Credits Director : Various Starring : Deathlok Our Score :

By James Cottee

''Metalocalypse'' is bloody. Really bloody. There is an ungodly torrent of dismemberment, disfigurement, and death in every episode. Yet it’s not some traumatic horror show – it’s a comedy. Each 11-minute episode is like the last 20 minutes of ''Meet The Feebles'' or ''Team America: World Police'', with over-the-top, graphic violence, and even the odd bit of poetic justice.

While all the blood and guts has been included for the obvious reason – it’s hilarious –there’s actually a series-long story arc to justify it all. ''Metalocalypse'' is all about Dethklok, a heavy metal band that has risen to become the biggest entertainment act in the world. Its five members clearly don’t deserve their billionaire status and lavish lifestyle. Rather, a dark prophecy is being fulfilled, and their ascendency to cultural supremacy is a sign of the end of the world: the Metalocalypse.

To ease the viewer in, each episode opens with a meeting of the Illuminati. These sinister world leaders describe the band in the most ominous terms, as though their every move could bring dire consequences to the entire world. The scene then abruptly switches to what Dethklok are actually up to, and it’s usually the height of idiocy. Lounging around in their castle mansion, as they indulge in inane conversation and wallow in nakedly vainglorious celebrity pursuits.

Their hobbies include smashing Swiss watches with hammers and beating clowns.

Everything they try is doomed to utter, hilarious failure. On a visit to Finland, they use a spell from an ancient grimoire as lyrics, and inadvertently summon a 100-metre tall troll. At first they don’t care that it’s destroying the country around them, and they apathetically retire to their gargantuan limo’s hot tub to drink. But when they realise that the monster could cut off their supply of fancy mobile phones, the band grudgingly decides to thwart it.

If you’re not a huge fan of heavy metal music, you may well suspect you’re missing out on something. And you’d be right – the show is riddled with in-jokes, many on an almost subliminal level, that are aimed squarely at the hard-core metal-heads. The gore is confronting, but the animation is limited, with digital composition putting a glossy finish on mostly static poses.

It’s also a show that really throws you in at the deep end. After a few episodes you’ll come to know and understand the personalities of the band members and how they fit together into a dysfunctional unit. But it takes some getting used to – the Swedish guitarist in particular, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, speaks in a mangled dialect, with only his dismissive remarks about everything being ‘dildos’ making any kind of sense.

Yes, ''Metalocalypse'' is a rough diamond, but a cultural sensation all the same – not many fictitious rock bands are considered worthy of a hidden track in Guitar Hero. The satire makes it funny on the first pass, and the tragic characterisations help subsequent re-viewing. ''Metalocalypse'' is very funny, and very metal.

Extras Include Murderface Bass Solo, Skwisgarr Guitar Instructional Video, interviews with the band, an extended tour of Dethklok’s mansion, the ‘Mordhaus’, ‘Murder Reel’ compiling the bloodiest moments from the season, and some trailers for other Madman productions. Nice foil-embossed packaging, too.