Say what you will about their Satanic-looking masks, gnarly R-rated-Jim-Henson-warrior outfits, and strapped-on penis appendages – no band has ever made monster metal like Gwar. Then again, when a band essentially creates its own genre from scratch, they really don't have much competition.

Born in 1984 out of the Richmond, Virginia artist collective known as Slave Pit, Gwar embodies a certain kind of rock sensibility that seems like the brainchild of a metal-loving teenager who would go on to become a performance artist. Their band members have names like Oderus Urungus ("undying chaos demon" Dave Brockie) and Balsac the Jaws of Death (Mike Dirks) and, as part of their mythos, are a group of intergalactic "chaos warriors" that were banished to Earth and became "the sickest band in metal history." (They also throw really great "Gwar-B-Qs.")

They are, in a word, awesome – and next year they're celebrating their 30th anniversary. In the lead-up to that anniversary, the Gallery at Black Iris Music – an art space in Richmond – is holding a an exhibit of some 400 pieces of Gwar-t: production drawings, photography, film, and sketchbooks from band members Brockie, Matt Maguire, and Bob Gorman. The exhibit comes from the deep archives of Slave Pit and also includes never-before-seen items like handwritten set lists and "genitalia molds."

But beyond the fun, shock-and-awe value of a lot of the memorabilia, there's also the story of an artist collective and a movement that set itself apart from the hardcore punk in nearby Washington, D.C. in the early 1980s by mixing its social commentary with monster masks, satire, and political commentary. The exhibit will also show how the band's mythology and decidedly intense live shows fostered a unique fan community that emerged before social media and has persisted for three decades – from the 1980s to Beavis and Butt-Head and beyond.

"I think people don't always see Gwar as being in the context of theater," Benjamin Thorp, the exhibit's curator, told WIRED. "We understand theater as being this massive undertaking that takes years to develop – to create props, sets, narratives, production, drawings, budgets, and all of this stuff that we're presenting – I think it puts them in the context I believe they deserve to be viewed in."

The retrospective, called "Let There Be Gwar!," opens Friday and will be on display through September 28, with proceeds going to a 30-year anniversary book and documentary. The exhibit, which will also be a nice lead-up to the band's September 17 album Battle Maximus, will feature a talk by Sarah Cunningham – the former director of arts education for the National Endowment for the Arts – on future cities and how they could foster creativity through collectives like the Slave Pit. It will also have letters from those who were touched by Gwar's work.

"We're displaying a selection of fan-mail and materials through the decades, and one of them is from this 15-year-old girl who is writing, 'Thank you for having the balls to continue making this art,'" Thorp said. "The letter ends with, you know, 'I just wanted you to know that you at least have one A-student, church-going young woman who thinks what you do is great."

Check out some exclusive images from the exhibit in the gallery above – including that letter.

Images courtesy Black Iris Music, unless otherwise noted