GWAR debuts HD version of music video for cover of ALICE COOPER's 'School's Out'
24-09-2026
With GWAR‘s 20th-anniversary celebration of their 2006 opus “Beyond Hell” arriving this Friday, September 25, the band is premiering the HD version of its “School’s Out” music video, a cover of the Alice Cooper classic.
The newly remastered deluxe edition, available for the first time ever on vinyl via the band’s own Pit Records, is now completely sold out through the GWAR store.
Remastered by Paul Logus (ANTHRAX, KILLSWITCH ENGAGE), the anniversary edition breathes new life into one of the band’s most ambitious and theatrical releases. Alongside the remastered album, the release also includes a previously unreleased outro track recorded during the original “Beyond Hell” sessions that was left off the original release.
Originally released in 2006, “Beyond Hell” marked a defining moment in GWAR‘s legendary career. Produced by Devin Townsend, the album brought together two of metal’s most unique creative forces, with Townsend helping shape one of the band’s most ambitious and beloved releases.
“I had been a GWAR fan since I was a kid. I loved the freedom, the metal, the spectacle, and the passion that went into it all,” recalls Townsend. “I met Brockie on a tour we did together and, after cornering him in an elevator basically telling him I’d work for free, I found myself co-producing ‘Beyond Hell’. Dave and Corey came to Vancouver to stay with me, and we recorded at Profile Studios. The drums and basic tracks were done at Slave Pit in Richmond, Virginia, and the whole process took about three months.”
He continues, “GWAR were, and are, an amazing combination of artistic freedom, absurdity, and hard work bundled up with metal and performance. Loved them then, love them now.”
Chronicling the band’s descent into Hell to rescue their long-lost comrade Flattus Maximus, “Beyond Hell” remains one of GWAR‘s defining releases, featuring fan favorites including “Back in Crack”, “Womb With A View”, “Tormentor” and “The Ultimate Bohab”.
Twenty years later, “Beyond Hell” is ready to rise once again, louder, heavier, and more gloriously blasphemous than ever before.
“Beyond Hell” 20th-anniversary deluxe edition track listing:
01. Intro
02. War Is All We Know
03. Murderer’s Muse
04. Go To Hell!
05. I Love The Pigs
06. Tormentor
07. Eighth Lock
08. Destroyed
09. The Ultimate Bohab
10. The One That Will Not Be Named
11. Back In Crack
12. Outro
13. School’s Out (Alice Cooper cover)
The first-ever vinyl pressing of “Beyond Hell” arrives on 180-gram vinyl housed in an elaborate tri-fold jacket that unfolds into an inverted cross. The CD edition also receives the deluxe treatment, featuring a fold-out poster.
The standard gold vinyl edition will be limited to 2,000 copies. Fans looking for something even more exclusive can pick up the “Blood Moon” vinyl variant, limited to just 300 copies, exclusively at GWAR.net, while Metal Injection is offering an exclusive “Blood Smear” vinyl variant, limited to only 200 copies.
Chuck Varga, known to fans as the Sexecutioner and one of the founding members of GWAR, is currently battling cancer. In response, the band and their extended community have launched a nationwide blood donation campaign in his honor, earlier this year.
Fans are encouraged to find a blood bank near them and either register as donors or give blood in Chuck‘s name. As a thank you, participants will receive a free exclusive t shirt designed by Chuck himself.
This campaign gives the GWAR faithful a way to show up in a real and meaningful way, helping save lives while honoring a character and creator who has given so much to the band’s world.
Donate and get an exclusive t-shirt here.
Varga‘s work as the Sexecutioner has left a permanent mark on GWAR‘s legacy. Now fans have the chance to give something back. Find a blood bank, take part, and help make a difference. Give blood. Celebrate the Sexecutioner. Keep the legacy alive.
Varga was a founding member of GWAR, which formed in 1984, and as the intergalactic Sexecutioner, his job was “making sure the blood goes in all the right places.” Varga sang in the band and created many of the group’s costumes. He told Entertainment Weekly almost a decade ago: “I describe it as a full-body stunt mat. It gives me special powers. I have fallen off stage five feet onto a concrete floor and bounced like a Super Ball.”
Chuck likes to describe himself as one part comic book illustrator, one part special effects designer, two parts sculptor, shaken over some science fiction novels, poured into a rubber mask, and garnished with a twisted sense of humor. In 1985 he co-founded Slave Pit Studios and formed the theatrical rock sensation GWAR. He collaborated on eight major productions, over 1,000 live performances and co-authored two feature length films with two Grammy nominations and a gold record. At this time Varga performed as the Sexecutioner. His art has been described as “eye popping, twisted and over the top, way over!”
In 1995 he partnered up with Don Drakulich to form Hyperreal Productions, an art effects venture producing public sculptures and collectable figures. In 1997, Chuck moved to New York to work on Broadway and feature film productions. He would occasionally perform with GWAR and finally retired on Halloween Scumdog Reunion 2021. Along the way he befriended the likes of Joe Coleman and Robert Williams and many other outsider artists.
Varga met his soon-to-be-wife Bambi The Mermaid at the Coney Island Mermaid Parade. It was love at first sight and the two were married there in 2017. He merged his absurdist theatre with her neo-burlesque performances and became a staple at the legendary not-for-profit arts organization Coney Island USA where he reigned as resident Neptune.
Varga divides his time between fine art and underground theater projects, continuing to evolve the blend of spectacle, satire, and handcrafted fantasy that defined his GWAR years with a delightfully unwholesome splash of neo-burlesque charm.
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