Antarctic rock gods GWAR are set to return to the realms of man and reclaim their vice-like grip on the throat of hard-rock humanity after spending the last year-and-a-half working on their follow-up to 2011's critically acclaimed "Bloody Pit Of Horror". The new recording, "Battle Maximus", is GWAR's first full-length studio effort since the loss of their longtime guitar player Flattus Maximus, and is set to hit the streets on September 17 on Metal Blade Records.

"This album is both a tribute to Flattus and a telling of the next chapter in the story of GWAR," said warty front-thing Oderus Urungus. "The combo of the brand new album and show should satisfy even the most hardcore Flattus devotee with the fact that GWAR's slay-skills are as supreme as ever, and the band stands poised to embark on our most earth-shattering world tour yet. We have mourned, we have honored, and now it's time to fucking DEVASTATE in the name of Flattus and the supreme entity that is GWAR."

Oderus continued: "This is our first record in our brand-new Slave Pit Studios, which Flattus had a lead role in designing, but without him we had no one left to twiddle the buttons, much less play the blazing metal leads and provide the musical direction that rescued GWAR from the depths of clown-band obscurity. I mean, Balsac is no slouch, but Flattus' departure left a huge hole in our band. We had no choice. We had to blow the Horn of Hate..."

Check out the first track, "Madness At The Core Of Time", below.

The Horn of Hate is an ancient Slave Pit contraption that summons all the Scumdogs in the Universe in the unlikely event that one of them is killed in battle, disintegrated, or becomes a Mormon. As the cosmic tones echoed throughout the universe (which unfortunately sounds like a giant duck-fart), the Maximus tribe answered the call by traveling to Earth to wage the mighty "Battle Maximus", a musical trial-by-combat for the right to follow in the footsteps of Flattus. When the dust had settled, but one Scumdog remained standing...the zit-encrusted and undeniably shred-tastic Pustulus Maximus.