Dethklok at Myspace

The Adult Swim show “Metalocalypse” has proved to be very controversial in the metal community. Some have praised it, while others think that it makes a mockery of the genre. Personally, I like it a lot, but I wasn’t sure if series creator Brendon Small could make a worthwhile album out of the music from the show. After hearing the album, I have to say that it’s pretty good. Small made a great decision in recruiting Gene Hoglan to play the drums; his playing is a huge improvement over the drum machine used on the show. Small handles all the other instruments, and he’s competent but not amazing.

I have to say that the songs from the show tend to be better than the songs written specifically for the album. They tend to be significantly better performed than the original versions (although I preferred Small’s delivery of the intro to Fansong in the show). The lyrics to the original songs just aren’t quite as funny as the ones from the show; “Bloodtrocuted” was probably the best of them. I especially disliked the clean vocals on “Hatredcopter” and “Kill You”. I should also mention that there is a special edition with an extra disc. It has five extra songs and the non-musical “Dethklok Gets In Tune”. The material here just isn’t as strong, and I understand why it got relegated to a bonus disc (even though one disc could’ve held all the songs). The only song I really liked on the bonus disc was the blues number “Murdertrain a Comin’”. Two other things I disliked were the absence of Dr. Rockzo and the song “Sewn Back Together Wrong,” but these are minor grievances.

I would recommend this album for people who are prepared to listen to the hilarious lyrics and who have a sense of humor. Dethklok isn’t the be-all and end-all of metal that the Hot Topic crowd thinks it is, but I’d rather have them be the public’s image of metal than Dragonforce.

Tuesday, July 22nd, 2008 @ 2:51 am Death Metal
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