Customer Reviews

Metalocalypse: Season One

5 star:		(71)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(8)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

Adult Swim have realy outdone themselves this time. Who would have thought that a cartoon about a post-apocalyptic death metal band ruling the world would be this good? Whether they're unleashing swarms of murderous kitties on an unsuspecting populous, summoning giant trolls to ravage the countryside, trying their hand at stand-up comedy (death metal style), or destroying hippies with the combined darkness of thrash and the blues Dethklok always finds a way to keep the mayhem coming.

Featuring the world's fastest guitarist, a bassist who can pull off a wicked solo playing with his johnson, an alcoholic drummer who used to front a bad 80's metal band, an amusingly naive childish rhythm guitarist, and a singer who talks in his growling metal voice all the time and is obsessed with all things brutal, the show is never short of hilarious characters to abuse and the laughs just do not stop. And I haven't even mentioned Dr. Rockso, the rock 'n roll clown who uses his high Axl Rose-ish voice to screech his catch phrase, "I DO COCAINE!!!" at anyone who will listen.

The music is fantastically metal with plenty of double-bass drums, shredding guitar, and nearly incoherent ranting (the subtitles help lots) that will make you bang your head and laugh at the same time. The episodes are short, to the point, and packed with satire, heavy metal references (a fast food place named Dimmu Burger, anyone?), and shear insanity. My personal favorite episode involves bassist William Murderface looking for religion after a near-death experience. The band takes him to a lame christian rock show where several concert-goers and band members wind up dying grisly deaths after a Dethklok member tries to join the fun by starting a mosh pit. Later, they give devil worshipping a try in what has to be one of the funniest animated scenes (and possibly most true to life) I've ever watched. Best satanic quote ever: "Pick up after yourselves; this is a Church of Satan, not a wastepaper basket."

If you don't see a special features menu when you fire up your DVD's, don't freak out. The bizarre assortment of features are hidden within the menu and can be found by moving the cursor to highlight different parts of the logo or band members' faces. There is a tour of Dethklok's compound, Mordhaus, a series of amusing band interviews, a slightly extended Murderface bass solo, a montage featuring the series' more violent moments, and even a little porn. Then there's the 20 minutes of frontman Nathan Explosion reading Shakespeare; if you can sit through that, you are a bigger fan than I. My only complaint is that -while the special features are freeballing it- the show itself remains censored. Sure, the cool guitar noises beat the hell out of the bleeps other shows use, but they should be optional. Still it's a minor complaint about an awesome set.

So if you're a metalhead with a sense of humor or are looking for some truly twisted, violent, and laugh-out-loud funny animated entertainment to NOT share with your children then "Metalocalypse" is as good as it gets. And with each episode clocking in at a little over 10 minutes, it's a fantastic way to catch some quick laughs and hear some headbanging good music on the run. "Now go forth and DIIIIIEEEE!!!!"

First off, I love the packaging, the shiney letters are a nice touch. Next the episodes are excatley as they were aired on TV, guitar screech and all, but I think the guitar screech is damn funny in it's own.

On disc 1 the episodes go as fallows
1. The Curse of Dethklok
2. Dethwater
3. Birthdayface
4. Dethtroll
5. Murdering Outside the Box
6. Dethkomedy
7. Dethfam
8. Performance Klok
9. Snakes n' Barrels
10. Mordland

Disc 2
1. Fatklok
2. Skwisklok
3. Go Forth and Die
4. Bluesklok
5. Dethkids
6. Religionklok
7. Dethklown
8. Girlfriendklok
9. Dethstars
10. It Has Begun

~**~WARNING SPOILERS AHEAD~**~

Special Fetures are located in the Dethklok logo on the main screen

on Disc 1:

Main Menu

Up one from Play All will highlight Murderfaces mustache, hit enter to watch a longer version of Murderface playing bass with his "Ding Dong".

Hit up twice from play all to highlight part of the logo under the D in Dethklok hit enter, there you will see the religous man from the society watching Dethklok trying to play guitar.

Hit up twice and down once from play all and it will highlight Skwisgarrs eyes hit enter, you will see "The Skwisgaar Skwigelf Advanced Fast Hand Finger Wizard Master Class" where he will teach you how to play the solo in the coffee jingle.

Hit up once then enter from Episodes to highlight Nathans eyes, it will bring you to Nathan reading Hamlet, wait for about 20 mins for the credits to roll and read it all.

Hit up twice then hit enter from episode it will highlight the gear to see Skiwsgaar fliming his part in the Thunderhorse video.

Hit up once from set up then hit enter to see Murderface play Wheelchair Bound.


DISC 2:

Main Menu

Hit up once from play all will highlight the small of the axe on the left side, hit enter to see Dethklok talk about family.

Hit up once then down once from play all to highlight another part of the axe on the left side, hit enter to see Dethklok talk about fans.

Hit up once and down twice from play all to highlight the left bottom part of the D in Dethklok, hit enter to see Dethklok talk about Education.

Hit up once and down three times from play all to highlight the dimond in the middle on the D in Dethklok, hit enter to see Dethklok talk about Disasters

Hit up once and down four times from play all to highlight a part of the logo under the axe handel, hit enter to see Dethklok talk about Food.

Hit up once and down five times from play all, or up once from episodes to highlight the central gear, hit enter to see Dethklok talking about the Future

Hit up once and down six times from play all, or up once and down once from episodes to highlight the O in Dethklok, hit enter to see a tour of Mordhaus

Hit up once and down seven times from play all, or up once and down twice from episodes to highlight a square of thiney metal next to the gears, hit enter to see Dethklok talk about Insects

Hit up once and down 8 times from play all, or up once and down three times from episodes to highlight a triangel of shiney metal, hit enter to see Dethklok talk about Politics.

Hit up once and down nine times from play all, or up once and down four times from episodes to highlight the uper right part of the K in Dethklok, hit enter to see Dethklok talk about women.

Hit up once and down ten times from play all, or up once and down five times from episodes to highlight the small of the axe on the right hand side of the Dethklok logo to see a compilation video of clips from various episodes of Metalocalyspe

In the Episodes menu

Go down to Bluesklok and hit left to high light a horn, hit enter to see a statue of the leader of the society watching Dethklok.

Go down to Dethkids and hit right to highlight a horn, hit enter to see Toki showing off his "Cod peice"

Go down to Dethstars and hit left to highlight the blood pee, hit enter to see a menu for Burzums

Go down to Dethstars and hit right to highlight the blood pee, hit enter to see a scean from grilfriendklok uncencored

Go to play all and hit left to highlight a snakes eye, hit enter to see Pickles from his Snakes n' Barrles days.

Metalocalypse... I shouldn't really have to say more but I'd love to anyway. I was channel surfing one night and came across the best show Adult Swim has to offer, and changed the channel. It was halfway through the episode and I didn't know what was going on. Later, a buddy of mine told me to watch it. We watched Dethwater and I was hooked. This show is great for any fan Metal fan or not. Now I have introduced to a lot of my friends. Even ones that can't stand heavy metal, and they can attest to the greatness of this show. Five friggin stars. Anyone, who's already a fan of Adult Swim shows, should have no problem getting quickly attached to this show. Squizgar Squigelf Taller than a Tree, Toki Wartooth not a bumble be, William Murderface, Murderface, Murderface, Pickles the Drummer doodlie doo, ding dong doodlie doo... Nathan Explosion.

"We will make everything metal. Blacker than the blackest black... times infinity!"

So says Dethklok, in one of Adult Swim's best series ever -- an affectionate, hilarious satire on metal and celebrity. And the first season of "Metalocalypse" is crammed with sex, alcohol, gratuitous gore, rock'n'roll clowns, messy death.... and lots and lots of doom metal.

Dethklok is the biggest, darkest, most brutal, most METAL band in the world: the gravel-voiced frontman Nathan Explosion, enraged nihilist William Murderface, the smart guy Pickle, childlike Toki, and haughty elf-like Lothario Skwisgaar. The only ones who don't adore them are a secret Tribunal, who monitor all of Dethklok's goings-on, from their love lives to their celebrity endorsements.

As the series opens, the band is playing a sold-out megaconcert to promote a coffee jingle ("We will make coffee METAL!"). Unfortunately their latest chef accidentally gets dismembered during the concert ("By the power of all that is evil, I command you to awaken and make me a sandwich!"). Since they now have to cook for themselves, a disastrous trip to the "Food Library" follows.

But that's not the only problem Dethklok must deal with (or cause): they set a lake troll loose on Finland, record in the Mariana Trench, arrange a "metal" birthday party, adopt a porcine child, undergo group therapy, suffer through a fan tour of their Mordor-like citadel, and attempt to cope when Nathan starts dating a shrewish actress.

They have to deal with stand-up comedy, religion, the blues, old band reunions, and celebrity endorsements... as well as Dethklok's ghastly movie debut, the turgidly wooden "Blood Ocean." And as they prepare to play their newest album live, two rogue members of the Tribunal decide to finally destroy Dethklok once and for all...

With the exception of the immortal Spinal Tap, it's hard to think of a fictional metal band that is half as good -- or funny -- as Dethklok. "Metalocalypse" relentlessly makes fun of metal, even as it gives it an affectionate pat on the back ("Finland is expecting our apology for almost destroying the nation last tour").

The episodes are only about eleven minutes long, so Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha have to cram the material in -- it's frankly amazing that they can manage even a small plot. There's loads of violent gore (exploding heads, for instance), crazy metal antics and funny scenarios -- when trying to sell their souls to the devil, they manage to drive him away with legalese.

And the dialogue is pretty much genius -- Smalls and Blacha load it with quotables ("That's my bread and butter you're f***ing with"), weird conversations ("In Sweden, underwears is, y'know, the kinky stuff, worn as a fetish..."), and surreal lines ("Candy: tastes like chicken, if chicken was a candy"). Hardly a scene goes by without at least two hilarious lines or exchanges.

Frankly none of the Dethklok members are actually people you'd wanna know -- they're inept, disconnected from reality, kinda sociopathic, and only Pickle seems to have real brains. But they're all entertaining to watch, and over time they actually become endearing, with their own little quirks and oddities. Especially Toki ("Wowie!").

If you like mature, sophisticated comedies of manners, full of witty repartee... then the first season of "Metalocalypse" is not for you. Talk about brutal.

I started watching this show on the Adult Swim website & I was hooked. The story surrounds the world's biggest band Dethklok, which is also one of the world's most valuable resources. The band is composed of spoiled & selfish band members that, despite traveling all over the world, are completely out of touch with the outside world. Most of the story covers parts of each band member's life or past, as well as their struggles to do things that ordinary people do (such as grocery shopping). An overlying story arc is of a mysterious group of world leaders that secretly watch the band, worried that they might fulfill an ancient Sumerian prophecy of an apocalypse.

While the show is predominantly aimed towards men aged 16-30, it's humor, animation, & great storylines appeal to a female audience as well. One of the great in-jokes of the series is the name dropping of metal bands or music product names into the series as background names. If you like Robot Chicken, ATHF, or Venture Bros, you are sure to like this series.

This is one of the very few shows I will actually spend my time watching. Amongst the filth and dullness of reality TV, you find this amazing gem that is great to watch.

I'm happy to have this DVD for the same reason that I enjoy most of my TV show boxsets...no commercials, subtitles for my convenience when I can't make out pieces of dialouge, and so-on. My main beef with this particular product is the navigation is very erratic in quality between features and production pieces were entirely lacking. As far the material of the show itself, well, it just doesn't get any better. Adult Swim tickled my funny bone with a brutal blow of crushing metal that just keeps getting funnier, in a twisted sort of way. DETHKLOK RULES! YEEEAAAHHHHHHHHH!!

Metalocalypse is probably one of the greatest satire projects for metal EVER!!! Yet, similar to Spinal Tap, the music is brilliantly stunning. With a combination like this, it's no wonder that it did as well as it did on Cartoon Network. So it doesn't matter if you are male or female. It doesn't mater if you like Metal or Classical. As long as you have a sense of humor, and an open mind this is one of the best cartoon series you could ever watch. Let's also not forget to mention it's as unique as you can get. Never have I seen a cartoon that was music based be so original in story. So if you are now interested in buying Season One, and you have read not just mine, but everyone's reviews. I think it's clear to say, GO BUY IT NOW!!!!!

the dvd is censored as much as on TV, if you have a wide screen TV the show will be in the middle of the screen and tiny, other than that I would have given it 5 stars

One of my 4 favorite cartoons on Adult Swim, plus harkens back to the "old School-Metal days" and theSpinal Tap feel with Humor aimed at adults, not for kids and thats why I like it!