Tristan Williams
For the week of Halloween you can’t pick a more on-the-nose holiday bill. Barring a surprise Alice Cooper/Misfits gig, GWAR with Midnight, Mac Sabbath, and X-Cops supplies the most costumed, horror-tinged lineup on tour—making for an unholy night of heavy music sure to delight and nauseate in equal measure.
GWAR continues its neverending sci-fi thrash quest from the mid-1980s, having since rolled on for 15 records. From Richmond by way of Antarctica and other parts unknown, each tour forwards loopy stories about the band members’ characters as seen through the cracked lens of mythological hodgepodge and space warrior epic tales. This installment centers on Gor Gor, the band’s escaped pet Tyrannosaurus rex, which needs to be put down.
Despite its lengthy discography, songs are only part of the GWAR equation: The band’s cartoon violence gives it an infamously silly reputation drummed up by a rotating cast of performers known for spewing fake bodily fluids and performing joke executions of famous figures among other dark vaudevillian fun. It always gets messy, it’s always ridiculous, and that’s really the point.
Not to be outdone, the three opening bands provide a share of absurdist, apocalyptic, and sardonic takes on metal.
Midnight, a hooded trio from Cleveland, pick up near where gross-out three-piece acts The Mentors, Motörhead, and Venom left off. The faceless group headed up by Jamie Walters is often called “black ‘n’ roll” for its demonic leanings and heavy, driving style that doesn’t completely eschew its blues-based origins in the way that the majority of full-on black metal does. The band’s latest album, Steel, Rust, and Disgust (2025), tells you all you need to know to prepare for a tight set of rapid-fire filth.
It’d be unfair to call Mac Sabbath the pinnacle of lunacy planned for this evening, considering the rest of the bill, but there’s no way to sanely contextualize a Black Sabbath cover band doing fast food-based parodies while dressed like McDonaldland characters.
Ronald Osbourne (aka Ronald McDonald) and his warped group look like the worst Sid and Marty Krofft Brothers’ bad trip after indulging at the Golden Arches, who by some miracle, manage to pull off accurate versions of everyone’s favorite British band from Birmingham. That is, short of the lyrics. “Paranoid” is “Pair-a-Buns,” “Iron Man” is “Iron Pan,” and “War Pigs” is “More Ribs.” You get it.
But before Mac Sabbath warns you repeatedly about the dangers of genetically modified meals, you’ll have the forceful blast of X-Cops, a longstanding but largely dormant side project of GWAR. Dressed as officers of the law, the band members keep on theme with their policeman metal and songs on the wrong side of protecting and/or serving. Suggestions of San Francisco early punk band Crime (who also wore uniforms) come to mind with the look, but these guys are much more believable. They could very well have hit the venue straight from Dunkin’ Donuts.
If you like to have a good time and need a break from the harsh realities of this world, come on down. You won’t regret it. But don’t wear white—that you will regret.—CM Gorey
CAUTION: The writer’s unrestrained cynicism and unresolved issues shape the writing of this opinion column. Results may vary.
