Here’s how the story goes :
Take a brutally heavy, gory, ridiculously popular death metal band called Dethklok. Now, interpolate the fact that their music and epic performances drive their rabid fans completely insane with adulation, insofar as said fans sign waivers should they actually be killed at a Dethklok concert, which they often are when the pointy, metal stage displays go awry and eviscerate them.
But here’s the other half of the story : the band is composed of five completely harmless man-children who, despite their power over the entirety of the world, remain oblivious to their power and the destruction around them. Add in a completely amazing soundtrack by author, animator and comedian Brendon Small, and somehow you have the makings of a perfect comedy. Do you laugh at and ridiculousness of the brutality of bodies being torn apart by giant crab robots, or do you laugh because these five men can’t seem to operate a VCR between them all, despite the chaos around them? Oh, and somehow, their union as a band is a prophesied symbol of the apocalypse.
It’s probably a combination of all of the above, and after one season on the air, Metalocalypse is one of the star shows in Cartoon Network’s [adult swim] block on Sunday nights. The first season was released on DVD yesterday, and a limited run of mini-statues were produced by Shocker Toys this past summer, but last week, the Dethalbum was released. Not so much a soundtrack as a hypothetical album by the imaginary band, it comes complete with an assortment of actual songs performed on the show, but in their full glory and largely uninterrupted by sound effects and dialogue. I’ve never listened to death metal or black metal before, nor have I ever even given it consideration, but this is a musically sound album – even if it does just come from a cartoon.
Even more surprising is the skyrocketing price of the deluxe version of the album, which features a red cover and includes a bonus disc with a few extra songs, a music video, and a video of the premiere episode of the second season (which aired two weeks ago).
Only a week or so after release, copies of the deluxe version of this album have reached over 125 dollars at auction, and are almost impossible to find at retail, online or otherwise. Such a quickly escalating price for a mass-produced CD is almost unprecedented, but most interestingly, this rabidity for the CD is a realistic mimicry of the fictional rabidity of the animated Dethklok fans. You know, without the splattering brains and electrocutions.
It’s an interesting psychological case for collecting. Why are fans paying an extra hundred dollars for a few extra songs that they can likely download, and an episode of a TV show that Cartoon Network actually posts online for free viewing? Could it possibly be that the momentum of the manufactured, animated Dethklok fans actually spread into the real world? Or could it simply be that the disposable income generation NEEDS to scoop up a physical Dethklok souvenir? Sure, in the cartoon, sales of Dethklok’s albums are almost the sole thing that determines the value of world currencies. Countries rise and fall and are destroyed by demons based on Dethklok’s fumbling record releases and unintentional antics – but in the real world?
Until I can find a copy of the album for less than a week’s pay, I’m relishing a copy of the album I’ve borrowed from a friend. A deluxe copy. I’m sure that William Murderface wouldn’t mind.
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