Dethklok - Dethalbum II

Shredding?
Check.
Kick Triplets?
Check.
Murmaider sequel?
Check.
Yes, Dethalbum II is similar in many ways to its predecessor and it packs a mean metallic punch. But one of the things that it loses over the debut is a sense of humor. I hope that Brendon Small isn’t thinking of taking Dethklok into legitimate territories, because the animated series brilliance is how laugh-at-loud funny it is.
That must be a little tough for Small, a talented musician himself who has surrounded his surprise hit series with equally talented musicians.
It’s not surprising that half of them have histories with members of the Zappa family-another artist that struggled with finding a balance between absurdity and legitimacy-because Dethalbum II is chock full of nearly too perfect performances that is obviously way smarter than the fictional characters could possibly come up with.
Don’t get me wrong: there are funny moments throughout the sophomore effort, but it isn’t as obvious as the debut and much of it is darker.
Take the song “Dethsupport,” which is a timely commentary on our health care system. Dethklok solution to even the most mundane and treatable of ailments (nearsightedness, epilepsy, cataracts, etc.) is to simply “pull the plug…kill me now!” because the treatment is too expensive. The humor is in how close the lyrics resemble the Republican rhetoric how overhauling the health care system would create “death panels” and result in Grandma and Grandpa dying from bureaucracy.
Other tracks, like “The Cyborg Slayers” aren’t even funny at all or are only funny in title alone (“I Tamper With The Evidence At The Murder Site Of Odin”). But the musicianship is so impressively brutal that you can’t help but play this at such ear-damaging volume and enjoy it.
All joking aside: Dethklok’s Dethalbum II continues to affirm that the band continues to stand head and shoulders above any other cartoon band. It certainly is a bit harder than the debut, but then again, the jokes are harder to come by too.

A review of the Dethklok show in Des Moines can be found here.