Carnival of Chaos

Infobox Album |
Name = Carnival of Chaos
Type = studio
Artist = GWAR


Released = March 25, 1997
Recorded = 1997
Genre = Thrash metal
Length = 74:36
Label = Metal Blade Records
Producer = Ron Goudie, Mike Derks (uncredited)
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|4|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:wz09keztkq70 link] |
Last album = "RagNaRok"
(1995)
This album = "Carnival of Chaos"
(1997)
Next album = "We Kill Everything"
(1999)

GWAR's sixth album, "Carnival of Chaos" (1997) seems to be influenced even more by Faith No More and Mr. Bungle than earlier albums. It can be best described as GWAR's bid for musical expansion. There are likely more styles experimented with here than on any other album. It is perhaps most notable as their longest album (exceeding 74 minutes), 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 odd ballad entitled "Sammy" about the rotting corpse of Sammy Davis Jr. which is worthy of mention. "In Her Fear" is Oderus's swan song, and Beefcake the Mighty gives a memorable song in "Hate Love Songs" - Casey Orr's last song as a lead vocalist with the band. A few more jokes ("Scallop Boat", "Gonna Kill U", "I Suck on My Thumb"), round out the album.

"Carnival of Chaos" is the last GWAR album to feature Peter Lee as Flattus Maximus - due to recurring stomach problems (stemming from a gunshot wound sustained in a carjacking four years prior), he left the band shortly after the 1997 Halloween Tour (and after "Dawn of the Day of the Night of the Penguins," the video that corresponds with "Carnival of Chaos", was recorded).

"Don't Need A Man" was not originally meant to be a GWAR song. It was supposed to be just Danielle Stampe (Slymenstra Hymen) singing and Michael Derks (Balsac the Jaws of Death) on piano. It ended up featuring Brad Roberts (Jizmak Da Gusha), 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.

About nine or so minutes after "Don't Need A Man" is a clip of "Drop Drawers." This was supposed to go 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" 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, "We Kill Everything", are the longest songs by GWAR (it too is 6:57 in length).

Songs from "Carnival" have not been in the band's setlists for a number of years. Unlike "We Kill Everything", 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.

Track listing

tracklist

title1 = Penguin Attack
length1 = 3:27

title2 = Let's Blame the Lightman
length2 = 3:09

title3 = First Rule Is
length3 = 3:24

title4 = Sammy
length4 = 6:57

title5 = Endless Apocalypse
length5 = 4:58

title6 = Billy Bad Ass
length6 = 3:24

title7 = Hate Love Songs
note7 = Vocals by Beefcake the Mighty
length7 = 3:02

title8 = Letter from the Scallop Boat
length8 = 2:49

title9 = Pre-Skool Prostitute
length9 = 5:08

title10 = If I Could Be That
length10 = 3:16

title11 = In Her Fear
length11 = 3:51

title12 = Back to Iraq
length12 = 2:18

title13 = I Suck On My Thumb
length13 = 3:06

title14 = The Private Pain of Techno Destructo
note14 = Vocals by Techno Destructo
length14 = 5:08

title15 = Gonna Kill U
length15 = 2:35

title16 = Sex Cow
length16 = 2:58

title17 = Antarctican Drinking Song
length17 = 1:38

title18 = Don't Need a Man
note18 = Vocals by Slymenstra Hymen
length18 = 12:04