The Dethalbum

I must admit, I didn't think that Metalocalypse creator Brendan Small would go so far as to record and release an entire album featuring his fictional band "Dethklok", but he sure proved me wrong. "The Dethalbum" features full-length tracks either taken or re-recorded from the show, with a few new songs in the mix as well. Overall, if you're buying/borrowing/downloading this for the musical aspect of it, you're going to be dissapointed. On the other hand, if you're a fan of the show, chances are you know what to expect. As far as the music goes, Brendon Small's guitar playing is pretty good (he is a Berklee graduate after all), but his "death grunt" sucks. It sounds like he whispered it into a microphone then turned the sound way up (that doesn't help you sound like George Fisher, believe it or not). The drums had better sound pretty damn good, since Gene Hoglan plays them, and the bass is...bass?

"The Dethalbum" is something of a mixed bag. The opening track "Murmaider" is somewhat enjoyable with it's absurd lyrical content and chorus of "Murder...murder...mermaid, murder," but ends abruptly and comes off as pretty forgettable. Next, the pseudo-epic "Into the Water" starts off with a pretty cool opening riff, but unfortunately doesn't really build up and gets pretty redundant after the intro. The revamped version of "Awaken" is actually quite good, and Small's lyrics are pretty believable and could pass as being serious, although very, very, VERY cheesy.

The only redeeming factor of "Bloodrocuted" is, again, its humorous lyrical content. Boring riffs, weak vocals, poorly executed and out of place solo. "Go Forth and Die" is another throw-away, not even worth going into detail. The same goes for "Fansong", but there seems to be some kind of subtle truth behind the lyrics that amuses me. "Better Metal Snake" isn't really good either, but the next song, "The Lost Vikings" has an Amon Amarth kind of feel to it, in both the instruments and the lyrical content, so overall not too bad.

And now we come to "Thunderhorse." Who hasn't heard this song before? It was featured in a video game, for God's sake. The updated version is very good, better in certain parts, but also a little over the top as well. "Briefcase Full of Guts" is funny, and pretty cool musically as well. "Birthday Dethday" is probably the best song on the album. Its actually got some pretty cool riffs as well as lyrics that made me laugh outloud the first time I heard them (Happy birthday....YOU'RE GONNA DIE!). "Hatredcopter" was released back on the European Saw 3 soundtrack, and there isn't a whole lot different in this mix of the song. Small's "clean" vocals do sound, though a little out of place, much better than his "grunt", and tend to help this song out a bit. After this , it goes down hill and ends on the could-have-been-much-better-if-it-wasn't-so-damn-long-and-repetitive "Dethharmonic."

Of course, if you get duped into...I mean...buy the deluxe edition you get 5 MORE SONGS (excluding the "Pickles' Intro", "Dethklok gets in tune", and a DVD of the music video for "Bloodtrocuted" and the first episode of Metalocalypse's second season.). They all suck with the exception of "Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle."

Overall, its not too bad of an album. Don't buy it expecting a death metal masterpiece (in fact, don't buy it at all, God made the internet, use it), its simply a parodical album that pokes a little fun at heavy metal cliches while still managing to be pretty listenable. Fans of the show won't be dissapointed, but if you've never heard of Metalocalypse (or just hate it), chances are you should avoid this one