Cartoon Band update - Dethklok

Dethklok from the series Metalocalypse are another addition to the top 5 all time great cartoon bands.


In the Metalocalypse series, Dethklok is depicted as an extremely popular and successful death metal band, described by their adversaries, the Tribunal, as the "world's greatest cultural force." The band's fan base includes thousands of metal fanatics, who frequently endanger themselves to watch the band perform live. With their widespread commercial success and lucrative sponsorship contracts, Dethklok is ranked as the world's twelfth largest economy in the series.
In addition to their uncanny ability to command worldwide attention and effortlessly persuade masses of people, the band members indirectly cause death and bad luck to those near them. It is hinted that this is related to an as-of-yet unexplained curse beyond the members' awareness or control. They also frequently summon natural disasters, severe weather phenomena, and paranormal anomalies through the live performance of their music. As a result of this, the band's concerts are notoriously violent, often resulting in the physical injury and fatality of many or all of the crowd. Even their attempts at charity result in tens of thousands of deaths, such as when a laser light show, which was actually a Soviet laser-based weapon, butchered the entire London Philharmonic Orchestra during a benefit concert, and an attack on an entire island population by "wayward kitties."
The members of Dethklok are often portrayed as incompetent at almost everything not related to their profession. The band struggles to perform everyday tasks, including shopping for groceries, preparing food, and maintaining proper social relationships. They are often assisted by their manager and lawyer, Charles Ofdensen, who frequently attempts to prevent the band from making poor decisions. The band's actions, including the bad luck situations which comprise many plots, have caught the attention of an Illuminati-style council, known as The Tribunal. The Council is portrayed as Dethklok's antagonist throughout the series, and secretly monitor their actions in almost every episode.

Nathan Explosion
Nathan Explosion (voiced by Brendon Small) is the frontman, lead vocalist and "lyrical visionary" of Dethklok. Portrayed as a tall figure, with long black hair and black fingernails, Nathan always speaks in a deep, gravelly voice, even when not singing. He is apparently the lead songwriting force in Dethklok, and uses violent imagery or plot elements when writing and composing song material.
Small described Nathan as a "quarterback", and based his character on Cannibal Corpse vocalist George “Corpsegrinder” Fisher.
Skwisgaar Skwigelf
Skwisgaar Skwigelf (voiced by Brendon Small) is Dethklok's lead guitarist. He is described as, "a handsome guy who thinks he's the greatest thing in the world, with a little bit of Yngwie Malmsteen in his attitude." He plays a Gibson Explorer, which he often carries even when not playing. Hailing from Sweden, Skwisgaar possesses a heavy Swedish accent. He is responsible for the majority of the arrangement of Dethklok's songs, writing both the guitar lines as well as Murderface's bass lines.
Toki Wartooth
Toki Wartooth (voiced by Tommy Blacha) is Dethklok's rhythm guitarist. He typically plays a Gibson Flying V. A native of Norway, he has a distinct whisker-like style of mustache known as the Fu Manchu, long brown hair and very pale blue eyes. Small explained Toki's relationship with Skwisgaar thusly: "Toki is Norwegian to Skwisgaar's Swedish, pompous attitude. And, again, a second-class citizen in the same band."
Pickles
Pickles (voiced by Brendon Small) is Dethklok's drummer. He was raised in Tomahawk, Wisconsin and speaks with a Yooper dialect. He refers to himself as "very Irish American" and has red hair, styled into dreadlocks and a comb-over skullet. He is depicted as having an average build with a slight beer belly. According to Brendon Small, Pickles was originally conceived as "the jerk of the group."Describing the character, Small said, "I thought the drummer should be able to do a bunch of stuff, like Roger Taylor in Queen. Even though it's not based on his personality, it's what he can do in the band and what parts of the songs he does contribute to."
William Murderface
William Murderface (voiced by Tommy Blacha) is Dethklok's bassist. He plays a Gibson Thunderbird Studio 5-string. He has brown hair, lime green eyes, a heavy lateral lisp and a diastema. Murderface's father killed his wife with a chainsaw before turning it upon himself in a grisly murder-suicide. Murderface is "a self-hating bass player who's always trying to act like he's more important than he is," in part because his bass playing is usually mixed out completely. Brendon Small describes Murderface as "thin-skinned and incredibly sensitive and just wants to be accepted constantly but can’t get that because he’s such a dick and pushes people away"
Source: Wikipedia

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