For the past four seasons, Metalocalypse has told the misadventures of Dethklok, a death metal band made up of five idiots of varying degree who have more money than they know what to do with, are surrounded by death and destruction and are unknowingly part of a vast conspiracy linked to an apocalyptic prophecy. For the most part, the more serious conspiracy plot thread has found itself in the background to the band’s usual buffoonery, usually being spotlighted in the season finales, but the fourth season focused more on the more dramatic aspects than any of the others. It all led to a season finale where rhythm guitarist Toki Wartooth and producer Abigail Remeltindrinc were kidnapped by Dethklok enemies the Revengeancers. The whole special is completely told in song, using death metal, glam rock and other variations, put together via Brendon Small, Bear McCreary and a 50 piece orchestra. There’s even a nice sequence near the end that becomes homage to 1980’s Michael Jackson, mixing together Thriller with Captain EO. This would be all completely awesome if not for the fact that the lyrics are mostly hard to decipher. Maybe it’s the mixing or my ears or whatever, but I had a hard time figuring out what a lot of guys were singing a lot of the time. That was never too important when listening to the show’s other songs because while there was some humor buried in the lyrics, they were low on the totem of what made the songs worth listening to. Considering the lyrics literally tell the story that they’ve been leading up to for seven years, it’s kind of important to understand Nathan’s grunting for once. That said, at least you’re still able to get the gist of everything through the visuals. I could probably have put it on mute while comprehending nearly every plot point. The Titmouse animators do a great job, making the look of each song sequence just as – if even more – unique as the music itself. Easily the highlight is the flashback to Toki’s audition to join Dethklok, which features he and Skwisgaar battling it out with an extensively-long guitar duel accompanied by imagery of Toki as a giant bird creature battling Skwisgaar as a centaur in the clouds. It’s especially metal. Here, the story is about Dethklok coming to terms with the fact that they are more than just a band that lives together. At first, they’d rather party their lives away than risk it all by being heroes and saving their bandmate and producer. Then they decide they’ll do it out of necessity for their band to thrive, as their fans won’t accept a lineup without Toki. While they’re doing the right thing, it’s for the wrong reason and the four of them must understand that they need to rescue Toki because at the end of the day, he’s their brother. The humor is very lackluster, but that’s to be expected, considering this is more in line with the more serious season finale episodes. The good gags hit it in the beginning, like Nathan forgetting the names of Toki and Abigail (especially with her being his love interest) and a well-done sequence of Offdensen sending his best tracker to go find the Revengeancers’ hideout, only to abruptly discover his brutal failure. I imagine there are plenty of clever jokes mixed into the lyrics, but again, it doesn’t work if I can’t hear it clearly. Who knows how long until we get news on the fifth season, but in the meantime, I might as well watch Metalocalypse: The Doomstar Requiem special at least one more time. Coherency aside, it still rocks and the project itself is an impressive feat. Like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for all news updates related to the world of geek. And Google+, if that’s your thing!
