EPs

EP Review: Gwar – The Return of Gor Gor

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Posted on 4th August 2025

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Review by Rick Eaglestone for MPM

Well, well, well. What have we here? The intergalactic scumdogs are back with another helping of their trademark absurdist brutality, and this time they’ve brought along their favourite crack-addled Tyrannosaurus Rex for the ride. If you thought GWAR could not get any more wonderfully unhinged, “The Return of Gor Gor” is here to prove you spectacularly wrong.

This EP is more of a multimedia experience that perfectly encapsulates everything that makes GWAR both completely mental and essential. We get three brand new studio tracks, four live cuts from their recent tour, and a 32-page comic book that tells the tale of everyone’s favourite dinosaur menace. It’s classic GWAR: utterly bonkers, surprisingly clever, and delivered with the kind of theatrical bombast that makes you wonder how anyone ever thought metal was supposed to be serious.

The centrepiece here is undoubtedly “The Great Circus Train Disaster,” a big top thrasher that sounds exactly like what you would expect from a song with that title. It’s carnival horror meets crossover thrash, complete with circus sound samples and Blothar delivering vocals that would make a banshee weep with envy. The track is pure theatrical mayhem.

The other two new studio tracks continue the band’s fine tradition of making music that’s simultaneously stupid and sophisticated. These are not just novelty songs with monster costumes thrown over them; there’s genuine songcraft beneath all the latex and fake blood. The guitar work remains razor-sharp, the rhythm section pounds with the force of a collapsing solar system, and the production captures every ounce of their controlled chaos without sanitising the edges.

Where this release really shines, though, is in how it demonstrates GWAR’s evolution while staying true to their core identity. They’ve always been masters of combining extreme metal with performance art, but there is a maturity here that comes from decades of perfecting their craft. The live tracks showcase a band that’s lost none of their ability to turn a concert into a full-scale assault on the senses, while the studio material proves they can still write songs that stick in your head like cosmic parasites.

Of course, this being GWAR, the whole thing comes wrapped in enough conceptual lunacy to power a small city. The story of Gor Gor’s return is told through the accompanying comic, creating a proper narrative framework for the musical chaos. It’s storytelling on a scale that would make Marvel Comics jealous, complete with interdimensional warfare, substance abuse, and enough gore to fill several swimming pools.

Blothar comments on The Return of Gor Gor, saying “The last time I saw Gor Gor he was just a wee fart dragon. He had crawled on the hood of my Kia Soul and was holding on for dear life while I drove to the store to buy Clamato. I bathed him in wiper fluid and used my wipers to knock him off my sweet ride. Next thing I know, he’s a 20-foot-tall trans-species prostitute working a pickle park. Apparently, he’s all grown up and looking for revenge. This record chronicles his struggles as a young Dino-American trying to make his way in a cruel world.”.

This is a band that has been making the case for intelligent stupidity for over three decades, and they are still the undisputed masters of the form. Get your first aid kits ready, because GWAR’s latest offering has a sting that’ll leave you scarred, satisfied, and screaming for more.