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Dethklok is back once again with their latest album, Dethalbum II, providing even more brutality and metal than ever before; when listening to this album leave your brains at the door, because your minds shall be blown.

The Good: Faster, louder, variation on vocals, more of what made the first album so great, variation of songs, great opening song, deluxe album comes with DVD of all their music videos, some addicting songs, every song feels like it should be there aka “feels like a Dethklok song”, humorous, if you’re a fan of the show you’ll recognize a lot from inside the booklet to the songs themselves, notable songs “The Gears”, “Bloodlines”, and “Dethsupport”

The Bad: Bonus songs promised for deluxe album weren’t there, not as easy to sing along too, not quite as catchy as first album, no Pickles on vocals or Snakes’N’Barrels covers, left out the Murderface/Toki song “Takin’ It Easy”, not as expansive as last album/deluxe album, missing a certain something but can’t quite place it, original songs not featured on the show are amazing but missing some episode songs

The lords of brutality are back and this time they aren’t taking any prisoners; that means no survivors. If you don’t know who Dethklok are yet, it’s about time you learned. These guys take metal to a whole other level and can be witnessed most night’s on their hit show “Metalocalypse” spreading the word of brutality and turning anything and everything metal.

The band is in fact fictional, created from the mind of Brendon Small who is also most notable for his other show “Home Movies” which ended a couple years back but still garners a pretty big following. As for “Metalocalypse”, well I doubt anybody could foretell just how big this phenomena would get. A television show that spawned two seasons so far, two DVD’s, two albums, several worldwide tours, an upcoming video game, a comic book, and tons of other merchandise. If you haven’t ever heard or laid eyes on Dethklok you’ve probably been in a dark cave with your fingers in your ears for the past two years.

The band: Skwisgaar Skwigelf, Toki Wartooth, William Murderface, Pickles the Drummer, and Nathan Explosion. If you have been following their fictional exploits for the last two years or so now you will understand why this album is such a big deal and has been in such huge anticipation for fans and metal heads alike. The last album reached new heights when it was first released debuting at number 21 on the Billboard 200 chart making it the highest charting death metal album in the history of the Billboard 200.

The album starts off strong with “Bloodlines” which couldn’t be a better opening song and helps transition you into what’s in store for you later on in the album. “Bloodlines” demonstrates a great lead of new stuff that’s been changed over from the last album including screams or highs in Nathan Explosions vocals, keys played by Skwisgaar, and some new percussion styles by Pickles. There’s also a lot more emphasis on solos this time around taking up at least one section of every song now. The songs also feel and sound a lot faster than many of the songs on the original Dethalbum which can be seen as a double edged sword in many cases if it weren’t for some of the slower intros to some of the songs giving you that lapse at which to take a breather.

Everything feels exactly how it should be for the most part, I mean to say that every song on the album sounds like a Dethklok song, each done in the manner that should be expected from them. There are many albums out there where there will be one or two songs that feel out of place on the entirety of the album that feels as if the band experimented too much with those songs and just don’t fit the norm of the band. Well I’m more than excited to say that this wasn’t the case with Dethalbum II, all the songs feel and sound right to what they’re supposed to be. There are one or two songs that aren’t entirely up to par with the rest of the CD, but point in case, no band is entirely perfect.

What makes the album great is that it takes what the last album did and tried taking it just that extra mile, and for those who watch the show, you’ll understand exactly what I mean by that. Most of the songs on the album are taken directly from the show and added upon and lengthened quite substantially, and it’s in that special quality there that lies the true humor and raw intensity that mainstreamers will get. Sort of an inside joke to us the fans.

Then again there are also some problems with what I just mentioned. For one although there are at least two original songs on the Dethalbum II including the long awaited sequel to Murmaider aka Murmaider II: The Water God, there were some songs from some episodes that were left off the album that could have done so well. For example the songs played during the episodes “Dethrecord” and “Dethrelease”, which would have made for perfect album songs especially when Murmaider II basically just remixes the original Murmaider into a new song. The album also lacks the expansive network of songs off the original album falling behind by four songs. Although there are may not be as many songs, it is definitely not shorter in length time, because as I said before there has been much added to the album as per mentioned solos being one of those things.

The biggest let down though has got to be the deluxe edition of the album. When first advertised leading up to the day in question of its release there was a promise of several bonus tracks as was done with the previous album. Well seems somebody skimped out on the bonus tracks entirely leading anybody buying the deluxe album to be scammed right out of the extra tracks that they had been advertised and told endlessly about. Instead they just packaged a bonus DVD containing many of the unreleased music videos of the first albums songs. The DVD is pretty good but what adds injury to insult is that we were promised this DVD beforehand along with the bonus tracks, so what happened to the extra tracks has yet to be determined.

So if you compare the first deluxe with the second, you get a total of 23 tracks with the first deluxe album, while only 12 tracks with the second which is exactly the same number of tracks as if you were to buy the normal album. I mean there were just so many more songs that could have been added in as bonuses like the Murderface/Toki collaboration song known as “Takin’ It Easy” which has got to be one of the funniest and most entertaining songs I’ve heard in a while and the video of it makes it all that much better. To have had it expanded upon would have made it that much better. Well better look next time folks, because it looks like the fans were screwed out on this one.

Pickles the Drummer also had one or two songs on the previous album where he provided vocals which gave one song a sort of death metal meets glam metal sort of feel a la “Kill You” and “Hatredcopter” which sounded as if Cannibal Corpse met Children of Bodom. Once again it was one of the things left out on this album, no Pickles and his vocals, and no Snakes’N’Barrels covers. There’s also one other thing about this album that I just can’t quite think of, it’s a sort of tip of the tongue sort of deal that will come to me someday and bugs me about the album but for the time being remains an untouched upon subject.

The album is overall very addicting, very brutal, very metal and very entertaining. It doesn’t take a lot to like it and become enthralled with the band and the now cultural phenomena but it just doesn’t quite live up to the last album even though everything expanded upon this time around with Dethalbum II has been generally perfected as a whole. It’s just not quite as catchy an album although I have to admit some of the more notable songs like “Dethsupport”, “The Gears”, “Bloodlines”, and even “Volcano” are like in the words of Skwisgaar Skwigelf from the episode Snakes’N”Barrels; “This music is likes potato chips. I can’t stop listening to it.”

All in all while this album may be louder, more brutal, more metal, and faster paced than the original Dethalbum, it’s just not as memorable. There have been many added improvements and although it feels and sounds just like a Dethklok album, Dethalbum II just didn’t live up to the expansiveness that we were hoping for. It exceeded most expectations but when you get right down to it, there were some unforeseen setbacks that took most of us by surprise and we the fans deserve to be treated with respect. For we are the fans and we hold the power; inside joke if you’ve seen the show. This is definitely an album to check out for any metal head or die hard Dethklok fan, but I advise only the most hardcore of Dethklok fans to buy the deluxe as not to waste money on not getting bonus songs. A great sequel to a great album hopefully Dethalbum III and the next season will be just as good if not even better, and if the Klokateers haven’t gotten at me for uploading Dethkloks stuff here, I’ll be back within the week or so with another review. In the meantime some parting words of advice “Candy…tastes like chickens, if chickens was candy.”

8.9/10

Bloodlines by Dethklok
The Gears by Dethklok
Dethsupport by Dethklok