Dëthkløk
The members of Dethklok in Metalocalypse. Left to right: William Murderface, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Nathan Explosion, Pickles, and Toki Wartooth
Background information
Genre(s)	Melodic death metal
Years active	2006−present
Label(s)	Williams Street
Website	www.myspace.com/dethklok
Members
Brendon Small Gene Hoglan Mike Keneally Bryan Beller

Dethklok is both a virtual death metal band,^[1] and a band featured in the Adult Swim animated program Metalocalypse, created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha. The band is sometimes cited as an example of "comedy rock" on par with bands such as GWAR and Spinal Tap. The first Dethklok album was released on September 25, 2007, entitled The Dethalbum. The music heard on Metalocalypse is performed by Brendon Small, with others as needed. Small and drummer Gene Hoglan performed on the album.^[2] The album debuted at #21 on the Billboard Top 200 list^[3]

Fictional background

In the Metalocalypse series, Dethklok is depicted as an extremely popular and successful death metal band, described by their adversaries, the Tribunal, as the "world's greatest cultural force." The band's fan base includes thousands of metal fanatics, who frequently endanger themselves to watch the band perform live.^[4][5] With their widespread commercial success and lucrative sponsorship contracts, Dethklok is ranked as the world's twelfth largest economy in the series.^[5]

The members of Dethklok are often portrayed as incompetent at almost everything not related to their profession. The band struggles to perform every-day tasks, including shopping for groceries, preparing food, and maintaining proper social relationships. They are often assisted by their manager and lawyer, Charles Ofdensen, who frequently attempts to prevent the band from making poor judgments. The band's actions, including the bad luck situations which comprise many plots, have caught the attention of an Illuminati-style council, known as The Tribunal. The Council is portrayed as Dethklok's antagonist throughout the series, and secretly monitor their actions in almost every episode.

Members of the band

Nathan Explosion

Nathan Explosion (voiced by Brendon Small) is the frontman, lead vocalist and "lyrical visionary" of Dethklok. Portrayed as a tall figure, with long black hair and black fingernails, Nathan always speaks in a deep, gravelly voice, even when not singing. He is apparently the lead songwriting force in Dethklok, and uses violent imagery or plot elements, when writing ideas for song material.

Small described Nathan as a "quarterback", and based his character on Cannibal Corpse vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher.^[6]

Skwisgaar Skwigelf

Skwisgaar Skwigelf (voiced by Brendon Small) is Dethklok's lead guitarist. He is described as, "a handsome guy who thinks he's the greatest thing in the world, with a little bit of Yngwie Malmsteen in his attitude."^[6] He plays a Gibson Explorer, which is often seen with him even when not playing. Hailing from Sweden, Skwisgaar possesses a heavy Swedish accent. He is responsible for the majority of the arrangement of Dethklok's songs; writing both the guitar lines as well as Murderface's bass lines.

Toki Wartooth

Toki Wartooth (voiced by Tommy Blacha) is Dethklok's rhythm guitarist. He typically plays a Gibson Flying V. A native of Norway, he has a distinct whisker-like style of mustache known as the Fu Manchu, long brown hair and very pale blue eyes. Small explained Toki's relationship with Skwisgaar thusly: "Toki is Norwegian to Skwisgaar's Swedish, pompous attitude. And, again, a second-class citizen in the same band."^[6]

Pickles

Pickles (voiced by Brendon Small) is Dethklok's drummer. He was raised in Tomahawk, Wisconsin and speaks with a Yooper dialect. He refers to himself as "very Irish American" and has red hair, styled into dreadlocks and a comb-over skullet. He is depicted as having an average build with a slight beer belly. According to Brendon Small, Pickles was originally conceived as "the jerk of the group."^{citation needed} Describing the character, Small said, "I thought the drummer should be able to do a bunch of stuff, like Roger Taylor in Queen. Even though it's not based on his personality, it's what he can do in the band and what parts of the songs he does contribute to."^[6]

William Murderface

William Murderface (voiced by Tommy Blacha) is Dethklok's bassist. He plays a Gibson Thunderbird Studio 5-string. He has brown hair, lime green eyes, a heavy lateral lisp and a diastema, Murderface's father killed his mother with a chainsaw before turning it upon himself in a grisly murder-suicide. Murderface is "a self-hating bass player who's always trying to act like he's more important than he is," in part because his bass playing is usually mixed out completely.^[6]. Brendon Small describes Murderface as "thin-skinned and incredibly sensitive and just wants to be accepted constantly but can’t get that because he’s such a dick and pushes people away"^[7].

Actual band

Dethklok creator and musician Brendon Small (left) with co-creator Tommy Blacha

Current members

• Brendon Small - vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards (vocals & guitars only on tour)
• Gene Hoglan - drums (2007-present)

Touring Members

• Mike Keneally - guitar (2007-present)
• Bryan Beller - bass (2007-present)

Tour

Brendon Small performs Dethklok songs live

On September 18, 2007, it was announced that …And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead are going to support Dethklok on a tour of twelve college campuses to promote Adult Swim.^[8] A post on Dethklok's myspace blog states that the tour will be for students only except for 50 tickets set aside for the UCLA show in the Los Angeles area. In the same post Charles Offdenson states that this is a "short tour" and that their goal is to do a big tour very soon with other metal heads. According to an e-mail newsletter, the band will feature Brendon Small, guitarist Mike Keneally, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Gene Hoglan. On October 15, the [adult swim] website had put up the tour dates on their http://www.adultswimpresents.com page.^[9] In an interview with Ultimate Guitar, Brendon Small revealed that the Dethklok tour will "be like Gorillaz, with the animated characters" with Small's ensemble of musicians performing visibly.^[10]

During a February 10, 2008 interview on California radio station Indie 103.1 with Full Metal Jackie, plans for a summer 2008 tour were announced. Brendon Small described the tour as being like "a Disney ride but with murder." Dethklok toured the U.S. in June and early July with Chimaira and Soilent Green. 27 dates were released on April 11, 2008.^[11]

During the June 5th show at the Fillmore in San Francisco, CA, an electrical fire broke out during the opening band's set. The concert was immediately halted and the building was evacuated. The concert goers were not allowed back into the building and the show was rescheduled for the following Monday, June 9th, minus the opening band. No one was hurt or injured during the incident.

Discography

• 2007: The Dethalbum

References

External links

• Dethklok at MySpace