Sunday, September 13, 2015

CONCERT REVIEW: Mac Sabbath, Hymen Holocaust, Goat Wizard at The Knitting Factory, Brooklyn, NY, Sat., Sept. 12th, 2015

This was a big day for concerts; I had to choose between Toxic Holocaust at St. Vitus, Nuclear Assault/Whiplasher/Murphy's Law at The Gramercy, and this show. I made the right decision.

I've already seen Toxic Holocaust twice (though another time would still be awesome), and Nuclear Assault are playing MDF 2016, so I'll catch them there. Besides all that, when will I ever get the chance to see Mac Sabbath again?

For readers unfamiliar, Mac Sabbath is a Black Sabbath cover band whose lyrics and stage show revolve around scathing McDonald's parodies. For example, their cover of "Iron Man" is "Frying Pan." This song, in fact, launched the group to fame as a video was made of their 1st gig (in California, by the way), which Black Sabbath themselves noticed and approved of. Since then, the video has gone viral, Mac Sabbath have written more songs, and have now completed their 'East Cheeses' Tour. Not hooked yet? The band all wear costumes and have McDonalds/Rock/Metal themed personas. Their actual identities remain anonymous, though I have strong suspicions about the singer...

On Drums, the Catburglar, AKA Peter Hot Criss Buns: 

On Bass, The Grimalice:

On Guitar, Slayer McCheese (though it should be Motor McCheese, in my opinion):

Fronted by Ronald Osbourne:


For me, there's little more enticing than Black Sabbath and clever puns, but more on Mac Sabbath later. Openers Goat Wizard played a gnarly set of effects-heavy Doom Metal, comparable to Sleep's 1st & 2nd albums with lyrics as delightfully cheesey as the band name. Their vocalist also had a costume, that of some sort of Sun-Worshiping Forest Shaman, whose mask reminded me a bit of the garb from the end of Stuart Gordon's H.P. Lovecraft-inspired movie, Dagon.


On a personal note, this band hails from Bethlehem, PA in South-Eastern Pennsylvania (or SEPA), which from a NEPA boy like me, gains instant respect as there is NOTHING out there. To have created enough of a name for themselves to open this show says oodles about the band's talent and reputation, especially coming from an area that (to my knowledge) still has essentially no scene. I wanted to nab these guys between sets to probe into the current local scene and wax nostalgic over how awesome Wegman's is a coupla too, tree times (heyna?) but alas, Goat Wizard returned to their mountain peaks (or somewhere else hide-able) before I could locate them.

Hymen Holocaust took stage next, they play a late 70's Punk/early 80's USA Hardcore style Rock that is enjoyable on its own, but with ridiculous over-the-top lyrics. They opened with a song about masturbating. I'm not sure if they played longer than their stage banter lasted, but I was in stitches the whole time! I was laughing and head-bopping along so intently that I actually forgot to take a photo! Anyway, if something like the Circle Jerks, Negative Approach, and The Mentors rolled into an efficient, gut-busting whole sounds like fun, catch these Brooklynites on some Brooklyn night.

RIGHT, so back to Mac Sabbath. After a veiled stage prep, the band opened up with their rendition of 'War Pigs' AKA 'More Ribs,' followed by 'Chicken for the Slaves (Children of the Grave),' 'N.I.B.B.L.E. (N.I.B.),' 'Sweet Beef (Sweet Leaf),' 'Lord Of The Swirl (Lord Of This World),' 'Zipping Up The Uniform (Symptom of the Universe)', 'Cherries Are Fruits (Fairies Wear Boots),' 'Frying Pan,' and ending with 'Pair A Buns (Paranoid).' They also played a version of 'Hand Of Doom' whose name I didn't catch.

'Ron Osbourne' had some great one-liners about "Fast Food Metal," really funny stuff! Hopefully Mac Sabbath continue un-sued (they have Black Sabbath's approval, but not McDonald's; parodies are able to bypass copyrights as I understand it...), maybe even release an album of the above tracks, done their way (wait, maybe that's how Burger King Diamond does it...).

Though someone in the audience hollered out for 'Electric Oven Funeral,' I'd love to hear the eponymous 'Mac Sabbath,' 'The Gizzard,' 'Fat Salad,' 'Happy Meals Of Confusion,' 'Superhot (about the Liebeck v. McDonald's Restaurants case re: too hot coffee),' 'Under The Bun,' 'Grilling Yourself To Live,' 'Dirty Whoppers,' and 'Never Say Fry!'

Of course, if they could enlist the vocal talents of Runnie J Dippo, songs such as 'The McMob Rules,' and 'The Sign Of The Golden Arches' could be performed.

No matter which way Mac Sabbath flips their burger, I'm lovin' it.

*Review and photos copyright The Samnambulist, 2015*

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