Welcome to Throwback Thursday! This is the place where we get to indulge in nostalgia and wax poetic about excellent metal of years past. Today, we're rounding out April's 'metal parody' theme with one of the greatest parodies about metal ever written – and ever animated. Why even write about anyone else for TBT ever – never mind TBT number 68 – when the world's biggest metal band Dethklok exists? Cue the theme music for Metalocalypse.
METALOCALYPSE
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IzEncyqfgw][/youtube]
Original Airer: Adult Swim
Production Company: Titmouse
Run Dates: 2006-2013
Metalocalypse is a television show capturing the unsubtle nuances of metal culture. Shown off in the style of the modern adult-oriented animated cartoon, Metalocalypse has it all – hyper hyperbole, 4th wall breaking comedy, real metal musicians, and really, really good metal music. The show takes on dozens of modern metal ideas (musical stylings, clothing, trends) and captures the intensity of the 'metal spirit'. As Nathan Explosion, lead singer of Dethklok, quips, "We are here to make coffee metal. We are here to make EVERYTHING metal. Blacker than the blackest black – times infinity".
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFURd_EOIuU][/youtube]
"My eye got torn out and force fed to me at a show. DETHKLOK RULES!" – Random Eyeball-less Fan
Spanning just 4 seasons and one hour-long special, Metalocalypse has made a huge impact on metal culture as evidenced by a few seriously notable achievements: a 100% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, an 8.3/10 on IMDB , and in-show metal band Dethklok's induction into the very real Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame.
Metalocalypse follows the story of super-mega metal icons Dethklok and the 5 lads who comprise the group: Nathan Explosion, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Pickles the Drummer, Toki Wartooth, and William Murderface. Each character is the loose embodiment of, well, so many metal icons. I remember thinking while watching the show "somebody who really loves metal made this show. They get it".
Audiences loved the show so much that a launch of metalocalypsenow.com campaigned to get Metalocalypse back on the air.
Check out Rob's interview with Metalocalypse show creator Brendon Small:
[youtube=https://youtu.be/Ms3fOY5oymc][/youtube]
Dethklok does terrible things to their never-ending stream of die-hard followers – like pouring hot coffee over their live audience and melting the skin off of an unlucky few; and yet I find the group adorably likable. Dethklok are so famous, they have to learn how to do common things like grocery shop.
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VB32073N4vY][/youtube]
There are so many great moments in the series. Please post yours below! A few of mine have to include the on-going joke of Skwisgaar's tenuous grasp on the English language:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85wujdlSSYI][/youtube]
Another has to be the sincere innocent moments of Toki, whose penchant for cats is the least of his 'squishy' tendencies:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKfSCSgdLJA][/youtube]
To prove that they are, in fact, the mostest metal, Dethklok records in the most metal place on Earth – The Mariana Trench:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwMA__C6uFU][/youtube]
The show is host to many metal visual gags (the name of the supermarket in the above clip is Fintrolls) as well as guest voice-overs from about a billion famous people such as James Hetfield, Mike Patton, and even King Diamond. Here's Devin Townsend as Zazz Blammymatazz:
[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MoLPNugopMc][/youtube]
Missed an episode? Get caught up on every single season on adultswim.com FOR FREE.
