For a song that was buried for years, Nekrogoblikon Stenchrar has achieved legendary status live. Between 2010 and 2014, the band would occasionally pull it out as a "punishment" for the encore.
Veteran fans recall the "Stenchrar Rule": If the band plays it, you must start a "mud pit." In the absence of actual mud, fans would pour beer on the floor or throw water bottles. At the 2011 Nekro-Fest in Santa Cruz, the band allegedly stopped mid-song to spray the crowd with a hose filled with coffee grounds and water.
Guitarist Alex Alereon (founding member) once described the live dynamic in a 2016 Reddit AMA: nekrogoblikon stenchrar
"Stenchrar is our reset button. When we feel the crowd is too clean, too showered, we play it. It scares the posers. It brings us back to the basement. Nicky usually loses his voice halfway through and just starts hitting a trash can lid."
Since the departure of that era鈥檚 lineup and the arrival of the Welcome to Bonkers production crew, "Stenchrar" has been retired. The band confirmed in a 2024 interview that they will "probably never play it again," because "modern gear is too expensive to get covered in fake sewage." For a song that was buried for years,
On the surface, obsessing over a made-up goblin war cry seems like a joke. And it is. But within that joke lies the genius of Nekrogoblikon. The Stenchrar is a rejection of metal鈥檚 frequent self-seriousness.
Where other bands sing of cosmic despair or Satanic rituals, Nekrogoblikon asks: What if the apocalypse smelled like a damp basement and sounded like a hiccup? "Stenchrar is our reset button
The Stenchrar represents authentic absurdity. It is a deliberate artistic choice to find the sublime in the scatological. By creating a detailed, consistent lore around a gross sound, the band invites fans to participate in a world where nothing is sacred, everything is silly, and the heaviest moments are punctuated by a fart joke. It is metal鈥檚 answer to Monty Python鈥攍owbrow, high-concept, and infinitely rewatchable.
The mix is modern and polished: tight low end, bright mids, and crisp highs. Drums have punchy snares and focused kick samples, giving the rhythm section clarity even in dense arrangements. Guitars are layered to create weight without muddiness. The synthesizers are placed to emphasize atmosphere and comedy cues rather than to dominate. Mastering brings loudness appropriate for current metal releases but retains dynamic contrast.
As of 2025, Nekrogoblikon continues to tour and write. Following the departure of longtime vocalist Nicky Calonne in 2023 and the introduction of new frontman Dickie Allen (of Infant Annihilator fame), fans have wondered: Will the Stenchrar survive?
Early live footage suggests yes, but with a twist. Allen鈥檚 vocal range鈥攃apable of inhuman gutturals and stratospheric shrieks鈥攈as added a new layer to the Stenchrar. The 鈥渞ar鈥� is now deeper, more cavernous, almost Lovecraftian. Meanwhile, John Goblikon has hinted on social media that the upcoming album (tentatively titled Goblin 2: Even Goblin-er) will feature a track simply called 鈥淪tenchrar Supreme,鈥� which he claims is 鈥渟even minutes of pure olfactory devastation.鈥�
