2011-11-03

Metalocalypse Overview

Metalocalypse is an American animated television series, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha, which premiered on August 6, 2006 on Adult Swim. The television program centers around the larger than life death metal band Dethklok and often portrays dark and macabre content, including such subjects as violence, death, and the drawbacks of fame, with extremely hyperbolic black humor and often gets a TV-MA V rating. The show can be seen as both a parody and celebration of heavy metal culture.

The music is written by guitarist/creator Brendon Small, is credited to the band, and is featured in most of the episodes. The animation is often carefully synced to the music, with the chord positions and fingering of the guitar parts shown in some detail.


In the series, Dethklok is a death metal band which enjoys a popularity level unheard of in reality, ranking as the seventh largest economy on Earth by the end of the second season. The fictional band members are Nathan Explosion, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Pickles The Drummer, William Murderface, and Toki Wartooth. Their manager is Charles Foster Offdensen.

If Dethklok endorses a product or service, competitors are quickly driven out of business. Organizations worldwide, ranging from governments to businesses, go out of their way to avoid hindering Dethklok, to the point that the band is allowed to maintain its own police force and can get away with any crime imaginable with virtually no repercussions, although the band is often too ignorant to even notice that they are committing illegal acts.

The members of Dethklok tend to cause disaster wherever they travel, and anything remotely associated with them likewise attracts chaos. Dethklok concerts are so notoriously dangerous that those attending are required to sign "pain waivers" at the entrance, releasing the band from legal liability in the very likely case attendees are killed or maimed. The band is shown to have a callous disregard for their fans' safety, as shown in the first episode where they pour scalding hot coffee over concertgoers.

The band's popularity is such that impressionable fans will do anything for them, even if that means death, which is usually the case. In the episode "Dethgov", fans of Dethklok murder the governor of Florida after he refuses to establish a holiday for lead singer Nathan Explosion (to be named "Nathan Explosion Day"), whom they then proceed to elect governor in a landslide write-in victory.

The band's unnatural popularity and trail of destruction has attracted the attention of an Illuminati-style group, known as The Tribunal, dedicated to monitoring Dethklok's activity and plans. Typically, episodes involve the Tribunal attempting to maintain and perpetuate public ignorance and rampant consumerism whenever Dethklok's antics inadvertently threaten to upset the status quo. The Tribunal, led by a mysterious character named "Mr. Selatcia", works off the premise that Dethklok's unusual powers are the result of an ancient Sumerian prophecy about an "Apocalypse of Metal". General Crozier, the military leader in the anti-Dethklok group, appears to desire either the death of the band's members or the dismantlement of the band itself, but Mr. Selatcia consistently overrules him to prevent this from happening. Most episodes show the Tribunal attempting to covertly thwart the band by calling in various "specialists", such as "military pharmaceutical psychotropic drug manufacturers", "celebrity depression experts", or various legally compromised characters who attempt to infiltrate the group.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metalocalypse