Max Adult Animated Series Is Hilariously Brutal And A Must-Watch For All Rockers

As Dethklok ascends to levels of superstardom that only Taylor Swift has attained in the real world, we learn about the inner workings of their militarized compound, their inadvertent threat to humanity, and just how petty a group of unthinkably wealthy death metal musicians can get while bickering over their Pro Tools sessions.

At its heart, Metalocalypse is a show about the world’s most popular band: Dethklok. Their music has reached such a staggering level of popularity that the established economy surrounding their day-to-day operations exceeds the GDP of most established first-world nations.

But Dethklok’s popularity is not without consequences, as mass suicides occur whenever they delay the release of an album, which happens frequently.

Fronted by vocalist Nathan Explosion, Dethklok is backed by William Murderface’s bass playing, Pickles’ drumming, and the dual guitar efforts of Skwisgaar Skwigelf and Toki Wartooth.

Known to throw massively dangerous concerts in which fans have to sign “pain wavers” (read: signing over their lives), Dethklok causes mass destruction wherever they go, but are more often than not blissfully unaware of how much damage they actually cause to their fans, city infrastructures, and their own reputation in Metalocalypse.

Fortunately for Dethklok, their ride-or-die manager, Charles Foster Offdensen, is more than willing to pick up the pieces and try to keep the band on the straight-and-narrow because they’re, in his own words, “his bread and butter.”

While it’s reasonable to assume that the public backlash Dethklok faces for their antics is healthy source of conflict, the true antagonist in Metalocalypse comes in the form of a secret underground movement known as the Tribunal.

The Tribunal has reason to believe that Dethklok’s path of destruction and influence over the world’s population poses a threat to the natural order of things, and they take extreme efforts to break into the bands compound, Mordhaus, which is heavily guarded by Dethklok’s roadies and security staff, the Klokateers.

Throughout the early seasons, the band is so selfishly involved in their own schemes that they’re wholly unaware of the Tribunal’s activities.

As for the true inner workings of the band, Metalocalypse makes no qualms about showing just exactly how dysfunctional Dethklok can be.

From recording an underwater-themed album in the Mariana Trench with a nuclear-powered submarine that results in the violent mutation of various aquatic critters, to impulsively deleting an entirely completed album because it sounds “too digital,” Dethklok proves to be a significant strain on the world’s natural and finite resources as they try to make the most brutal music known to man.

On the financial side of the operation, Dethklock once devoted a considerable amount of time trying to figure out who was embezzling funds from their bank roll, only to find out that they were embezzling from themselves but were too stupid to realize it.

Metalocalypse creator Brendon Small once described Dethklok as “like the Beatles, just a thousand times more dangerous and a billion times more stupid.” This brutal assessment of his own creation is fair, and also the primary source of humor in this heavy metal-themed series.

What makes Metalocalypse such an authentic and engaging show is its musical backdrop, which is composed by Small and credited to Dethklok.

There are minor details, such as Skwisgaar’s hand movements while practicing guitar in the Mordhaus hot tub, and the frequent use of stompboxes instead of conventional remote controls to change the TV programming in the rumpus room.

And they perfectly illustrate how out of touch the band is while living in complete isolation from the rest of society.

REVIEW SCORE

Metalocalypse assaults its viewers with blast-beats, down-tuned tremolo picking, brutally violent moshing, and, in some cases, light accounting.

By expertly converging Dethklok’s rock and roll lifestyle with the less-than-desirable (and boring) aspects of being in a successful band, Metalocalypse is a must-see for any avid musician with a dark sense of humor.

But I’m giving you fair warning because if you decide to stream the series on Max, you might stand to lose a few brain cells in the process.