Brendon Small’s Metalocalypse is known in the metal community for its outrageous portrayal of what happens when a death metal band becomes one of the largest commercial entities in the world. It features the fictitious band Dethklok, the seventh largest world economy, who puts out the most brutal death metal records of all time.
In 2007, they released an album entitled “The Dethalbum”, and I recently got a chance to give their Sophomore album “Dethalbum II” a good listen. My hat comes off for Brendon Small and the crew behind Dethklok for this release. Where the first album was all about the show, making really epic songs with humorous themes and lyrics, this album seems to focus a bit more on the music.
That doesn’t mean the songs aren’t funny, take Laser Cannon Deth Sentence for instance. If you follow the show, during the second season’s first episode the Dethklok guys go to a prison to play a show for the prisoners, on the premise that they’ll be able to choose how 25 of the prisoners are executed. They play this beast of a song from on top of a 50 story giant metal robot spider with drills for legs as it stomps all over the fans and blows up the prisoners. This song is four minutes and thirty six seconds of absolute non-stop frenzied brutality.
Dethsupport is another hilarious song that makes you wonder if Dethklok even understands the concept of limits. The whole song is talking about somebody who is on life support, and the chorus seems to be a repeated chant of “PULL THE PLUG!”
The first track, Bloodlines, is probably my favorite track on the album, despite how much I’ve anticipated and anxiously awaited Laser Cannon Deth Sentence. It screams amazing from start to finish, sampling the scene from the episode where the band goes to the Amazon to do the drug Yopo. There’s a bit of a tribal feel to the whole thing, finishing strong with an epic progression of guitar riffs, tribal drums, and Nathan Explosion’s dark death growls. Every time I hear it, I shit my pants.
With tracks like The Gears, Burn the Earth, and Black Fire Upon Us, it’s evident that the objective here was to ensure that all who listened left the album with a stunned expression and destroyed eardrums.
I must sadly also mention that I’m largely unhappy with the way the vocals of this album have been altered in some songs. It sounds like they were recorded underwater, you’ll notice what I’m talking about if you listen to about 2:55 into The Gears. It’s a little bit weird, but overall it doesn’t harm the album too much.
All said, I’d say I have to definitely give this album an 8/10. Keep making more epic albums for us to melt our faces to, Dethklok!
Get the album from Amazon.
I’d guess that “pull the plug” is an homage to death, and the underwater vox are either because they did that one episode where they recorded an album under water OR as a nod to morbid angel, a la “where the slime live.” …maybe
Yeah, Dethsupport is from the similarly titled episode, all sounds likely.