Metalocalypse-Season 1 (2006) |
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General | Extras | ||
Category | TV Series |
Featurette-Murderface Bass Solo Featurette-Shwisgarr Guitar Instructional Video Featurette-Band Interviews Featurette-Mordhaus Tour Featurette-Murder Reel Trailer-Trailers |
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Rating | |||
Year Of Production | 2006 | ||
Running Time | 230:00 | ||
RSDL / Flipper |
Dual Layered Dual Disc Set |
Cast & Crew | |
Start Up | Menu | ||
Region Coding | 4 | Directed By |
Jon Schnepp Chris Prynoski |
Studio
Distributor |
Madman Entertainment |
Starring | None Given |
Case | Custom Packaging | ||
RPI | $39.95 | Music |
Brendon Small Damon P. Yoches Jon Schnepp |
Video | Audio | ||
Pan & Scan/Full Frame | Full Screen, not known whether Pan & Scan or Full Frame | English Dolby Digital 2.0 (448Kb/s) | |
Widescreen Aspect Ratio | None | ||
16x9 Enhancement | No | ||
Video Format | 576i (PAL) | ||
Original Aspect Ratio | 1.33:1 | Miscellaneous | |
Jacket Pictures | No | ||
Subtitles | English | Smoking | Yes |
Annoying Product Placement | No | ||
Action In or After Credits | Yes |
If there's one show on the Cartoon Network's fantastic cartoons-unsuitable-for-kids Adult Swim block that really is not for children, it's Metalocalypse: the hysterical, extreme series chronicling the life and times of band Dethklok, who most popular band ever to have lived who also embody every single Death Metal cliche to the extreme. Their popularity and riches are unrivalled; in the first episode, millions of fans come out and sacrifice their lives to witness the band performing a 30-second coffee jingle, and throughout the series the band's wealth is referred to as the twelfth largest economy in the world, just above Belgium. But not all love Dethklok - a secretive group called the Tribunal are always lurking and watching, convinced that Dethklok are soon to bring about the end times: the Metalocalypse.
A parody described by creators Brendon Small and Tommy Blacha as "Spinal Tap meets Scooby-Doo meets Norway", Metalocalypse is a joy to watch for anyone with even a passing interest in this genre of music.The satire mixes the most extreme exaggeration of the concept of "metal" with total absurdity: although the band's actions embody metal as being aggressive and apathetic towards everything - resulting in death and destruction wherever they go - they're all intellectually and emotionally stunted, subsequently unable to do anything else. To say, it's not that any of the characters are mean-spirited (Murderface excepted), they're just stupid.The situations they find themselves are typically insane and hilarious, where normal interactions or relationships are completely impossible, and their limited grasp of both English vernacular and even the simplest understanding of polite (read: non-metal) society makes their interactions very funny. The show is also extremely, excruciatingly violent, reveling in the most over-the-top grue I've ever seen in a cartoon. (This includes the most brutal Japanese anime.) To be sure, Metalocalypse is an acquired taste, but it's an awesome one.
There's also a fair amount of the non-sequiter humor that has become the brand of Adult Swim (although never to the extreme of something like Aqua Teen Hunger Force), and additionally the music here is also awesome - performed by the creators, who also voice nearly ever cast member, Dethklok have even released a cd - The Dethalbum - which quickly became the highest chart positioned death metal album to date. A must watch for metal fans and worth a look for anyone with a passing interest and a high tolerance for offensive material, Metalocalypse is a stroke of creative genius that absolutely rocks.
Regardless, this is the very best Adult Swim transfer I've seen to date, with very blight flourishing colours - important for the sheer number of blacks and also reds - and an awesome amount of detail throughout. The nasty aliasing and interlacing plaguing most of the Adult Swim releases is thankfully absent, with only a minor amount of interlacing that doesn't distract from the onscreen carnage. I'm very impressed with the set, despite the aspect ratio issue - this is definitely the way to view Metalocalypse.
This is a dual-layer disc set, with the layer changes occuring between episodes where they are not noticed.
There are English subtitles, and they are excellent. Considering how hard it can be to make out some lines of strongly-accented dialogue, as well as the awesome metal lyrics, these are sometimes essential to the viewing experience. You're just not getting the entire metal experience if you don't hear every line that rolls off Skwisgaar Shwigelf' s tongue.
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Metalocalypse sounds absolutely wonderful - this is as close to flawless as one will ever get from stereo audio. The dialogue, effects and music are all perfectly mixed and truly metal, with the heavy Dethklok sounds like a brutal assault on the ears. It's difficult to go back to watching this on TV after hearing it on DVD; everything from the opening Detheme to the closing sounds are just fantastic, and for a program with a lot of focus on music, this is important, and Metalocalypse delivers!
What this does, however, is make one yearn for a fully surround version of the soundtrack, especially the music. But since Metalocalypse is not an especially high budget series, this doesn't seem likely, even on Blu-ray. Regardless, I'm very happy with the audio here.
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Overall |
NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.
The video and audio transfers are both very good, although lacking 16x9 support or a surround track better than stereo.
The extras are few but nice.
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Overall |
Review Equipment | |
DVD | Sony Playstation 3 (HDMI 1.3) with Upscaling, using Component output |
Display | Benq PE7700. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). This display device has a maximum native resolution of 720p. |
Audio Decoder | Logitech 5500 THX. Calibrated with Digital Video Essentials (PAL). |
Amplification | Logitech 5500 THX |
Speakers | Logitech 5500 THX |