Vulgar, crude, and endlessly entertaining, GWAR's human-devouring, blood-squirting, hard-rocking tour makes a stop in Knoxville on Wednesday.

Known for wild performances that usually end with the first dozen rows of the audience soaked with fake blood, GWAR will play their thrashy, punk-influenced heavy metal as they sacrifice a few humans and engage in comically exaggerated violence towards intricately made effigies of celebrities and political figures. As they carry out their violent skits, which always end in a messy, crowd-soaking killing, GWAR will appear in their famously elaborate costumes, resembling twisted, terrifying versions of Power Rangers villains.

Formed in the mid-1980s by students from Virginia Commonwealth University, GWAR has gone through countless mutations, with different band members and stage personas coming and going. GWAR has survived for more than 20 years, cultivating dedicated groups of fans with their incredibly energetic performances, their satirical and hilariously gory skits and their grotesque, ever-changing costumes. Along the way, they have produced 11 studio albums and appeared on television shows ranging from the Joan Rivers Show and Jerry Springer, to numerous appearances on Beavis and Butthead. The band has ruffled plenty of feathers along the way. Lead singer Dave Brockie was even arrested in 1990 in North Carolina for wearing part of his stage costume, an enormous prosthetic penis which he called "The Cuttlefish of Cthulhu."

A show sure to thrill as many as it disgusts and bemuses, GWAR is a spectacle that any fan of the offbeat must experience.

The Canadian metal bands 3 Inches of Blood and The End will open for GWAR at 8 p.m. at Blue Cats on Wednesday night. Tickets are $18 in advance and $21 at the door.