UMUR "The Doomstar Requiem – A Klok Opera" is the 4th full-length studio album by US metal act Dethklok. The album was released through BS Records in October 2013. It´s the successor to "Dethalbum III" from 2012. The core lineup still consists of the two-piece Brendon Small who performs vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, voice-overs, and handles production and prolific drummer Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death, Strapping Young Lad, Testament, Fear Factory...etc.). This time around there are several guest/sessions musicians featured, including a 50 piece orchestra under the direction of Bear McCreary, and quite a few guest vocalists. Dethklok is a virtual band concept created for the animated tv-series "Metalocalypse", and "The Doomstar Requiem – A Klok Opera" is a soundtrack to a "Metalocalypse" special of the same name. The album works a lot like a rock opera/Broadway musical without the visuals.

Rock/metal operas featuring orchestras/choirs can be a bit of an aquired taste. Sometimes touching cheesy Broadway musical territories, but sometimes thankfully staying in more tasteful environements. Not surprisingly the material on "The Doomstar Requiem – A Klok Opera" is generally in the harder end of the musical spectrum, but other times it´s maybe a bit more surprising actually rather close to sounding like something out of "Cats" or something in that vein (a much harder edged version that is). Small is definitely a classically trained composer, and his scores are professionally done (just listen to the 23:23 minutes long classical music bonus track "The Doomstar Orchestra" for proof of that) and he makes them work well with the rock/metal orchestration and vocals. Dethklok are usually labelled a melodic death metal act, but the death metal part of the band´s sound is toned down considerably on "The Doomstar Requiem – A Klok Opera", and this is more a symphonic metal release with the occasional nod towards the extreme part of the metal scene. So while there are death metal vocals featured on the album, the many guest vocalists predominantly perform various types of clean vocals. Among the guest vocalists who perform on the album are Jack Black, George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher (Cannibal Corpse), and none other than Star Wars actor Mark Hamill.

The plot is as crazy as ever when dealing with the "Metalocalypse" tv-series. It´s like a heavy metal version of a Terry Pratchett novel or something similarly weird and out there. The story includes an abduction, a rescue mission, an assassin, drug addicts, old groupies, a group of failed musicians angry at Dethklok, a dreamlike sequence featuring a guitar duel, and of course our heavy metal band heroes of Dethklok as the unwilling protagonists...and that´s just the half of it. I can strongly recommend reading the lyrics while listening to the album (they are both fun and a little silly, but definitely entertaining), as the musical transitions and different stylistic elements used, make much more sense when combined with the lyric sheet.

"The Doomstar Requiem – A Klok Opera" is well produced and features a professional, clear, and detailed sounding production, which suits the material perfectly. Upon conclusion it´s through and through a high quality release. The songwriting is intriguing and clever, the musicianship is on a high level, and the interaction between the classical orchestra and the rock/heavy metal band instrumentation and vocals are effectful. You´ll have to be able to enjoy a crazy concept plot and occasionally equally crazy vocal styles/moments, but if that´s not a problem, then "The Doomstar Requiem – A Klok Opera" is highly recommendable. It´s a bold release and pretty different from Dethklok´s previous releases, but it´s just as entertaining and definitely a worthy part of the band´s discography. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Dethalbum III" is as the title suggests the 3rd full-length studio album by US metal act Dethklok. The album was released through Williams Street Records in October 2012. It´s the successor to "Dethalbum II" from 2009 and continues the virtual band concept of the first two albums (Dethklok is a band in the animated tv-series "Metalocalypse"). The lineup still consists of Brendon Small who performs all vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, voice-overs, and handles production and prolific drummer Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death, Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory...etc.). Charting at number 10 on the Billboard 200 chart, "Dethalbum III" was a very successful release for Dethklok.

Stylistically the material on "Dethalbum III" continues the melodic death metal style of the predecessor, although Dethklok do try out new musical elements. A track like "Starved" for example features sharp angular riffs and rhythms, and a jazz/fusion style guitar solo, not completely unlike a less complex version of Meshuggah. Dethklok weren´t the most original act to begin with (the cartoon image yes...the music, not so much), so they should be evaluated more for the quality of their output than the uniqueness of said output. And there´s nothing wrong with the quality of the material on "Dethalbum III", which are both well performed, catchy, and powerful. Everything on the album reeks class, including the professional and detailed sound production.

If you enjoyed the first two releases by Dethklok, this is another similar sounding release of an equal quality to add to your collection. This is as good a place as any to be introduced to Dethklok too, and fans of melodic death metal are definitely recommended to take a listen. The album is loaded with melodic harmony guitar parts, powerful drumming, and hard edged riffing, and add to that some well performed effect laden growling vocals, and there´s just so much quality here. A 3.5 - 4 star (75%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "Dethalbum II" is the 2nd full-length studio album by US metal act Dethklok. The album was released through Williams Street Records in September 2009. It´s the successor to "The Dethalbum" from 2007 and continues the virtual band concept of the debut album (Dethklok is a band in the animated tv-series "Metalocalypse"). As the case was on the debut album Brendon Small performs all vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, voice-overs, and handles production. The drums on the album are played by prolific drummer Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death, Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory...etc.).

The debut album featured a melodic death metal style with strong traditional heavy metal ties, and that style is more or less continued on "Dethalbum II". The concept has been developed even further though, and occasional symphonic elements have been added to make "Dethalbum II" an even more intriguing and varied album than the debut. The material is catchy, powerful, and very well composed and arranged. There are some really impressive harmony work on display here, and the album is generally nicely melodic and occasionally symphonic. Power is not lost on the account of the material being melodic oriented, so it´s polished but not too polished. The same can be said about the sound production which is clear and detailed, but still powerful.

Everything is played with great skill and conviction and the effect laden growling vocals also work well within this context. I´m usually not a fan of growling vocals which are this obviously run through effects, but Dethklok manage to make it work because they are able to make the vocals an extra instrument by using highly rhythmic phrasing. So Small should definitely be mentioned as a brilliant musician and composer, but Hoglan of course as always also needs a special mention, because he is a drummer extraordinaire. His playing here is on a high technical level and while the drum sound is not exactly organic, he is able to put a human touch on something which could otherwise have had the potential to sound like programmed drums.

So upon conclusion "Dethalbum II" is a strong sophomore album by Dethklok and maybe even a little stronger than the high quality debut album. The songwriting is intriguing and Dethklok have a distinct sound, the performances are strong, and the sound production is professional and well sounding. A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

UMUR "The Dethalbum" is the debut full-length studio album by US metal act Dethklok. The album was released through Williams Street Records in September 2007. Dethklok is both a virtual band featured in the Adult Swim animated series "Metalocalypse" and a real band assembled to play live shows. Dethklok was created by Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha. The latter does voice-overs on the album, while the former performs all vocals, guitars, bass, keyboards, voice-over, and handles production. The drums on the album are played by prolific drummer Gene Hoglan (Dark Angel, Death, Strapping Young Lad, Fear Factory...etc.). "The Dethalbum" features tracks from the Tv-series as well as unreleased material. So this is like the heavy metal equivalent to Gorillaz or something like that.

Stylistically this is melodic death metal with strong traditional heavy metal leanings. It´s not a particularly hard edged death metal release, although the music is powerful enough. The band make good use of guitar harmonies, but also powerful riffs and rhythms. Hoglan is as always an incredibly skilled and powerful drummer who knows exactly what to play at the right time to push the music forward in the most effective way. The vocals are a bit odd and took a bit of getting used to. They are essentially growling vocals, but they are clearly processed and sounds more like they are spoken, put through effect filters, and turned up in volume, than actually sung. Personally it was a bit on an issue to begin with, but after getting used to the vocal style, I see know that it´s just another feature to make Dethklok stand out.

The material on the 16 track, 52:16 minutes long album is well written, catchy, and effective. The tracks are relatively accessible, featuring easily recognisable vers/chorus structures, and quite a bit of repetition both in the vocal department but also in the way the drum patterns and the riffs are arranged. Sometimes a bit more variation between tracks would have been nice, but overall the material is strong and memorable. It is great for the variation though, when the band introduce a few symphonic elements on a track like "Dethharmonic".

"The Dethalbum" is very well produced, featuring a powerful and detailed sound, which suits the music perfectly. Great emphasis is put on making the drums sound as great as possible, and when you have a drummer like Hoglan playing for you, that makes perfect sense. "The Dethalbum" is upon conclusion a high quality release by Dethklok. It´s certainly one of the most unconventional and different sounding melodic death/heavy metal albums on the scene, but it´s probably also an aquired taste (so consider yourself either warned or intrigued). A 4 star (80%) rating is deserved.

Warthur With each passing Dethklok release, the cartoon metal band feels less like a parody and more like a credible metal force in its own right. The vocals are still comedic ("I Ejaculate Fire", need I say more?), but at the same time the joke there is wearing thin and I suspect the participants know this, with the instrumental backing exploring a broader range of metal styles. Whilst melodic death metal is still the baseline, excursions into other forms occur - there's some segments of Starved, for instance, where black metal seems to be creeping into the picture. Some metalheads will never take Dethklok seriously, but one thing is for sure: Dethklok certainly take metal seriously.