''Carnival of Chaos'' is

Gwar Gwar, often stylized as GWAR, is an American heavy metal band formed in Richmond, Virginia in 1984, composed of and operated by a frequently rotating line-up of musicians, artists and filmmakers collectively known as Slave Pit Inc. After th ...

's sixth studio album, released on March 25, 1997 by

Metal Blade Records Metal Blade Records is an American independent record label founded by Brian Slagel in 1982. The US office for Metal Blade is located in Agoura Hills, California. It also has offices in Germany, Japan, Canada, and the UK. The label is distr ...

Overview

The album is Gwar's longest album (exceeding 74 minutes), and contains Stampe's solo number: "Don't Need a Man". Hunter Jackson also returns in "The Private Pain of Techno Destructo", and there is a ballad entitled "Sammy" about the rotting corpse of

Sammy Davis Jr. Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the ...

"In Her Fear" is Oderus's swan song, and

Beefcake the Mighty Beefcake the Mighty is the bassist of the heavy metal band Gwar. He appears as a stout (hence his name) humanoid girded in Roman-style armor. He is usually portrayed wielding either an oversized Gladius sword or a large battle-axe. Background ...

gives a memorable song in "Hate Love Songs" - Casey Orr's last song as a lead vocalist with the band until his return on

Lust in Space ''Lust in Space'' is the eleventh studio album by Gwar. It was released on August 18, 2009. It is their first album since returning to their old label Metal Blade Records. The album also saw the return of their former bassist Casey Orr, even thoug ...

. ''Carnival of Chaos'' is the last Gwar album to feature Peter Lee as

Flattus Maximus Flattus Maximus is the name of a character and former guitarist in the American heavy metal band Gwar. He is known for his red face, white dreadlocks, dinosaur-head shoulder pads and reptile feet. The name "Flattus" is indicative of the charact ...

. Due to recurring stomach problems stemming from a gunshot wound sustained in a

carjacking Carjacking is a robbery in which the item taken over is a motor vehicle.Michael Cherbonneau, "Carjacking," in ''Encyclopedia of Social Problems'', Vol. 1 (SAGE, 2008: ed. Vincent N. Parrillo), pp. 110-11. In contrast to car theft, carjacking is ...

four years prior, he left the band shortly after the 1997 Halloween Tour. "Don't Need A Man" was not originally meant to be a Gwar song. It was supposed to be just Danielle Stampe (

Slymenstra Hymen Danielle Stampe is a singer, dancer, set designer, and performance artist, best known for her work with Gwar as "Slymenstra Hymen." She has set records for fire breathing and voltage endurance. Early life Danielle Stampe was born in San Diego on N ...

) singing and Michael Derks ( Balsac the Jaws of Death) on piano. It ended up featuring Brad Roberts (

Jizmak Da Gusha Jizmak Da Gusha is the drummer for the heavy metal 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. He is usually see ...

), Derks (sequencing the upright bass part, the piano and the guitar) and Stampe. Derks produced the track, but received no credit. Additionally, Derks wrote "Hate Love Songs," and was initially going to sing the lead, but opted instead to have Orr (Beefcake) do it. He is still heard in the background. Approximately nine minutes after "Don't Need A Man" is a clip of "Drop Drawers." This was supposed to appear on the album, along with a complete version of "The Private Pain of Techno Destructo." The latter had to be changed, due to Paramount's refusal to give permission to use music from the 1967 '' Star Trek'' episode, "Amok Time". There is a "Slave Pit Single, released after this album, that features it. The former, which included a cover of Billy Thorpe's "Children of the Sun," had to be cut, save for a short clip at the end. "Drop Drawers" can be found on ''Slaves Going Single'', an extremely rare B-sides collection released between ''

We Kill Everything ''We Kill Everything'' is the seventh album by Gwar, released on April 6, 1999 through Metal Blade Records. Story The album's story differs slightly from the version told in "It's Sleazy" and on tour. The first three tracks on the album do not ...

'' and ''Violence Has Arrived'' on Slave Pit Records. The latter can be heard, minus the unlicensed cover, on the album just after Techno sings "You'll just make me...", and the full song (except for a slight cut-off of Techno at the end) on the ''Rawgwar'' Slave Pit Single. "Sammy" is the longest song on this album, despite "Don't Need A Man"'s 12:40 track length (most of it is silence; the actual song is a little less than 4:30 long). Clocking in at 6:57, it and the title track from their 1999 follow-up, ''

'', were the longest songs by the band until the song "War on GWAR" (7:21) was released on 2017's ''

The Blood of Gods ''The Blood of Gods'' is the fourteenth album by thrash metal band Gwar. It was released on October 20, 2017 by Metal Blade Records. It is the band's first album without founding member Dave Brockie, who portrayed Oderus Urungus, due to his heroi ...

''. Note, the 30th anniversary remix of Scumdogs of the Universe includes the entire version of “King Queen”, which clocks in at 8:09, making it the longest Gwar song to appear on a studio album. Songs from ''Carnival'' have not been in the band's setlists for a number of years except for the group occasionally playing "Penguin Attack" and "Back to Iraq". Unlike ''

'', where the band readily admits their dissatisfaction for the content (explaining the absence of songs from that album), they have yet to give a definitive reason why. The songs "Pre-Skool Prostitute" and "Hate Love Songs" were part of Gwar's 2013 Madness At The Core Of Time Tour setlist.

Track listing

All tracks by

Personnel

* Dave Brockie (

Oderus Urungus David Murray Brockie (August 30, 1963 – March 23, 2014) was a Canadian-American musician, who was the lead vocalist of the heavy metal band Gwar, in which he performed as Oderus Urungus. He performed as a bassist and lead singer in the b ...

) - Lead vocals * Pete Lee (

) –

Lead guitar Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featu ...

backing vocals A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are ...

* Mike Derks ( Balsac the Jaws of Death) – Rhythm guitar, backing vocals * Casey Orr (

) – Bass, backing vocals, lead vocals on "Hate Love Songs" * Brad Roberts (

) - Drums * Hunter Jackson (

Techno Destructo Techno Destructo is a former character in the American heavy metal band Gwar, depicted as their long-term nemesis. The character was portrayed and created by Gwar co-founder Hunter Jackson. Character overview Techno Destructo is described coming "f ...

) - Lead vocals on "The Private Pain of Techno Destructo" * Danielle Stampe (

) – Lead vocals on "Don't Need a Man" * Ron Goudie – Producer, Mixing * Warren Croyle – Mixing * Gene Grimaldi – Mastering * Katherine Leatherwood – Photography * Drew Mazurek – Mixing * Mark Miley – Assistant Engineer, Drum Producer * Grant Rutledge – Assistant Engineer * Eddy Schreyer – Mastering

References

{{Authority control 1997 albums Gwar albums Metal Blade Records albums