Made up bands and real music have a long history. As a little kid, I loved to watch Josie and the Pussycats, and when I was older, I enjoyed The Monkees. Even as an adult, I love Spinal Tap and Gorillaz.
Now we have a new animated band that rocks harder than the bands they satirize. Dethklok, the brain child of Brendan Small and Tony Blacha, are the fictional death metal band that stars in the Cartoon Network Adult Swim show Metalocalypse.
Meet Dethklok
Nathan Explosion is the raspy powerhouse singer of the band, Swisgaar Swigelf is the lightening fast lead guitar player, Toki Wartooth is the second fastest guitar player on rhythm. William Murderface is the bass player and Pickles is the bands drummer.
How does the Band manage to sound so Brutal?
Picking a handful of songs to learn from the Dethklok album quickly revealed the secret to the band's brutal DEEP heavy metal sound. The tuning on EVERY SINGLE SONG is a full two steps lower. Instead of standard guitar tuning E A D G B E, guitars are tuned C F A# D# G C. This gives the band a very full deep growling sound, not possible with standard tuning. Considering the fake band uses real Gibsons and real Krank Amps, all you have to do is turn up that distortion to get a classic death metal sound. My son and I used a Gibson SG Standard tuned down appropriately with a Line 6 Spider III amp on its "Insane" amp setting (the most METAL of all settings) to emulate the band's signature sound. However it would take a lot more practice to emulate the real life lighting fast Yngwie Malmsteen style solos and riffs that show's creator Brendan Small adds to the tracks (as the fictional guitar players Swisgaar Swigelf and Toki Wartooth).
The Songs
The standard edition CD has 16 songs (only 15 are listed, but the Metalocalypse Theme is number 16) and all are brutal and heavy. I haven't gotten a hold of the Special Edition yet, but I can tell you that it contains the band's famous first episode Coffee Jingle in addition to several other songs.
Rather than go through all 16 songs, I would just like to point out the highlights, my favorite songs.
The album begins with the very heavy song Mermaider which is the full version of the song that Dethklok plays for record producer Dick Knubbler. As Nathan Explosion explains, it is about mermaid murder, either mermaids that murder or mermaids that get murdered. In any event, it begins with a very heavy driving drum and bass beat. Nathan Explosions vocal style is that of a raspy growl which fits the music. Go into the Water is another song from that recording session. In a later episode the band is sued for the lyrics stating that the band encouraged its fans to go into the water and die. However the shows lawyer points out that the music is intended for fish only as clearly stated on the label. Again, despite the comic background, the song is pure metal.
Perhaps one of my favorite songs on the album is the third cut Awaken. It is about waking up an ancient Finnish Lake Troll, which the band accidently did in the episode DethTroll
In true metal fashion the opening verse is almost spoken I call upon the ancient lords of the underworld, To bring forth this beast which quickly breaks into a thunderous chorus of Awaken, awaken, awaken, awaken, Take the land, that must be taken. Awaken, awaken, awaken, awaken,Devour worlds, smite forsaken . Overlaying the heavy chords of the chorus are the obligatory lightning speed guitar solos. The funny thing is, is that in parodying death metal, Dethklok delivers the real deal and sounds great, often better than the bands they are poking fun at.
Fan Song is also included from the episode Mordland which was a secret special song written for the true fans of Dethklok on their visit to Mordland. The song opens with a spoken introduction You people out there give us something more than just record sales. You give us something to hate and we hate you, you brainless mutants! The opening is backed with a slow melodic arpeggio like solo, and soon opens into shifting blazing fast heavy power chords. As noted above, the power chords sound very heavy due to the alternate tunings used.
Murderface's birthday song is included Birthday Dethday as is Bloodtrocuted from the episode Dethfam. My son's favorite song from the album is entitled Thunderhorse which ha a great sound to it with a cool melodic solo and thundering power chords. This was the song that had a very "METAL" viking type music video at the beginning of the episode Dethwater. The song stands very well by itself however, and I was glad it was included on the album. It is also a bonus song on Guitar Hero 2.
Of course the show's theme is the bonus song on the album and sounds pretty cool. If you want to know how to play a piece of it, its just the open E string tuned to C 4 times, then once, then a harmonic on the 4th fret. (and yes, the harmonic will sound there because of the alternate tuning). That's what gives the theme the da dum da dum da dum da dum dum PING sound. Of course if you ever wondered what the heck Nathan was singing after the Dethklok, Dethklok chorus, it's Skwisgaar Skwigelf taller than a tree / Toki Wartooth not a bumblebee / William Murderface Murderface Murderface / Pickles the Drummer doodily doo ding dong doodily doodily doo / Nathan Explosion !
Summary
If you are a fan of the show, and find yourself enjoying the short version of the songs played on the show, you will really like the full length album. It stands on its own as a heavy metal album, much the way the Spinal Tap albums stood on their own. It may be a parody, but its a very brutal heavy parody that kicks A chord. If you can find the special edition, that is even better, because it includes 2 CDs and the Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle. If you've seen the first episode of the show, you know how awesome that jingle sounds.
It is also worth noting that DethKlok's Dethalbum charted at #21 on the Billboard Charts when it was released in 2007 making it the highest charting death metal album ever!
Learn to Play the Music of Dethklok
DethKlok Guitar Tab Book
Watch Dethklok
Metalocalypse Season One
Recommended:
