Goblin Cock: Come With Me If You Want to Live

Why can’t indie-rock dudes make metal without ruining it with schmaltz and irony? Pinback vocalist Rob Crow’s “metal” band Goblin Cock is disrespectful to the genre on every level. It was easy to ignore when he did one record. But sophomore release Come With Me takes the joke too far. The lyrics are printed in some sort of Wiccan or Elvish nonsense, wielded by musicians with names like Lord Phallus and Bane Ass-Pounder. Be it opening number “Hissless,” “Big Up Your Willies” or the false riffage of “Mylar,” every song bears the breezy Crow-isms that work well under his more sincere guises. Here, it’s just smarmy. That kind of humor died when Clinton left office. 1 star.

Goblin Cock plays the Masquerade with Warship and Doomsayer on Fri., Feb. 6, 7 p.m. $10.