When you first saw Metalocalypse was your reaction the same as mine? Did you think, "This was made by the guy who did the voice of the kid from Home Movies?" Brendon Small provided the voice of an 8-year old boy (also named Brendon Small) on Home Movies and he was also the co-creator. The show was a somewhat cynical, but often sweet look at life and childhood. This "Squigglevision" series sometimes had some cheeky humor, but more often than not, it went for a clever and dry joke. None of these things describe Metalocalypse. In fact, I may have trouble finding the words to describe Metalocalypse.

Metalocalypse is an animated series which focuses on the exploits of the band Dethklok. Dethklok is a death metal band and they are they most popular musicians in the world, having earned krillions of dollars from their record sales. This wealth affords them to live in a giant dragon-shaped castle called Mordhaus (which sometimes flies). The band is comprised of vocalist Nathan Explosion (voiced by Brendon Small), lead guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf (voiced by Small), rhythm guitarist Toki Wartooth (voiced by Tommy Blacha), bassist William Murderface (voiced by Blacha) and Pickles the drummer (voiced by Small). While the band members are successful and talented, they are also incredibly stupid. That, combined with the fact that their rock-n-roll lifestyle has left them spoiled and helpless, means that they can't take care of themselves and they are constantly getting into trouble, only to be bailed out by their manager, Charles F. Offdensen (voiced by Small). Even when worrying more about sex and drugs leads to disaster, the guys never learn their lesson.

Metalocalypse is a weird show, and that's saying a lot considering that it airs on Adult Swim, which is jammed pack with weird shows. The creation of Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha, the show takes place in their own fantasy world where death metal is popular enough to have catapulted Dethklok to the top of the charts and made them the most popular band in the world. (We are constantly reminded that the world economy rises and falls with Dethklok.) Watching the show, it's difficult to tell if Small and Blacha sincerely think/hope that this could happen, or if it's presented merely as a joke as the vast majority of the population would find Dethklok's music unpalatable. (I can tolerate the music, but I'm not a huge fan. I love hard guitar rock, but I draw the line at Cookie Monster vocals.) As Small writes and performs all of the music on the show, he's clearly a fan of the genre. (Most episodes contain guest-voice appearances from actual metal artists.) The odd thing about this is that he portrays both Dethklok and their fans as morons. So, what is he saying about death metal?

The show is strangely inconsistent in both its storylines and its tone. The average episode offers a plot in which the band does something stupid and must find a way to fix it. Often these stories revolve around how music and the rock 'n roll lifestyle clash. In some ways, Metalocalypse is like an animated metal version of The Monkees. These stories are typically played for laughs and the situations are usually very absurd. The flipside of this comes in the guise of a The Tribunal, a group of powerful men led by Mr. Selatcia (voiced by Mark Hamill). These men watch Dethklok's every move, and in the first season were convinced that the band's rise to fame had something to do with an ancient prophecy. These scenes were somewhat interesting when the show debuted, but as time went on, the felt more and more out-of-place. The Tribunal feels like something out of a spy movie, while Dethklok is a farce. The two simply don't mix.

Thankfully, the appearances by The Tribunal have dropped off in Season 3, and the direction has changed somewhat. For the show's first two seasons, Metalocalypse was one of Adult Swim's 15-minute shows. However, for the third season, it was expanded to 30 minutes. Instead of delving more into the conspiracy stories, Small and Blacha have decided to focus more on the humor. At the end of Season 2, Offdensen was killed in a battle with the minions of The Tribunal, so Dethklok is left to fend for themselves. This results in several episodes which focus on how these spoiled, rich guys have no idea how to handle their money. They must also try to find ways in which to make more money. And, as one would hope, there are episodes where the band must deal with their families...whom they find annoying. And, of course, Dr. Rockzo (voiced by Blacha), the rock 'n roll clown.

Ostensibly, Metalocalypse is supposed to be a comedy, and it can be funny at times. But, the show also has a very twisted dark side, and there is a great deal of graphic violence. Most of Dethklok's concerts conclude with an accident maiming and killing the audience, and the guys either don't notice or don't care. The first few times, this was sort of funny, but as the show went on, these scenes felt more and more mean-spirited. The show is at its funniest, and feels the most clever, when it's high-lighting the stupid things that the band does, especially the things that they are convinced are good ideas. I also like it when the guys, especially Nathan, drop their guard and act like normal people. This can often result in laughs, and I loved it when Nathan responded to Toki's Christmas rant by saying, "I don't think that I've ever been spoken to like that before." Out of context, that line isn't funny, but Nathan says it almost as if his feelings were hurt, and that sells it.

The question is, at whom is Metalocalypse aimed? I'm not sure I know. Metalheads will like the music, but will they like how the lifestyle is portrayed? Those who like Adult Swim's more surreal shows, may appreciate the absurdity of the show, but will the dark nature appeal to them? It's hard to say, but there is something hypnotic about the show, and I like the fact that everything is played straight and presented in a serious manner. Metalocalypse isn't perfect, but it does make me laugh, and if the show could focus solely on the band, I'd like it even more.

Metalocalypse: Season Three seems to really dislike Van Halen for some reason on Blu-ray Disc courtesy of Warner Home Video. The single Disc included here contains all ten episodes of the show's third season. The shows have been letterboxed at 1.78:1 and the Disc contains a VC-1 1080p HD transfer which runs at an average of 20 Mbps. The image is sharp and clear, showing no grain and no defects from the source material. This is a dark show, but things are never too dark and the colors, most notably reds, look good. The colors don't bleed into the darker areas. The HD transfer does reveal jagged lines in the animation. The Disc contains a Dolby TrueHD 5.1 audio track which runs at 48 kHz and an average of 2.0 Mbps. The track provides clear dialogue and sound effects. The music sounds great here, and we can pick out obvious stereo effects in the songs. The rear speakers often mimic the front channels, but there are some moments, especially during the concert or action scenes, where we are treated to specific surround sound effects. The sub delivers bass effects from the music and the occasional explosion.

The Metalocalypse: Season Three Blu-ray Disc contains an assortment of extras. "'Places' with FaceBones" (5 minutes) is an odd little thing which has the band's mascot simply listing the locations viewed throughout the series. "Dimmu Burger Drive Thru", "House Cleaning", "Furniture" (with the word Ikea bleeped out), "Immortal Records", "Escort Services", "Drunk", "Snacks", "Two Swedish Dads Extended Cut", and "Nathan Reading Shakespeare's 'Othello'" are all simply deleted or extended scenes from episodes in Season Three. Well, they seem like deleted scenes...most of them play more as ideas from the original script which were cut for running time and then animated anyway. Most of these are very long and drawn out and not very funny. "Klokateer Recruitment Videos" are not deleted scenes (as far as I can tell), but they easily could have been incorporated into the show, as they show individuals signing up to work for Dethklok. We get MUSIC VIDEOS for the songs "Bloodlines", "Dethsupport", "The Gears", "Burn the Earth", and "Black Fire Upon Us". These are all presented in Linear PCM 2 channel sound which runs at a constant 1.5 Mbps. I would have liked to have seen some footage from Dethklok's live shows.