Brutally Funny: 'Metalocalypse'

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WILLIAM MURDERFACE DOESN'T like to eat "penis-shaped" food.

The Dethklok bassist has mother issues and body-image problems, too.

While the mulleted-and-mustached sociopath is the most screwed-up member of the animated band, he's not the only one who struggles with his self-esteem. But Murderface is the funniest character in the double-devil-horns-worthy "Metalocalypse" series, which airs Sundays at 11:45 p.m. on Cartoon Network's Adult Swim.

"Metalocalypse's" first season was released on DVD just as the second season fired up this fall, and Dethklok recently dropped its debut CD, "The Dethalbum." All are mandatory for fans of high-quality animation and low-brow humor (that is actually really smart).

Created by stand-up comedian and writer Brendon Small ("Home Movies") and comedy writer Tommy Blacha ("Da Ali G Show," Conan O'Brien), "Metalocalypse" follows the travails of Dethklok, the most popular death-metal band on the planet. But in between the band's extreme concerts, where numerous audience deaths are the norm, the group retreats to its fortress and lives like any other dysfunctional "family."

"Our whole philosophy about Dethklok, or bands in general, is that a band is a family with no love," Small said. "It has all the illusions and accruement about what family should be ... but it's not love that binds you; it's business and circumstance. So you can be a total d**k all day long and steal somebody's sweatpants and a fight's gonna happen."

Binge-drinking singer Nathan Explosion has perfectionist issues and is obsessed with making the most "brutal" music ever; lead guitarist Skwisgaar Skwigelf (the world's fastest ax man) tortures rhythm guitarist Toki Wartooth (the second fastest) in Swedish-damaged English; Pickles the drummer is balding but still insists on wearing dreadlocks; and then there's Murderface, whose mumbling, inarticulate rage at the world stems from his narcissistic self-hatred. (His tummy tattoos state: "This mess is a place" and "Pobody's Nerfect.") "The whole idea was to write his character as a self-conscious lying a*****e who's sensitive," Small said.

"Metalocalypse" is steeped in heavy metal insider jokes but there are plenty of laugh-out-loud gags and one-liners broad enough for a general audience. Many episodes feature guest voices from bands such as Metallica and Dimmu Borgir, but Dethklok's members are all voiced by Small and Blacha.

Small also writes and performs all the songs, which are parodies of death metal — from the Cookie Monster vocals to the mayhem-obsessed lyrics — but they're also twisted love letters to the genre: Small is a rabid metalhead and an extremely talented guitarist whose playing is motion-captured and then animated for the series. He also presents how-to-play lessons online for many of Dethklok's songs. "I think of myself when I was 14, watching TV," Small said. "That's the kind of stuff that would make me go insane — to see someone doing that stuff accurately."

Adult Swim also posts many videos from "Metalocalypse," from full episodes to excerpts — so log-on to AdultSwim.com if you want to know why Murderface has a problem with hot dogs.

BONUS Q&A

» EXPRESS: How do you write a show that has super-specific in-jokes for the metalhead community — and the black- and death-metal fans in particular — while still appealing to the general viewer who doesn't know the Finntroll supermarket refers to a Finnish folk-metal group?
» SMALL: We don't think of the bigger audience or anything. We just think me and Tommy; we just think about what we'd like to see in the show. If it's broad, it's because we think it makes sense with the story or the characters. If it's super specific, it's because we think it makes sense. We don't try to anticipate what an audience will think; we just do what we think will be cool.

» EXPRESS: Even when you pitched the show to Adult Swim, you didn't worry about making sure you appealed to non-metal fans?
» SMALL: To their credit, they know a little bit about [metal]. Most people know a little about the idea of Norwegian metal — they don't know much more. They didn't know bands, they don't really listen to them. With Adult Swim, yeah, we had to educate a few people; a few people knew some stuff. But at the end of the day, they pretty much leave us alone. They don't ask us to throw in more or less Burzum references. They just want to make sure the show works. And we're happy being creative, then they let us do our thing.

» EXPRESS: How did you come up with "Metalocalypse" — it's quite a change from your previous animated series, "Home Movies"?
» SMALL: The laws of "Home Movies" functioned very differently from this show. That's one of the reasons this show exists: "Home Movies" was a very low-key, dry, dialogue-driven, spacious kinda comedy — like, manners-based humor. I wanted this to be the polar opposite. Plus, I really like metal. I really like playing guitar — and now I have an excuse to play guitar and be very happy.

[Tommy Blacha] and I, we'd wind up at some crappy comedy parties and we'd just sit and talk about metal for a long time and not talk to anybody else. And he would be the only one who would go see metal shows with me. We'd go see Cannibal Corpse and Nile and Behemoth, stuff like that.

Meanwhile, we were sitting around pitching some other shows. I think I had some crappy deal at SciFi network that was being elongated forever. And we were just commiserating. Then at one point I talked to my buddy from [the Adult Swim show] "The Venture Brothers," Jackson Publick, and I was telling him about this sketch that me and Tommy did. We did a live show at one point where we compared Cannibal Corpse and "Glengarry Glen Ross." And I can't believe I had to be told this, but my buddy Jack said, "We aren't you doing that as a show?" And I was, like, "I can't believe I didn't figure that out." So, it wasn't going to be Cannibal Corpse meets "Glengarry Glen Ross" with a guy looking for leads. But there was a show there.

I also wrote all the music for "Home Movies." After "Home Movies," [Adult Swim/Cartoon Network] requested, "Come back when you have another idea. And if you have one that's a musical idea, even better."

» EXPRESS: With you taking on everything from the voices to the producing to the music, it's really an absurd amount of work.
» SMALL: It's a lot of work, and it's more work for season two because we're doing a lot more stuff. At the very end of season one, I started working on ["The Dethalbum"] for the next three and half months. And also producing the DVD and getting season two ready to go. [Plus, Small recently completed a mini tour of colleges and universities, performing with a quartet as Dethklok while animations were beamed behind the band, a la Gorillaz.]

So it's a lot of work but it's fun work. I can't really complain because it's a pretty awesome job. ... For me, it's kind of a dream come true. So, I am pretty exhausted. If you catch me the last few weeks, I pretty much speak in broken sentences because I'm so tired — and that's not going to end any time soon. Hopefully I'll be able to manage my schedule better; that's all I can do.

That's what happens when you're a control freak.

» EXPRESS: What's it like to work in the standard 11-minute Adult Swim show format rather than the typical 22-minute sitcom format?
» SMALL: If you want to tell a story, it's much more difficult than 22 minutes. I think 11 minutes is more work. We do way more art, way more animation and way more grandiose storytelling in the 11-minute format than I did on "Home Movies" [in 22 minutes]. "Home Movies" didn't really ask for that; "Home Movies" is very low key.

It's a very short form, but it seems to be working for Adult Swim; they seem to like it. But it's a real challenge to make it work in that amount of time.

» EXPRESS: Do you know why they went with that length?
» SMALL: I don't know, but it's one of those things where they keep their viewers. It's almost like, "Hey, if you don't like this, here's this." Or, "It wasn't that great, but at least it didn't take that long." That kind of an attitude. And if you do like something, you just keep on watching — you keep the network on. And that network just owns that demographic that everyone is looking for: 18 to 24. Adult Swim has them right where they want them in that time slot.

» EXPRESS: What do the extreme metal guys think of the "Metalocalypse"? The show is in many ways a love letter to metal, but it's also a deep parody of the scene.
» SMALL: Actually, the truth is, on the surface it seems like we're making fun of metal; we don't think we're making fun of metal. But we're really making fun of celebrity-ism and that's our joke: How stupid we are for liking people the way we do. Over the last seven years with reality TV, just watching people get things for nothing; talentless people who can't do anything. And then following their every move like a bunch of idiots — that's what our show is about: How dumb we are.

We do have different kinds of band archetypes, but we're not necessarily parodying any one band. We consider it more of a satire of the genre. You can take any of those [Dethklok] bandmates, still them in another band and they'll stick out. There's always the bass player who doesn't get turned up enough; the second-class guitar player. Stuff like that.

Metalheads take their metal seriously and we always want to make sure that they know that we're metal fans first and foremost; stupid comedy writers second.

» EXPRESS: One of the best ways that you parody extreme metal, while at the same time celebrating it, is how Dethklok is always trying to judge what is the most metal thing you can do, and the most brutal. Although you frequently kill the Dethklok concert audiences in "Metalocalypse," the logical extreme to these bands is killing themselves on stage — and they're never going to do it. It almost takes the wind out of their evil sails.
» SMALL: Yeah. I mean, if you watch GG Allin documentaries, it's amazing. [Allin was a legendary nihilistic punk rocker who attacked himself, and his audience, as a matter of course. He died young and left an ugly corpse.]

We have a couple of GG Allin references [in the show], too. One is really blatant: Murderface is totally naked, smashing the microphone into his face while trying to do [stand-up] comedy.

» EXPRESS: Murderface is a great character.
» SMALL: He's amazing. The whole idea to write his character as a self-conscious lying a*****e who's sensitive.

The original direction was, "Let's have a guy with weird, kinky hair who can't grow his hair out." You remember that in high school when everybody started growing their hair out, there was always one kid who just couldn't do it: It just stays in a ball or a triangle. When I [first saw drawings of Murderface and Dethklok] I thought, "Wow, there's a lot of black metal going on, and extreme metal — and this guy's straight out of Blue Oyster Cult.

I also think of Murderface is kind of like [Marvel Comics'] Wolverine, where you don't know how old he is: He could be 140 or 23 — the oldest-looking 23-year-old you'll ever meet.

» EXPRESS: Do you ever think you'll make "Blood Ocean"?
» SMALL: If you're referring to a Dethklok movie, I can tell you what I'd like to do: make a Dethklok movie.

We're telling a much bigger, more dangerous story in season two. Season one was going episode to episode, getting the lay of the land, figuring out what the band could do, figuring out what the world could do. Some things went too far; some things didn't go far enough. Then season two is basically, now that we have everything in place, let's really tell the story; let's start letting things unfold. ... So, in my mind, I'm going toward something bigger than a TV show. Maybe it's season three or maybe it's season four, but I have a story that I'm ready to tell.