Dethklok – Metalocalypse: Dethalbum II (Deluxe Edition)
Williams Street, 2009
9/10
The Dethklock and Metalocalypse phenomenon continues on. It truly is remarkable how a cartoon about a death metal band spawned a crossover-hit TV show and a touring machine that resulted in 2007’s Metalocalypse: The Dethalbum laying claim to being the top-selling death metal of all time. With the release of Dethalbum II, the question is whether Dethklok is a legitimate act to be taken seriously or whether it is an interesting novelty. Dethklok, of course, is essentially a one-man band as Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small handles all vocals and instruments except drums, for which he’s again enlisted drummer extraordinaire Gene Hoglan. I’m happy to say that Dethklok has delivered an album that is better and more satisfying than the debut album. The songs are more diverse, incredibly heavy, and are not simply extended soundtrack-style musings. Differences between this and the debut album are relatively minor, the most notable being the occasional use of non-intrusive keyboards and more screaming vocals. Songs range from the blinding fast staccato of songs like “Dethsupport” and “The Gears” to the slower, mid-tempo gallops of “Burn The Earth” and “Bloodlines”. Some of my favorites are “Comet Song”, “The Cyborg Slayers”, with it’s crunching riffage, and “Laser Cannon Deth Sentence”, which features the coolest stuttering chorus since “You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet” by Bachman–Turner Overdrive. Even though the album is over 50 minutes long, the songs don’t tire and listening to the whole record is a pleasure. The songs are varied enough to hold interest, yet don’t stray far off the track. It may be a little depressing that currently the most popular death metal band is a cartoon, but Dethalbum II proves that Dethklok is for real and it demands your attention.
The Deluxe Edition features an additional, nearly hour-long DVD of the cartoon videos that played behind the band on their 2008 tour. These are not live versions of songs, and all of the songs were previously released on the debut album. Nevertheless, watching the videos is a lot of fun and it’s nice that these are being made available to fans. The Deluxe Edition is only a couple bucks more than the standard edition, so this is well-worth the minimal extra expense. The only downside is that apparently the Deluxe Edition is only available in physical format, and the DVD material is not available in a downloadable format from online retailers.
Dethklok will be appearing alongside co-headliners Mastodon at Roy Wilkins Auditorium in St. Paul on Friday, October 16. Support will come from Converge and High On Fire.
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