Adult Swim's Metalocalypse comes to life with Dethklok tour

Tag : Strapping Metal

Death metal is usually serious business.
But Emerson College alum Brendon Small figured there was roomalongside all the upside-down crosses, pentagrams and bloody goatheads for a little humor.
Turns out he was more right than he ever imagined.
“I didn’t know whether people would dig it ornot,” said Small, creator of the animated black metal bandDethklok, from a recent tour stop in Tempe, Ariz. “You justdo what you like, and if people like it, great. But the show foundits audience really quickly.”
To say people “dig it” is an understatement. With Smallon guitar, bass and vocals and Dark Angel/Strapping Young Laddrummer Gene Hoglan adding percussive brutality, Dethklok’sdebut CD “The Dethalbum” made its debut at No. 21 onthe Billboard 200.
Dethklok isn’t a conventional band. These Scandinavians arethe animated stars of Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim show“Metalocalypse,” in which Dethklok are the richestrockers in the world, with the band members’ combined wealthmaking them the 12th largest economy on Earth. The group -Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Toki Wartooth, William Murderface, Pickles theDrummer and vocalist Nathan Explosion - is a sociopathic combo ofSpinal Tap and GWAR: their fans literally kill for them, incited byDethklok’s evil music to create mayhem and chaos around theworld.
Small, who also attended Berklee College of Music and worked as astand-up comedian in Boston for years, brings his animatedapocalypse to the Palladium in Worcester tomorrow. It’s amulti-media tour de force in which Small and a full band playbehind a massive TV screen that shows the cartoon musical maraudersplying their death metal trade.
“My whole goal was ‘How can I make this live outside ofthe TV show?,’ ” Small said. “I didn’t wantto embarrass the audience by trying to dress up like (Dethklok). Wedon’t look like them. The only thing that makes this bandcool is that they don’t exist.”
Small admits he took inspiration from the world’s other mostfamous animated band - Gorillaz - but says he wants to build uponwhat that act started.
“The Gorillaz did it, and I wanted to do it more - make itmore fun,” he said.
The show and the accompanying album ratchet up death metalstereotypes to absurd levels. The cartoon rock stars arebinge-drinking, drug-dabbling egomaniacs who fly in a giantaircraft called the Hatredcopter. They sing of death, destructionand the end of the world on gore-a-thons with titles like“Bloodrocuted,” “Briefcase Full of Guts”and “Inner Child Tied and Beaten in My Trunk.”
For metal fans, it’s a welcome dose of humor in a genre notknown for smiles.
“It’s a really fun show,” Small said. “Ifyou love metal, you’re going to love this. If you loveanimation, you’re going to love this. Even if you don’tlike metal, I think you’re still going to love this.”
Dethklok, with Chimaira and Soilent Green, at the Palladium,Worcester, tomorrow. Tickets: $22; 800-477-6849.