Last night at New York City‘s Highline Ballroom, bedecked in doomrobe and with powdered beard, Lord Phallus of Goblin Cock — whose alter ego happens to be Rob Crow of Pinback, Optiganally Yours and sundry other underground indie units fame — led his five-man army on a riff march up and down Witch Mountain with a tongue-in-cheek homage to classic occult metal. Goblin Cock. Seriously, man. Goblin Cock.

Hipster outfits Orphan and Warship opened, and there are those who would put Goblin Cock in an irono-metal category, but I argue there’s nothing ironic about what Crow & Co. have going on. They know damn well they’re being ridiculous, and they’re having fun with it. Witness keyboardist Loki Sinjuggler, whose constant, ceaseless throwing of the horns started out as kind of funny but by the end of the set was downright admirable (your arm’s got to get sore after a while doing that the whole time). That’s not irony. That’s comedy.

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