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Gonemage Reveal Wario as a "Master of Disgust..." in Chiptune-Laced War Metal (Early EP Stream)


Gonemage, the side-project of Cara Neir’s Garry Brents (also known as Galimgim), have crafted such deep lore in the past year and a half that even they have spin-offs. Their latest EP is best summarized as a war metal and chiptune hybrid love letter to Nintendo’s resident hedonist, Wario. Master of Disgust… retains Gonemage’s philosophy wherein the 8-bit additions embellish ugliness. The synths slink around the guitars and the chiptune elements are played straight; they’re chaotic agents rather than cutesy reprieves. Everything is fuzzy, absurd, and unsettling, just like Master of Disgust…‘s inspiration. We’re premiering the EP in full ahead of its release later this week.

Speaking of Wario, the gluttonous antihero’s influence is most apparent in how Master of Disgust… strays from other Gonemage releases. It eschews black metal and hardcore punk in favor of war metal. It’s a heftier EP, not in size but in density. Gonemage employs a wall of sound production that’s thick with riffs and guttural vocals. MIDI lines are imperative as they slice through the murk to lighten the mix. They don’t lighten the overall tone, as Wario has never sounded this vile, so much as they counterbalance the distortion. The dynamic makes the EP more legible despite its cluttered soundscape.

Master of Disgust…’s largest success is how it presents Wario in a menacing light. The EP focuses on his most terrifying traits to amplify them. The whimsicality found in his Super Smash Brothers representation and WarioWare‘s irreverence are both absent. Brents brings Wario’s filth, his disgusting mannerisms, his greed, and his overindulgence into a realm that mutates them to a revolting degree. It’s only possible because of Gonemage’s death metal lense. The EP’s weight depicts Wario in his original incarnation–as a figure driven only by the most repulsive of desires.

Gonemage tells us:

This was one of the most fun and simultaneously challenging releases I’ve attempted, mainly due to how dense I wanted this to sound while squeezing in as much of the chiptune electronics without getting too buried. Thus far, Gonemage (and Cara Neir briefly) have more of this chiptune blend fused with black metal and/or synth punk instead of death metal. So overall, it was all about attempting to balance elements from the obvious influences depicted like Blasphemy, but also more dense modern acts like Gravesend and Infernal Coil and then twisting that together with the NES/C64/SNES sounds and themes. All wrapped up in a fictional scenario I crafted around Nintendo’s Wario.

Master of Disgust… releases on May 13 through Gonemage’s Bandcamp page.