This transcription was included int the first issue of the Grimoire. Bill Zebub handed this issue to one of the guitar player’s of Deicide, and this is why Glen Benton told the tale of intimidating King Diamond on an airplane, which is stupid because the issue SPECIFIED that Kind Diamond didn’t say anything out of disrespect. Additionally, Glen Benton’s words, which I have on tape, didn’t depict an outright challenge to a fight, so I don’t know why he bragged as if there was some kind of gauntlet slapped – and Glen’s story indicated that it was the hulking guitar player who did the intimidating. But even if the guitar player were normal-sized, ganging up on someone, especially when there is no reason to start a fight, isn’t something that should be bragged about.
King Diamond
Are the rest of the members into Satanism the way that you are?
No. No.
Are you a card-carrying member of the Church of Satan?
Yeah.
What do you think of Deicide and their version of Satanism?
I haven’t heard the band. I think they’re portraying the old christian view of Satanism during the time of the Inquisition.
So you think that their image could hurt you?
It’s bad that people are discriminatin in a completely wrong way. They must be a christian band – putting out the christian word on what they think it’s all about. (THIS IS WHAT I PUT IN PARENTHESIS RIGHT AFTER THE STATEMENT – THIS WAS PRINTED, SO GLEN BENTON SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN UPSET – “When you read, it is easy to put emotion behind written words. King did not say this with anger or disgust. Nor did he issue challenge.”)
Did you have a Satanic wedding?
We had a civil wedding.
Do you remember the song “Burning the Cross” – there was a mysterious musician who played in it called Benet Peterson. Was that you, Kim Peterson?
No. Not at all. He was a man who was in the band for a short while.
Did you know that you have a backwards message on “Melissa?”
No. Tell me about it.
When you play the words “Satan’s Cross upon the wall” you hear “What message is this?”
Is that really what is says?
You didn’t plan that?
No. We always did it the right way. It would be stupid for us to try and put something in there when you played it backwards, because it’s all there. It’s all straightforward.
Some people criticize you for excluding Satan in your lyrics. Others say that your music isn’t heavy anymore. How do you feel about that?
People who know about Satanism also know that we have not excluded anything. We may have changed some of the words. We omitted “Satan” and “Lucifer” because many people got turned off as soon as they heard those words. They’d grown up hearing from christians that this is what Satanism is all about – killing babies, and stuff like that. “Satan” means “the powers of the unknown” and that’s very much what I’m singing about. I certainly don’t feel that I mellowed out in any way.
What made you decide to sing in falsetto?
The first band I was in – we did covers of bands like Deep Purple and Rainbow, and I had to strain the vocals a lot to hit those notes. I was not very good in the beginning, but a lot of hard practice made it easier for me. I learned how to use my stomach. It enabled me to hold the notes longer and make them cleaner, and all that. One day, a fan came up to me and said, “You should use your falsetto some more.” I didn’t know what the word meant. But I started to work on the high vocals a lot more.
This is a dirty, muddy sort of death metal. The vocals sound like a wounded boar, which is interesting, and for me, this is the chief selling point of the album. It is a dying beast that I hear.
The insistent pounding of the drums is interspersed with thick, oozing sludge. The production isn’t very pretty, but that is because it delivers an atmosphere of ugliness.
This monstrous music is hard to compare to others, which is good. It can be safely added to your metal diet without side effects.
If you have heard Stormcrowfleet by Skepticism, then you must set aside time for the first time that you will hear the remaster, and find a dark place, and put on headphones. The auditory experience is jaw-dropping.
You will enjoy new sounds. That really is the best way to describe this. There is also a sense of added dimension. You soar through the notes.
When this album first appeared, it was like nothing that came before it. In the doom world, this music was colder, somewhat lifeless but with sudden transformations, sometimes absolutely crushing.
There was nothing like it before. The band has stood unique since that time, with albums changing, of course, but the essence was always preserved.
Again, if you have enjoyed the original release, this remaster will be savored.
If you have never heard this album before, it is a vital one in the history of doom.
This is your chance to pre-order Bill Zebub’s most offensive comedy “Clowna Nostra” – it i snot just a pre-purchase – it is your way of showing support.
There are other things that you can obtain in this crowdfunder. Have a look and share on all of your social media.
Click HERE to be taken to paradise of offensiveness.
Interview with Oderus (Dave Brockie) conducted by Bill Zebub for issue #6 of “The Grimoire of Exalted Deeds” magazine.
I have heard that thou art proud of the musicianship on ‘Ragnarok.’
We’re proud of everything we do, of course, being self-lustering, self-involved, egocentric assholes. We love what we do. We do what we love. We do what we can. We can what we do. And this time we’ve really gone and gone and done it!
Oderus Urungus
Were there different musicians on the “Scumdogs” album?
We’ve had some line-up changes, yes, in the sense that the slaves that used to support us have now been reduced to pulp.
Thou taketh people from the audience and then mutilate them on stage?
Yes, and they beg for us to do it.
And thou art from another planet?
Yes. Thank you. Yes.
When thou taketh a member from the audience, thou art abducting the person.
In a sense.
But what goes on at thy shows is different from what I have read of alien abductions.
There have been abductions that occurred beyond what GWAR would do in its own naughty way. At our shows gray aliens have visited. It’s rumored they will do so on this tour.
Really?
Yes, and they will core my anus.
Oderus urungus
Ragnarok is an asteroid?
It is. It’s Doomsday Comet.
What role does it play?
Well, it plays a role in that it’s on a collision course to obliterate your planet, end your life, cease your evolution, and reduce this body unto dust. It will be colliding, scientists and top blunderers predict would be the downtown Los Angeles area somewhere around the end of the millennia, year 2,000. All the signs are pointing toward total devastation. We have here the end of the millennia. We have rock ‘n roll music. We have here nuclear bombs. And we have GWARI All the signs are there.
Thou art very eager to escape the earth.
It’s my fondest desire, yes.
Thy plan, last time, involved the world maggot. That did not proceed well.
We had a little bit of a problem, yes. Didn’t quite work out the way we thought it would. The only way I can possibly rationalize that Is by saying that there’s two world maggots. That was the wrong one. The other one will be coming out later. Now of course that doesn’t matter anymore because the comet is coming. So now we are poised to fall even more miserably than we did last year.
What is thy problem with censorship?
I would say it was more the other way around.
But thy cuttlefish was taken.
W ell yes, my penis was amputated. We got a lot of publicity out of that… probably the most frequently asked question. What if they cut off your penis in front of leering thousands at an A.T.F. rally?
The reason why I ask is, it is claimed that GWAR blows censorship out of proportion for It’s own popularity.
We never claimed anything. We just raped the pope, and then they cut off my penis. Censorship spensorship!
Oderus Urungus
What is thy feeling about A.I.D.S. and its origins?
GWAR created it. I suppose I’ll have to take credit for it. This new disease we have is even better.
What is the new disease?
We don’t have a name for it yet. But you can get it just by looking at someone who has it. You get pimples all over that turn into boils that turn into warts, all within a matter of minutes. These bloat with rancid pus. It explodes. Stinking vapors belch out and giant carnivorous worms crawl out of the hole, eating you and then attacking your neighbors. Yes, you can even get it if the person who has it is on television.
Really?
Yes! We’re very proud of it . . . GWAR Laboratories, bringing it to you, to forge a new tomorrow.
What dost thou do to prevent breast cancer?
Chop them off, mount them, tickle them.
In the past thou hast had celebrities like Michael Jackson appear on stage. It was not very polite what was done to him.
I thought it was. We jacked him offl And then he blew his wad. And then we ripped his penis off. No. It wasn’t a real penis anyway.
But celebrities are not uncommon on thy tours.
Everyone wants to get their share of the limelight with GWAR.
Oderus Urungus
Who might we see on this tour?
This year will be the worst yet. I don’t know quite who we’re going to have up there. There have been rumors of summoning the rotten corpse of Jerry Garcia.
That would be a realm thou hast not explored yet.
We’re very upset that he died before we could get our hands on him. We’re going to bring him back from the dead. He’s going to play an idiotic and meandering guitar solo and then we’re going to bash him in the head and rip him to bits.
When thou wert arrested and had thy cuttlefish taken, was Biff Buff present?
No, no. But I believe Cobb Knobbler was.
Is it true that thou hast smoked crack with the arresting officers?
Well no… Mexican quaaludes. We were doing gypinal that night.
Which state has done this to thee?
I think it was North Carolina. Terribly embarrassing. Please, can we change the subject?
Sure.
I had to do a whole tour with a bloody stump.
Oderus Urungus
Slymenstra Hymen once had her torch taken away from her and suffered a burn in the theft. Have other overzealous fans caused damage to GWAR?
No. I’d say it was definitely the other way around. Occasionally we have the bumbling idiot that might.get past security and thrash about on stage and grab a GWAR sword and try for the nearest exit. He is beaten mercilessly. Often I’ve had to pull the slaves off of people so I could have the honor of crushing their skulls.
Thou hast not changed much since thy early days, hast thou?
I’m committed to being the same. Every day I look in the mirror and I say, “Same! Same! Same!” It’s the shame of the same.
Is thy maker a god?
I’ve only seen his lips… his lips.and his sea of flame… the same lips that are on the credits on the Rocky Horror Picture Show.
Thy maker, did he also make gloves?
Gloves? Who the fuck is that?
Well, I was wondering… if before thy creation people discovered thy maker’s intentions and protested, bearing signs that read, “MAKE GLOVES, NOT GWAR!”
That would be humorous if it had happened. But it had not, except on a lost episode of Celebrity Christmas.
There is always something that thou art. . . “against,” for lack of a better word. What is the present situation of mankind that aggravates thee most?
What we don’t like about mankind is mankind. The fact that they exist is enough to set us off on a genocidal holocaust that will engulf your world.
Thou art an epicurean. Thou dost enjoy sexual acts of all sorts.
I’m a blistering nub of clitoral pleasure.
How dost thou feel, since thou hateth mankind, and thou detest human breeding, about the pope spreading his command that there should be no birth control?
I think the pope should spread his cheeks. let little boys of Harlem pump shells into his ass.
Is he the only religious figure whom thou art against?
I will be against every religious figure, ramming my penis deeply Into them.
But the pope Is the only one, so far, whom thou hast bent over?
Oh I’d fuck God If I could only get Christ’s penis!
When The Grimoire of Exalted Deeds #9 was published, the front cover received so much admiration that teh art was re-printed in many more issues, eventually getting full-glossy pages to capture every stroke.
This design is finally available in a full color t-shirt (the shirt itself is black), Click HERE to order. (URL is https://bill-zebub-shirts.myshopify.com/products/jesus-the-easter-bunny-shirt)
The artist is Jim Walls, IN the history of the Grimorie of Exalted Deeds, Bill Zebub described his ideas to Jim Walls, and Jim Walls got to work. All previous art was done in pencil, but this design was in colored pencil. This is also the final design that Jim Walls drew for the magazine.
Wear the shirt with pride. Get it while supplies last. Sizes from SMALL to 4XL.
This is the cover to THE GRIMOIRE OF EXALTED DEEDS Issue #9
