Metalocalypse

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Metalocalypse

The characters of Metalocalypse in a promotional poster.
From left to right: William Murderface, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Nathan Explosion, Pickles, and Toki Wartooth.
Format Animated black comedy
Created by Tommy Blacha
Brendon Small
Starring Brendon Small
Tommy Blacha
Mark Hamill
Victor Brandt
Country of origin Flag of the United States United States
No. of seasons 2
No. of episodes 26 (List of episodes)
Production
Running time 11 min. (appr/ox.)
Broadcast
Original channel Cartoon Network
Teletoon
Original run August 4, 2006 – present
External links
Official website
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Metalocalypse is an animated television series on Adult Swim created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha. It has been described as "Spinal Tap meets Scooby-Doo meets Norway".[1] The show's first season consists of twenty eleven-minute episodes, the first of which premiered on the Adult Swim Video on August 4, 2006 and on Adult Swim proper the following Sunday. Metalocalypse was renewed for a second season consisting of twenty episodes which began airing September 23, 2007, two days before the CD release of The Dethalbum. The Metalocalypse premiere was the #1 rated show in its time slot among males aged 18-34, and earned the network's best premiere delivery and ratings to date in 2006. Among the top ad-supported basic cable programs of the week, Metalocalypse ranked #12 among men 18-34 and #6 among men 18-24. The series premiere ranked #30 for the week among adults 18-34.[2]

Contents

Main articles: Dethklok, List of Metalocalypse characters, and List of Metalocalypse episodes

Metalocalypse follows the exploits of the part-American/part-Scandinavian death metal band Dethklok. Although the name is usually spelled "Dethklok," almost all of the band logos have it spelled as "Dëthkløk." Dethklok follows true-to-life metal styling, one example being their death metal-oriented song, "Murmaider," about "mermaid murder." They enjoy a popularity level unheard of in reality, being "the twelfth largest economy on Earth." They are so popular that their fans will do anything their songs tell them, even if it means death. If Dethklok endorses a company, it instantly becomes the only source for the product it happens to sell, as every competitor is quickly driven out of business. The band's unnatural popularity has attracted the attention of an Illuminati-style group, known as the Tribunal. Each episode sees this group attempt to covertly thwart the band by calling in various "specialists", such as "military pharmaceutical psychotropic drug manufacturers", "celebrity depression specialists" or various psychopaths that attempt to infiltrate the group. It is alluded to on the show that several Washington think tanks specifically related to the band exist.

The band's concerts are notoriously violent, often resulting in harm to a good portion of the crowd. Even their attempts at charity result in numerous deaths, such as the laser light show that butchered the London Philharmonic orchestra during a benefit concert, and an entire island being maimed by "wayward kitties". The premiere episode gives an example of this: a metal box that serves as the band's stage is airlifted and dropped on location, but misses the landing area and crushes a good portion of the crowd, both by virtue of its landing and by its subsequent opening. Several searing hot coffee and cream pitchers are also poured on the crowd, melting their skin off, to fit with the death metal styled coffee jingle being played by the band. Despite the obvious danger, however, people love Dethklok's concerts so much that they will sign "pain waivers"[3] at the entrance, signing their lives away and releasing the band from legal liability in the very likely case they are killed or dismembered. The band members reside together in a vast mansion called Mordhaus (German for "Murder House") in an unspecified mountainous region known as Mordland. According to the Dethklok MySpace page, Mordland is in the United States [4] (Norway on the program). The members of Dethklok are portrayed as generally sociopathic and inept in all things non-musical except for negotiating their own contracts. Despite the band's immense success and talent, all of the members have self-esteem issues which surface to varying degrees during the show. Their monumental wealth allows them to get away with just about anything, including murder. The band members share an obsession with "brutality" and "metal-ness," often choosing whether or not to do something based on how "metal" they believe it to be. Two members of the group suffer from extreme alcoholism, so drunkenness is often a plot device.

  • Brendon Small – Nathan Explosion, Pickles, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Charles Ofdensen and others
  • Tommy Blacha – William Murderface, Toki Wartooth, and others
  • Mark Hamill – Senator Stampingston, Jean-Pierre, Mr. Salatcia and others
  • Victor Brandt – General Crozier, Cardinal Ravenwood and others

Earlier concepts for the series were inspired by such parody acts as GWAR. The series was originally pitched as Deathclock, but the name could not be used due to an existing trademark. The show and the main characters' band were then renamed Dethklok. The show's title was then extended to Dethklock Metalocalypse, although the starring band still retained the name Dethklok. The crew finally shortened the title to Metalocalypse because the extended show title was too complicated.

Cameos
  • Laraine Newman ("The Curse of Dethklok") – "News Reporter," "Grandma," "GMILF," ("Dethfam") – "Rose Explosion (Nathan's Mom)," "Pickles' Mom," "Serveta Skwigelf (Skwisgaar's Mom)"
  • Jon Schnepp ("Birthdayface or Happy Dethday") - "Dr. Gibbits," ("Skwisklok") – "Video Director"
  • Laura Silverman ("Girlfriendklok") – "Rebecca Nightrod," ("Dethstars")
  • Andy Richter ("Dethstars") – "J.F. Amarth"
  • Malcolm McDowell ("Dethecution") - "Alfred Belmer", ("Dethlessons", Dethvengence") - "Vater Orlaag", ("Dethlessons") - "Dimneld Selftcark", ("Dethfashion")
Musician cameos

Nearly every episode features several passing references to other real-world metal bands in the form of names, places, or general behavior on the part of the characters.

  • The introduction for Skwisgaar's guitar show contains the quote "the art of shredding" - a song by Pantera. (Skwisklok)
  • A grocery store shares the name of Finnish folk metal band Finntroll. (The Curse of Dethklok)
  • Nathan Explosion mentions the titles of three songs by Cannibal Corpse over the microphone in Fintrolls - "Price check, clean-up aisle 6. Rotted Body Landslide. And don't forget our special sale on Every Bone Broken chicken! Hurry! Enjoy our tasty Hammer Smashed Face. Aisle 3." (The Curse of Dethklok)
  • The band and their families go out to eat at Burzum's, the same name as the Norwegian black metal band Burzum. (Dethfam)
  • The General and the priest also eat a Burzum's. (Religionklok)
  • The store at which Murderface buys his grandfather an electric wheelchair is named Gorgoroth's, which is also the name of the Norwegian black metal band Gorgoroth. (Dethfam)
  • The band members and their families go to a mini-golf park called Marduk's Putt & Stuff, also the name of Swedish black metal band Marduk. (Dethfam)
  • Nathan Explosion dreams he is employed at Dimmu Burger, a fast food chain which has a similar name as Norwegian black metal band Dimmu Borgir. (Go Forth and Die)
  • Nathan Explosion takes his GED at Carpathian Forest High, which is the same name as the Norwegian black metal band Carpathian Forest. (Go Forth and Die)
  • The head of the film studio is called James Grishnackh, black metal musician Varg Vikernes's (Burzum) used the pseudonym, Count Grishnackh. (Dethstars)
  • The production company for Blood Ocean is called Behemoth Productions, there is a Polish black/death metal band named Behemoth, and the director of Blood Ocean is named Adam Nergal, the lead singer of Behemoth is named Adam (Nergal) Darski. (Dethstars)
  • The actor J.F. Amarth may be named after the Swedish death metal band Amon Amarth. (Dethstars)
  • In a TV show clip in Dethstars, the actors are called "Valerie Vrangsinn", "James Cronos" and "Lupe Asesino". (Dethstars)
  • The band plays in Danzig (also known as Gdańsk), a major Polish city which is also the name of a metal band fronted by The Misfits/Samhain front man Glenn Danzig. (The Metalocalypse Has Begun)
  • In the episode "Birthdayface", when Murderface is presented with JFK's 1961 Lincoln Continental, Toki proclaims that it has "big fat tires and everything," which is a line from Highway Star by the British hard rock group Deep Purple.
  • In "Dethecution", during the news report on the aftermath, the person with no arms makes reference to Dimmu Borgir by announcing the song "Den Gjemte". This person was voiced by Silenoz, a guitarist for Dimmu Borgir.
  • In an interview with UltimateGuitar.com([1]), Opeth frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt claimed that Tommy Blacha emailed him in character as Toki Wartooth, and confirmed the character is based on him.
  • The bands "Snakes 'n Barrels" and "Zazz Blammymatazz", both former bands of characters in the show, are believed by some fans to be parodies of the bands Guns 'n Roses and Van Halen, respectively.
  • In the episode Dethfashion the album cover for Dethklok's latest fictional album resembles the cover of various Manowar album covers, most notably Fighting the World.
  • Dr. Rockzo, the Rock 'n Roll Clown is mostly a parody of Van Halen frontman David Lee Roth and his band is a parody of Van Halen. The face paint and clown makeup all members wear is likely a reference to the band Kiss.
  • In the CD lyric booklet, the word "death" in the song lyrics is replaced with "DETH" similar to the fashion used in Megadeth CD lyric booklets.
  • In the episode "Mordhaus", the Jomfru brothers are shown to have created a website called "Diefordethklok.com". The logo is identical to the logo for the band Metallica.
  • One of the typefaces used for "Play All" and "Main Menu" text on the episode lists on the DVD menus is same used for the Metallica logo from the Load and ReLoad albums.
  • In episode 6, Dethfam, Murderface says "I'd rather be sanded faceless than grow old and repugnant like that". This is a direct reference to the song Sanded Faceless by Cannibal Corpse.
  • In episode 17, Dethclown, while trying to convince Toki to not hangout with Dr. Rockzo, Skwisgaar states, "What kinds of a friends takes you on such a Godless Endeavor as that?" a reference to the American metal band Nevermore, of whom has a song and album entitled "This Godless Endeavor".
  • In the episode "Go Forth And Die", when Nathan is working at Dimmu Burger, the words "Cradle of Fries" can be seen on the menu above his head. This is a reference to British gothic metal band Cradle of Filth, as well as Dimmu Burger being a reference to Norwegian black metal band Dimmu Borgir.
  • The name of the episode "Dethstars" is a reference to Swedish industrial metal band Deathstars
  • The way words are written on the show beginning with the prefix "Deth-" may be a reference to Norwegian black metal band Mayhem's 1987 demo entitled "Deathrehearsal" and EP Deathcrush, or a reference to the band Megadeth.
  • On every Krank Amp, there's a picture of Dimebag Darrell of Pantera as a tribute.
  • In the episode "Skwisklok," Skwisgaar battles dragons in the opening music video, shooting them down with his guitar, similar to the cover of Swedish Shred Guitarist, Yngwie Malmsteen's Trilogy.
  • In the first episode, Toki mentions one of their former chefs "blow he brain in", after which he says "It make a great album cover", a reference to the infamous Mayhem bootleg, Dawn of the Black Hearts.

Main article: The Dethalbum

The Dethalbum was released on September 25, 2007, in both standard and deluxe editions. The album is a combination of full length tracks from the series and completely new songs. The album debuted at #21 on the Billboard 200 chart with 33,740 copies sold in its first week. This makes Metalocalypse: Dethklok's The Dethalbum the highest charting death metal album ever.[5] The Dethalbum was also streamed 45,000 times when it went live on AOL Music during the week of its release.

Dethklok, the in-show band, also endorses several real-world music products, including Krank Amplification, Gibson guitars, EMG pickups, David Eden Amplification, Universal Audio, M-Audio, Dunlop Manufacturing/MXR, and Line 6 gear. On Dethklok's MySpace page, an entry attributed to Nathan Explosion announced that the band was making a real album, called "Dethalbum," featuring drummer Gene Hoglan; it was released on September 25th, 2007 in both standard and deluxe (two-disc) versions. The "DethAlbum" features songs from the show in full length, rather than the shortened versions released via the band's MySpace page. The DethAlbum also features never-before heard songs. One of these songs, entitled Hatredcopter, can be found on the European release of the Saw III soundtrack, meaning it was heard before. According to the official Dethklok MySpace, the Gibson Guitar Corporation was also planning on making a Dethklok signature guitar, and Shocker Toys, have announced that they are planning to make action figures based on the band and will have them on hand at San Diego Comic-Con 2007.[6] The song Thunderhorse is featured in the game Guitar Hero II by Harmonix and Red Octane as a bonus song.

 Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.
  • The word "zazz" is used quite frequently in the show. Advertisements are seen for "Zazz Beer" ("Religionklok"), Skwisgaar is told by the band his guitar program "needs zazz" ("Skwisklok"), and Dr. Rockzo's band is called "Zazz Blammymatazz" ("Cleanzo").
  • In the episode "Dethcomedy", Toki's joke "Mom always hated you most" is an homage to the Smothers Brothers trademark line, "Mom always liked you best!"
  • In "Cleanzo" there is a scene that makes fun of David Hasselhoff when he is struggling to eat a burger; there is a video of David doing the same that was released in 2007.

  1. ^ http://talk-show.livejournal.com/52216.html
  2. ^ Turner Broadcasting ratings information
  3. ^ Ign.com Dethklok pain waiver - July 14, 2006
  4. ^ Dethklok official myspace
  5. ^ Blabbermouth.net
  6. ^ Adult Swim national TV bump

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to:
v • d • e
Metalocalypse
Touring band Brendon Small · Gene Hoglan · Mike Keneally · Bryan Beller
Related articles The Dethalbum · Dethklok · Episode list · Characters list · Tommy Blacha · Emilie Autumn · Adult Swim · Guitar Hero II · Williams Street
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalocalypse"
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