno Destructo", and there is an ballad entitled "Sammy" about...

). The keyboard is used heavily on this album, as well, courtesy of Dave Musel. In particular, "Meat Sandwich" features powerful sfortzando notes (similar to Oderus' vocals in attack).

Like Gwar's other albums, Ragnarök spawned a video: "Rendezvous With Ragnarök." This featured a paranormal investigator (played by Bob Gorman, a member of Slave Pit Inc.) interviewing Techno Destructo, Beefcake the Mighty, Balsac the Jaws of Death, and Flattus Maximus. In between the interview segments, live footage from the 1995 Ragnarök N' Roll Tour (though the music is dubbed from the album, not the concerts) tells the story outlined by the interviews. This video features the most speaking Flattus Maximus has ever done. "Rendezvous With Ragnarök" features three music videos: "Saddam A Go-Go" (though from 1994's This Toilet Earth
This Toilet Earth
This Toilet Earth is the fourth album released by rock/heavy metal/punk band Gwar. Released in 1994, this album was to be one of their oddest and most bittersweet albums. It was the first Gwar album to be censored , due to their gain in popularity as a result of MTV exposure...

, the video featured footage from the Skulhedface tour, after the movie "Skulhedface" was released), "Meat Sandwich" and "Surf Of Syn." The version of "Sonderkommando" is not the studio version found on "This Toilet Earth;" it features the Pledge of Allegiance sung to the music, as well as a line from "By-Tor and the Snow Dog" by Rush
Rush (band)
Rush is a Canadian rock band formed in August 1968, in the Willowdale neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario. The band is composed of bassist, keyboardist, and lead vocalist Geddy Lee, guitarist Alex Lifeson, and drummer and lyricist Neil Peart...

. "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 "Surf of Syn" video was the first video recorded for Ragnarök, and was done on a very limited budget. "Meat Sandwich" was probably also limited in resources, though there were no props or sets to be made. The band was almost arrested for making the video, as they walked around the capitol building
Virginia State Capitol
The Virginia State Capitol is the seat of state government in the Commonwealth of Virginia, located in Richmond, the third capital of Virginia. It houses the oldest legislative body in the United States, the Virginia General Assembly...

 in Richmond, Virginia, in full costume (with no permits, and quite exposed) and simulated someone (Oderus) being hit by a car (which belonged to Jizmak Da Gusha
Jizmak Da Gusha
Jizmak Da Gusha is the drummer in the rock band Gwar. Although the costume has undergone many changes since the character was introduced, Jizmak's onstage get-up somewhat resembles a monstrous dog with very large teeth...

).

Ragnarök's songs are not performed in concert as frequently as songs from the other albums (specifically the albums Scumdogs of the Universe
Scumdogs of the Universe
Scumdogs of the Universe is the second album by Satirical Shock rock band Gwar. The album is their first album on Metal Blade Records and was released in 1990. It is to this date the band's best selling album and greatly expanded the band's horizons...

, America Must Be Destroyed
America Must Be Destroyed
-Line-up:*Dave Brockie – Lead vocals*Pete Lee – Lead guitar, backing vocals tour only*Mike Derks – Lead guitar, Rhythm guitar, backing vocals...

, Violence Has Arrived
Violence Has Arrived
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...

and War Party
War Party (album)
-Line-up:*Dave Brockie - Lead vocals*Cory Smoot - Lead guitar, backing vocals*Mike Derks - Rhythm guitar, backing vocals...

). 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 two of the album's vocalists (Oderus and Beefcake - though Matt Maguire is still with Gwar, Cardinal Syn was killed during the 1995 tour (although Cardinal Syn has returned as the primary antagonist for the 2009 Lust in Space
Lust in Space
-Line-up:*Dave Brockie - lead vocals*Cory Smoot - lead guitar, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Release the Flies"*Mike Derks - rhythm guitar, backing vocals...

 tour)), the number of usable songs from the album is limited (usually to "Whargoul", "Martyr Dumb" and "Crush, Kill, Destroy," although "Meat Sandwich" was a staple in the 2006 Beyond Hell
Beyond Hell
Beyond Hell is the tenth studio album by Gwar. It was released on August 29, 2006, the album was originally announced through the band's official website on February 23, 2006...

 tour).

Track listing

Line-up

  • Dave Brockie (Oderus Urungus
    Oderus Urungus
    Oderus Urungus, played by Dave Brockie, is the lead vocalist of the Metal band Gwar. He appears as an intergalactic humanoid barbarian with devil horns and a meaty looking face, and always carries around a long sword named "Unt Lick"...

    ) - Lead vocals
    Singing
    Singing is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments...

  • Pete Lee (Flattus Maximus
    Flattus Maximus
    Flattus Maximus is the name of a former character and guitarist in the American heavy metal band Gwar. He is known by his red face, white dreadlocks, dinosaur-head shoulder pads and reptile feet. The name "Flattus" implies a flatulent character. His speaking mannerisms suggest a childlike...

    ) - Lead guitar
    Lead guitar
    Lead guitar is a guitar part which plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs within a song structure...

    , backing vocals
    Backing vocalist
    A backing vocalist or backing singer is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists...

  • Mike Derks (Balsac the Jaws of Death
    Balsac the Jaws of Death
    Balsac the Jaws of Death is the rhythm guitarist in the rock band Gwar. He appears as a humanoid creature with a face resembling a bear-trap. Balsac is usually portrayed wielding a giant battleaxe...

    ) - Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar
    Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...

    , backing vocals
  • Casey Orr (Beefcake the Mighty
    Beefcake the Mighty
    Beefcake the Mighty is the bassist in the rock band Gwar. He appears as a stout humanoid girded in Roman-style armor. He is usually portrayed wielding either an oversized Gladius sword or a large battle-axe .-Background:According to Gwar mythos, Beefcake originates from the planet Cholesterol...

    ) - Bass
    Bass guitar
    The bass guitar is a stringed instrument played primarily with the fingers or thumb , or by using a pick....

    , backing vocals, lead vocals on "Crush, Kill, Destroy"
  • Brad Roberts (Jizmak Da Gusha
    Jizmak Da Gusha
    Jizmak Da Gusha is the drummer in the rock band Gwar. Although the costume has undergone many changes since the character was introduced, Jizmak's onstage get-up somewhat resembles a monstrous dog with very large teeth...

    ) - Drums
    Drum kit
    A drum kit is a collection of drums, cymbals and often other percussion instruments, such as cowbells, wood blocks, triangles, chimes, or tambourines, arranged for convenient playing by a single person ....

  • Dave Musel (Müsel) - Keyboards
    Keyboard instrument
    A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...

    , samples
  • Danielle Stampe (Slymenstra Hymen
    Slymenstra Hymen
    Slymenstra Hymen was Gwar's dancer and occasional singer portrayed by Danielle Stampe . She is perhaps best known for fire dancing, usually during the song "Horror of Yig." On the tours for the Carnival of Chaos album, she danced to the song "Sammy," because "Horror of Yig" often followed the...

    ) - Lead vocals on "Fire in the Loins"
  • Chuck Varga (Sexecutioner
    Sexecutioner
    Sexecutioner was a character in the band Gwar, played originally Mike Delaney, and finally by Chuck Varga from 1989 until 1995-6, with one final appearance in 2000...

    ) - Lead vocals on "RagNaRok"
  • Don Drakulich (Sleazy P. Martini
    Sleazy P. Martini
    Sleazy P. Martini is a character played by Don Drakulich in the theatrical heavy metal band Gwar. He wears a gigantic gold necklace with a dollar symbol, a large pompadour, a bright purple suit, and is often seen wielding a sawed-off shotgun...

    ) - Lead vocals on "Think You Outta Know This"
  • Matt Maguire - Lead vocals on "Surf of Syn" as Cardinal Syn
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