Live Review and Gallery: GWAR, Unearth and Savage Master at Warsaw in Brooklyn, New York 12.28.19

Saturday night, December 28th for some would be the last show of this decade, and what a way to say good bye then to be riding shotgun through a bloodbath at Brooklyn’s Warsaw with GWAR as they defend the earth against the scumdogs of the universe on their “Use Your Collusion Tour”

The night got started with the classic heavy metal sounds of Louisville’s Savage Master. Led by the ferocious vocals of Stacey Savage and accompanied by her occult like hooded minions, Savage Master wasted no time getting right into it with “Ready to Sin,” with the set underway Savage Master burned right through the more notable “With Whips and Chains” and “Looking for a Sacrifice.” With the first three songs of the set all being from the bands sophomore album, 2016’s ‘With Whips and Chains,’ the recent release last October of Savage master‘s third full length album ‘Myth, Magic and Steel’ as well as having a short set being the shows opener, I thought for sure that this was it, from here on out the remainder of the set would be all new material. Savage Master did follow up with the new material, treating fans to the tracks “Lady of Steel,” “Myth, Magic and Steel” and “The Devil’s Ecstasy,” but the set in fact was well rounded off as they closed the set out with “The Ripper In Black” and “Death Rides the Highway,” both of which are from their 2014 debut album ‘Mask of the Devil.’

Fresh off a string of tour dates in America with Soulfly and in Europe with As I Lay Dying, Unearth are at it again, this time holding down the direct support spot for GWAR. In contrast to the more traditional metal sounding Savage Master, Unearth‘s more powerful metalcore style of music was definitely more a favorite amongst the younger fans in the crowd this evening. With Unearth opening the set with “This Lying World,” it wasn’t long until the pit opened up on the floor. Unearth followed up the opener with “Giles” and “Incinerate,” two more heavy hitting songs loaded with tons of energy for fans to just go nuts too. The set had a good mix of both new and old, although it didn’t see anything from the bands debut album 2001’s ‘Sting of Conscience,’ the set did include three songs off their sophomore album 2004’s ‘The Oncoming Storm.’ With the stage being tight do to GWAR’s setup and the barriers being what seemed to be closer to the stage then normal, frontman Trevor Phipps, along with guitarists Buz McGrath and Ken Susi were constantly at the edge of the stage and at times off on platforms at the sides in front of the stage that Warsaw has, feeding their energy off to the hungry crowd and invoking circle pits. Without much wiggle room on stage for the five members bassist Chris O’Toole kept to the back a bit more but while drummer Nick Pierce seemed to be right at the edge with Phipps. Igniting circle pits and delivering a bone crushing set, Unearth had easily set the tone for what was to come from the rest of the evening.

 

It was time!!! The secret world court impeachment against the scumdogs of the universe, defenders of the hopeless planet, GWAR begins. All rise! The awkwardly tall alien like bailiff announces that court is now in session, with the Supreme Court Justice shown on a TV screen, the defendants GWAR are called to the stage. The lights go on and with the squealing of Balsac‘s guitar the bailiff is quickly beheaded by Blothar‘s sword and just like that the bloodbath is underway as GWAR rip their sing-along friendly “Fuck This Place”. In an instant the insanity begins as blooded soaked bodies begin flying over the barriers from the tornado circle pit that has engulfed the floor. As the blood drenched fans scream for more, Gwar takes a break for a little toke from the rock before pelting out “Sick of You.” What good GWAR show wouldn’t be complete without the gutting a pestering fat cockroach cop who’s then reamed and carried off stage during a “Krak Down”. “Maggots” fell like rain in ‘Metal Metal Land” and Kaitlyn Gender’s blood flowed during the c-section and skinning to “Hail, Genocide!”. Nearing the end of “Have You Seen Me?,” there was so much excitement and energy in the air,  Blothar could not even contain himself as he got so excited, he sprayed “loads” of blood from his double headed one eyed serpents out into the crowd, releasing even more energy and excitement from the crowd as they bathed in blood, even a blood soaked Santa was spotted amongst the animals in the pit.

Following many more bloodbaths and a battle with the Supreme Court Justice that ended in yet another bloodbath be-heading, our pig headed president, Donald Trump took to the stage as the O’Jays “For The Love Of Money” plays over the house speakers as he got down on his knees to give Blothar a little kiss that ended with a shot in the face. To the sounds of “GWAR Theme” fans were treated yet, yes another bloodbath as the president was torn open and ripped apart. GWAR ended their night of blood-soaked gore with the very appropriate cover of AC/DC‘s “If You Want Blood (You Got It)”. This saw the nights heaviest blood flow rain down on fans leaving everyone in the front half of the crowd dripping with ooze with smiles from ear to ear as they exited to the streets stained in red.