I highly recommend this show. I don't qualify that by saying 'if you like metal', that's not necessary. It is, however, aimed at people who like adult cartoons.
In this age of South Park and Family Guy, people shouldn't be shocked by the sight of animated gore that is found in Metalocalypse. And by gore, I don't mean simply seeing blood spattering around the screen. A dream sequence has one character having his head cleanly cleft down the middle, showing a detailed cutaway view of his cranial whatnots. The gore is one area of the show the creators are getting decidedly creative about. Gore, and inept reconstruction, like in the song 'Sewn Back Together Wrong'. It's a running theme here, ancillary characters that manage to survive their first show often reappear sporting cobbled together artificial appendages.
The big draw, for me at least, is the characterization and dialogue. The show revolves around the five members of the fictional heavy metal band Dethklok, each with his own unique, and identifiable quirks. Skwisgar is my favorite, a nihilistic prima donna who just wants to live the rock star life. Murderface is repellent yet fascinating. A tension-filled ball of insecurity and self-hatred. The singer Nathan is huge and scary-looking, and an enthusiastic booster of all things dark and brutal. Toki seems perfectly innocent, still smarting from his overly strict upbringing, and Pickles seems the most normal of the bunch, providing a personality we can most easily identify with, albeit with a strange 'skullet' hairdo and a thick midwestern accent.
These five are virtually inseparable, and their overlapping, back and forth dialogue provide most of the humor here. The two Scandinavians struggle with English still, making them even more quotable. Together they create a group dynamic that really feels lived in, like they've been dealing with each other for years.
I first found out about this show by seeing the DVD set in the stores. I liked the idea of a metal-themed cartoon, but figured it was just pandering to the metal-heads. I made a point to see it on Adult Swim and found out how good it actually is. Brendon Small is a co-creator, and provides many of the voices and he also writes and performs the original music in the show. He clearly has a great love of metal, putting together a collection of songs good enough to make him an established artist in his own right.
Adult cartoons have been improving by leaps and bounds the last 10 years. South Park is far better now than when it started out, and the other new series that come out now are usually more ambitious and creative than they used to be. It's hard to imagine that the Simpsons seemed so subversive when they started. Supposedly the Flintstones were considered a walk on the wild side back in the day. This is the state of the American cartoon art now, and it's well worth a serious look. It's smart, it's creative, and it shows us things most of us hadn't seen before.
And it's really, really funny.
In this age of South Park and Family Guy, people shouldn't be shocked by the sight of animated gore that is found in Metalocalypse. And by gore, I don't mean simply seeing blood spattering around the screen. A dream sequence has one character having his head cleanly cleft down the middle, showing a detailed cutaway view of his cranial whatnots. The gore is one area of the show the creators are getting decidedly creative about. Gore, and inept reconstruction, like in the song 'Sewn Back Together Wrong'. It's a running theme here, ancillary characters that manage to survive their first show often reappear sporting cobbled together artificial appendages.
The big draw, for me at least, is the characterization and dialogue. The show revolves around the five members of the fictional heavy metal band Dethklok, each with his own unique, and identifiable quirks. Skwisgar is my favorite, a nihilistic prima donna who just wants to live the rock star life. Murderface is repellent yet fascinating. A tension-filled ball of insecurity and self-hatred. The singer Nathan is huge and scary-looking, and an enthusiastic booster of all things dark and brutal. Toki seems perfectly innocent, still smarting from his overly strict upbringing, and Pickles seems the most normal of the bunch, providing a personality we can most easily identify with, albeit with a strange 'skullet' hairdo and a thick midwestern accent.
These five are virtually inseparable, and their overlapping, back and forth dialogue provide most of the humor here. The two Scandinavians struggle with English still, making them even more quotable. Together they create a group dynamic that really feels lived in, like they've been dealing with each other for years.
I first found out about this show by seeing the DVD set in the stores. I liked the idea of a metal-themed cartoon, but figured it was just pandering to the metal-heads. I made a point to see it on Adult Swim and found out how good it actually is. Brendon Small is a co-creator, and provides many of the voices and he also writes and performs the original music in the show. He clearly has a great love of metal, putting together a collection of songs good enough to make him an established artist in his own right.
Adult cartoons have been improving by leaps and bounds the last 10 years. South Park is far better now than when it started out, and the other new series that come out now are usually more ambitious and creative than they used to be. It's hard to imagine that the Simpsons seemed so subversive when they started. Supposedly the Flintstones were considered a walk on the wild side back in the day. This is the state of the American cartoon art now, and it's well worth a serious look. It's smart, it's creative, and it shows us things most of us hadn't seen before.
And it's really, really funny.