Tuesday, November 27, 2007

Dethklok



death metal band that stars in the television show Metalocalypse. Their debut album, released September 25, 2007, was entitled The Dethalbum. Creator Brendon Small wrote the lyrics and music and also performed the guitar, bass, and vocals; ex-Death/ex -Dark Angel/ex-Devin Townsend/Strapping Young Lad drummer Gene Hoglan performed drums on the album. The album debuted at #21 on the Billboard Top 200 list, making it the highest charting death metal album ever. The band's actual name is Dëthkløk, but most know it as Dethklok.
Origin Flag of the United States Mordhaus, United States
Genre(s) Melodic death metal
Death metal
Heavy Metal
Years active 2006–present
Label(s) Williams Street
Associated
acts
Snakes n' Barrels
Planet Piss
10 Points to Gryffindor
Depantsification Proclamation
Website www.myspace.com/dethklok

History

They are extremely popular and considered "The world's greatest cultural force,". The band's actual rise to fame has yet to be explored. There has been little back-story on about how they met or when the band formed. It is known the band had at least one album out since before the first episode, entitled simply "Dethklok". Another "pre-Curse of Dethklok" album featured the visage of one of Dethklok's ill-fated chefs shortly after he comitted suicide. In the series the numeric value of the band's wealth is never actually stated, but the fact that they are referred to as the 12th largest economy in the world, just above Belgium (which is indeed 13th in terms of GDP per capita), indicates that they must make somewhere on the order of several hundred billion dollars a year. Their influence is so great that the United Nations even allows them to act as their own police force, used to sadistically punish those foolish enough to pirate their songs.

The band members all reside together in a gigantic and lavish mansion called Mordhaus, in a fictional, unspecified region known as Mordland (although Dethklok's official Myspace page lists their residence as "Mordhaus, United States"). Their traveling arrangements are equally lavish: they usually travel either in a gigantic tour bus or hatredcopter, the latter of which is seemingly capable of transporting at least one hundred of Dethklok's roadies, or on the Murdercycle, a motorcycle with four sidecars, driven by lead singer Nathan Explosion.

All the members of Dethklok act somewhat sociopathic; if they are not directly responsible for the violence and mayhem that surrounds them, they are at least indifferent to it. The band mates do appear to care about one another in the show, but have difficulty expressing their feelings, even when intoxicated. Although they vary in their levels of drug and alcohol consumption, they are all fond of drinking to excess. Dethklok readily admits that they despise their fans, whom Nathan refers to as "regular jack-offs."

Another ongoing feature of the series is that the band members are incompetent at everything not related to sex, drugs, heavy metal, and negotiating their contracts, and at various points, they are ignorant of obvious things, like shopping for groceries and cooking, in episode 1, "Curse of Dethklok"; or the most basic aspects of feeding children, as in episode 10, "Fatklok". Often, one member of the band will be unaware of a bit of common knowledge while another is not, prompting arguments or explanations. As a group, they also come up with ideas that are clearly quite asinine, harmful or even fatal, yet do not recognize this fact. One example is in their "time travel face bag" which is simply a plastic bag worn over the head that allows a person to travel through time at the speed of regular time: in essence, just a plastic bag. Musically, only Nathan, Skwisgaar, and Pickles are actually adept. Both Toki and Murderface have repeatedly been considered for termination, and are frequently called on the fact that neither of them seem to do anything, except for show up.

Together, the show portrays that the band seems to have control of otherworldly or supernatural powers through their music. The Tribunal has loosely predicted that they were an unstoppable prophecy that would cause doom. When anyone wants to help them, those who annoy Dethklok are almost always killed or mutilated (although ones who don't annoy them don't suffer anything, like "Mashed Potato" Johnson.) When playing music, they have displayed the ability to summon everything from sea creatures (with the help of a leaking nuclear reactor on their sub), to tornadoes, to the giant Finnish lake troll Mustakrakish

The band

Nathan Explosion

Nathan Explosion

Nathan Explosion

Born in New Port Richey, Florida to Oscar and Rose Explosion,Nathaniel Explosion is the lead singer and the "lyrical visionary" of Dethklok, as made evident in the show, who always speaks in a deep, gravelly voice even when not singing. According to intelligence gathered by the Tribunal, Nathan did not speak until the age of five and was an unremarkable student in high school, excelling only in frog dissection and football. He eventually dropped out without earning his GED. Nathan does attempt to earn his GED in the "Go Forth and Die" episode - he fails the test utterly when he doesn't even answer a single question at all. Despite his academic ineptitude, Nathan is apparently a main songwriting force in Dethklok, as he admonishes Murderface at length for never writing a single song.

Nathan is a binge-drinking alcoholic, once even going into a pub and ordering exactly 100 beers to drink in a single sitting, although he was not served, due to the fact Dethklok had summoned a lake troll. Because of his excessive drinking, Nathan has to undergo repeated liver replacement surgery, vomiting blood on at least one occasion due to his condition. Probably related to his drinking is his steadily increasing weight - one tabloid estimated him at 250 pounds and climbing. Whenever called upon to speak publicly for more than a few brief sentences, Nathan quickly degenerates into incoherence and becomes frustrated; however, he is nonetheless capable of reading and reciting all of Shakespeare's works for a Books on Tape collection. Several of the characters in the show address Nathan as "Tonto", in joking reference to the pidgin English spoken by The Lone Ranger's sidekick and the fact that Nathan speaks in short, simple sentences. Occasionally, he is seen wearing glasses while reading or using his laptop.

Nathan often describes things in terms of whether or not they are "brutal" or "metal," and, according to an expert procured by the Tribunal, shares a similar psychological profile as former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in his ability to "galvanize the proletariat." Nathan may be aware of this, as he is seen getting excited when Ofdenson briefly mentions Stalin in "Dethdoubles". Nathan has shown himself to be clueless about most things outside the scope of metal. For instance, he was unaware of the fact that the band could fire their employees. He also believes that the Mariana Trench is located somewhere near the Iberian Peninsula. However, Nathan has proven several times that he is not completely devoid of common sense: he figured out that the band's therapist, Twinkletits, was using the banana stickers as psychological validation; when Toki's tooth falls out, Nathan explains that it was because Toki was eating too much candy; and in the episode "Bluesklok", he (along with his fellow bandmates) goes into very deep negotiations with "The Blues Devil" about the contract concerning the bands' souls, instead trading a $5 Hot Topic gift card. He also speaks at least three words of French as in the episode "Mordland" he says "Merci. Bon cafe, Jean Pierre," right after receiving a cup of coffee from Jean Pierre.

Nathan carries a digital recording device, in which he notes any interesting song material he may run across (usually limited to murder or similar acts of brutality). He has exacting standards, and will delete entire finished Dethklok albums if they do not ultimately meet his approval. He also hates wearing watches, and sometimes will buy large amounts of watches just to destroy them. He is always seen with his fingernails painted black. Nathan has his own brand of barbecue sauce known as "Explosion Sauce," a mustardy North Carolina blend with a hint of cilantro, which he is known to drink out of the bottle. He estimates that he only wears underwear approximately 65% of the time.

In the episode "Girlfriendklok," Nathan found a controlling celebrity girlfriend, Rebecca Nightrod, voiced by actress Laura Silverman, who forced him to tone down his behavior. He hated her temper tantrums and demands, and described his hatred of her as much more black and brutal than his ordinary hate. Though his band mates tortured him until they convinced him to dump her, a subsequent mishap (of the kind typical to those who are a threat to Dethklok) involving an unusually steep flight of stairs and a broken high heel left her comatose and severely disfigured, after which Nathan described her as "the ultimate girlfriend." The main reason for his change of heart was the fact that she could no longer terrorize him.


Skwisgaar Skwigelf

Skwisgaar Skwigelf

Skwisgaar Skwigelf

Skwisgaar Skwigelf is the lead guitarist of the band and the fastest guitarist alive. Despite this talent, he can't read music, which he blames on "music dyslex-kia". He plays a black Gibson Explorer with a pearl pickguard. The guitar appears to be waterproof. He practices his guitar constantly and in many odd places, such as in church and in the hot tub; the episode "Dethklown" even shows him playing in his sleep and in "Go Forth And Die", his skeleton plays for a short time before crumbling(in Nathan's dream). He often disparages Toki's skill as a guitarist, and appears to be responsible for both lead and rhythm tracks on the band's fictional albums, as well as writing the bass lines. In fact, along with Nathan and Pickles, Skwisgaar seems to be an actual musical force in the band, as opposed to Toki and Murderface, who frequently are shown to have their tracks either written over or mixed out almost completely. In "Cleanzo" it is implied that Skwisgaar is one of Dethklok's main songwriters as he admonishes Murderface at length for never writing a single song for Dethklok.

He seems to dislike the Danish even though he often confuses them with the Dutch.[20] He is also severely allergic to cilantro, which is made apparent when Nathan's barbecue sauce (Explosion Sauce) with cilantro in it is poured on his hands and then licked by his tongue before a show and he almost immediately goes into anaphylaxis (specifically, his face and hands swelled dramatically). On the November 2007 issue of Guitar World magazine, he is also allergic to wasabi which created the same problem with cilantro.

On his Gibson Explorer, he has EMG 81 and EMG 85 pickups. His hardware includes Krank Revolution and Krankenstein amplifiers, multiple Krank Krankenstein guitar cabinets along with Toki, a directly connected Line 6 PODxt effects processor, a Dunlop Crybaby wah pedal (Dimebag signature model), Digitech Whammy Pedal, and some unmentioned MXR pedals.

Skwisgaar is from Sweden, and he consequently possesses a strong accent. He has a very poor grasp of the English language, not knowing relatively simple terms such as "image" and "embezzle". He frequently adds an 's' to the end of many words, and conversely drops the letter from some words that require them, such as "copies" and "Pickles." This tendency becomes worse when he is agitated. His English is so awkward that, during the filming of Dethklok's movie Blood Ocean, the producers were unable to understand his lines, and ultimately, Skwisgaar's voice was completely dubbed out of the film.

He was born to the Miss Sweden of 1956, Serveta Skwigelf (in real life, Miss Sweden of 1956 was Ingrid Goude), and does not know his father. Senator Stampingston mentions that "her neglect helped form the world's fastest guitarist," and in an interview, Skwisgaar claims that his inspiration comes from his hatred of his mother. He resents her because of her promiscuity, although he takes after her in this regard.

Skwisgaar is referred to as the band's Lothario ; he often brags about his many sexual conquests to Toki (going so far as to make the claim of having sex with at least 500 women the last time he was in Finland) , who resents it. Skwisgaar is attracted to many different women, including the large and elderly - once propositioning an elderly grandmother in a grocery store for sex , and a television announcer mentions his desire for "MILFs, GMILFs, and soon-to-be-MILFs," as well as "acquiring a stable of FBLs." Skwisgaar implies that he never wears underwear, stating that "In Sweden underwear is worn as a fetish, you know the kinky stuff. But the really exciting sexual stuff is free-balling." . His bedroom is the only room in Mordhaus that is not decorated in a very dark neo-Gothic style; his all-white, sparsely furnished room reflects the Swedish Modern aesthetic . He is a self-described nihilist,(but was proved wrong on religions existing by Nathan when he showed that a bible was "right over there" after which he reevaluated his life) although he sometimes uses references to Norse mythology, such as in "The Metalocalypse Has Begun", when he tells Toki he will see him in Valhalla when they think they are about to be killed.

Skwisgaar owns a collection of bizarre exotic guitars, seen in "Skwisklok." These include a "Swiss Army-tar," an "ant farm-itar," the Gibson Excaliburtar, and a guitar supposedly made of wood from the True Cross. In "Dethtroll" and "Bluesklok," he asserts that he hates playing acoustic guitars, which he and Toki both call "Grandspa's guitars."

Skwisgaar has been in a large number of bands prior to joining Dethklok, including Agnostic Priest, Gangagar, Eldeleel-Alele, Gognog Mug Alugdug, Fuckface Academy, Sausage Assassin, Financially Raped, and Smugly Dismissed, to name a few. Other than that, he claims to have been in "pretty much every band, ever." Like Pickles' affinity for the word "douchebags," Skwisgaar refers to things he hates as "dildos," even using the word as an adjective. A perfect example of both this and his poor use of grammar can be seen in the pilot episode: 'Curse of Dethklok'. Skwisgaar is attempting to force both coffee and a filter into a toaster with little success as the band attempts to feed themselves. "What is wrong wis dis dumb dildos? Dey gives us all dah free coffee in the world and no instruction how to COOK it!" he states, throwing the toaster to the floor in the process.

His hands are shown being insured for ten billion dollars, one billion for each finger. In one episode he had a contractual obligation to wear "protective, solid-crystal, oxygenating hand-aquariums" when not playing, or the policy is void. In the same interview where he mentions his hatred of his mother, Skwisgaar also states that he has two side projects, a Harry Potter tribute band called 10 Points to Gryffindor, and a nudist Civil War styled band called Depantsification Proclamation, although neither has ever been seen on the show.

Skwisgaar, while not depicted as an extreme alcoholic like Nathan or Pickles, may be a recreational drug user as prior to his performance in "Skwisklok" he was discovered crying by the band's manager and tried to defuse the situation by claiming to be "totally high," although this might have been to avoid the current situation.

According to the title theme he is "taller than a tree". This may not be true, but he appears to be the tallest member of the band. Skwissgaar is also the only member of the band whose last name has nothing to do with violence, with the exception of Pickles, who has no real name (that we know of, that is).

Toki Wartooth

Toki Wartooth

Toki Wartooth
Toki Wartooth's Gibson Flying V

Toki Wartooth's Gibson Flying V

Toki Wartooth plays rhythm guitar and is the second fastest guitarist alive, although he can't read music. He plays a black Gibson Flying-V guitar. He hails from an abandoned village near Lillehammer, Norway, the son of Anja and the Reverend Aslaug Wartooth. Both of his parents dress in a very Old World style (much like the Amish), their faces vaguely recalling the painting American Gothic. During the episode in which Toki's parents visit, Toki becomes catatonic and uncommunicative for the duration of their visit. He has pictures of them hung in his room. Cardinal Ravenwood mentions seeing "father killing son in the most brutal manner" when told of Toki's parents. In "Dethkids," a flashback shows Toki as a child, and his mother slaps him. In "Cleanzo," it appears he bonded with clowns, perhaps in compensation for his brutal childhood. Hence Toki is the only Dethklok member who is able to tolerate Dr. Rockzo, going so far as to consider "the rock & roll clown" a friend. In "Cleanzo" it is also revealed that Toki does not have a driver's license.

Toki's personality is more child-like, innocent, and good-natured compared to the rest of the band, which is why he is a popular icon to children. He has several naïve beliefs, such as the idea that adult teeth will grow back because baby teeth do, and occasionally has whimsical fantasies, such as singing a Beatles-esque song under the sea with "underwater friends." He also views sexuality in a more innocent way than his bandmates; in the episode "Girlfriendklok," while the other members of Dethklok want to host the United States Pornography Awards for obviously sexual reasons, Toki only wants to "make out withs thems beautiful goils." He also possesses a teddy bear with a demon tail, however, this teddy bear may have been destroyed when Toki became sociopathic in the episode "Dethkids".

Despite his more innocent personality, he manages to fit in with the rest of the band, although they do tend to treat him like a younger brother. The band also seems to put Toki into a lot more danger than the rest of the band, such as in the episode "Dethwater," they put Toki into a chamber filled with liquid oxygen and the doctor warns the rest of the band that he could die. Toki has shown similar violent tendencies to those of his bandmates. He asked a priest from the Church of Satan for revenge on Rachael Ray from the Food Network (in the form of her "eyes falling out" or her "tits falling off") for unspecified reasons, and was indirectly responsible for the death of the lead singer of the Christian rock band Prayer Bolt. In the episode "Girlfriendklok," he also beat Nathan with a baseball bat, tasered him, and threatened him by aiming a crossbow at his crotch. Like Skwisgaar, Toki is a nihilist; however, they both seem to share some interest or moderate belief in Norse mythology. In the episode "Skwisklok," he mentions his belief in a tooth fairy equivalent: an Ancient Norse God called "Orthar the Tooth-collector."

Toki and Skwisgaar often analyze the philosophical elements of the episodes, such as the male sex drive in "Girlfriendklok," the pros and cons of fatherhood in "Fat Kid at the Detharmonic," and the yard wolves' eating rituals in "Performanceklok." On more than one occasion, Toki has told Skwisgaar that he hates him; it is possible he means it. Skwisgaar frequently belittles Toki, and insults his guitar-playing on numerous occasions; Toki resents it, but at least in the context of Toki's confession of hate in "The Metalocalypse Has Begun," it appears that "I hate you" is a metal universe equivalent of "I love you." Toki claims to be a better onstage showman than Skwisgaar, but Skwisgaar writes this off saying that Toki's showmanship causes his "sloppy playing." In "Performanceklok", Skwisgaar references writing over Toki's tracks the band's albums, since the rest of the band was unsatisfied with his work. The two seem to have some sort of brotherly relationship as they did a comedy act as "The Brothers Of Deception" in the episode "Dethkomedy" and Skwisgaar gives Toki nicknames such as "Little Friend." He has a tendency to slur his words, although his English is somewhat better than Skwisgaar's.

Instead of playing guitar, which the band seems to imply he never practices at in "Dethlessons," Toki spends much of his free time building scale models. He has an endorsement deal with "Willard Wonky Candy-Hand Candy" brand candies, who ship him large amounts of free candy as part of his payment. Because of this, he develops a very extreme case of diabetes which causes him to slip in and out of comas (at least for the length of the episode). Toki also appears to have an endorsement deal for a "Metal Bits"-brand cereal (a cereal brand with cereal in the shape of pentagrams, daggers, and such) in the first episode, as there is a cereal box in his shopping cart with his face on it. Also in his cart were some tampons placed by Skwisgar as another shot at belittling Toki. In "Bluesklok", "Girlfriendklok" and "Dethfashion", Toki appears toned and muscular, while the rest of Dethklok ranges from skinny (Skwisgaar, Pickles) to overweight (Nathan, Murderface). Unlike the rest of Dethklok, Toki tans instead of becoming sunburned.

Fairly frequently, Toki makes statements or is placed in situations with homoerotic subtext through his naïveté and frequent misunderstanding of English. An example is mistaking the term "blowjob" to mean "nosebleed" and proudly announcing, "I can gives myself a real cool blowjob!" In another instance, when Skwisgaar refers to Murderface's party as a sausage festival, Toki believes he means an actual sausage festival and proclaims "I love sausage festival! Like in Vienna." Also, in "Murdering Outside the Box" Toki purchases a vibrating strap-on dildo, thinking it was a codpiece (which Murderface points out, saying "Uh... That's a dildo... That's a strap-on dildo").

Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth claims he was e-mailed by the character and told that Toki is based on him.

Pickles

Pickles

Pickles

Pickles is the drummer. He was raised in Tomahawk, Wisconsin. He calls himself "very Irish... American". He speaks with a distinct Wisconsin accent and bears a strong hatred for his older brother, Seth, whom his parents (Calvin and Molly) always brag about despite the fact that Seth is an ex-con living above their garage; among his other failings. He is the only member of Dethklok whose last name (and, possibly, real first name) is unknown. Pickles joined Dethklok after singing and playing lead guitar in the L.A. rock band Snakes 'n' Barrels, which collapsed due to excessive drug use. His Dethklok bandmates mocked him for his stereotypical "hair metal" appearance during his time with Snakes n' Barrels in episode 8.

Pickles is relatively the calmest and smartest member of the group, usually keeping in touch with the world and knowing basic ideas.

Pickles refers to things and people as "douchebags" when he is frustrated or upset. In "The Curse of Dethklok", he calls Skwisgaar and Toki "douchebags" because they don't know what a grocery store is. Then, he apologizes about calling them douchebags, because of his low blood sugar. He seems to be the most socially capable of the band, although he occasionally hallucinates or launches into neurotic rants. His hair is styled into dreadlocks with a combover skullet.Like most drummers, Pickles always wears tennis shoes, whereas the rest of the band wears boots.

Pickles is also the only member of Dethklok that has been depicted as a habitual drug user; he is shown in the episode "Snakes 'n' Barrels" smoking marijuana, snorting cocaine and abusing prescription drugs. Pickles claims to be immune to the negative effects of drugs because he "grew up smoking government weed every day" as treatment for his "kiddie glaucoma." Because of this, he is also immune to the top-secret, psychotropic drug known as "Totally Awesome Sweet Alabama Liquid Snake" that erased the minds of every other member of Snakes 'n' Barrels. Despite his drug immunity, he is clearly not immune to the negative effects of liquor. He seems to be an alcoholic of almost equal caliber to Nathan, and is often seen surrounded by many bottles of liquor. When rumors were spread saying that he didn't drink as much as he claims, he decided to drink even more than usual in order to disprove them. Despite his alcoholism, Pickles is seen safely driving the Murdercycle in "Cleanzo" and apparently has his driver's license.

He also appears to be an asthmatic, as he was once seen using an inhaler, but he claimed it was only a stress-related relapse, and that it was the first time he had used it in fifteen years.. Sometimes Pickles thinks about what it would be like giving up fame so he can go to the store or the park to look at swans. Pickles also has an endorsement deal for nickels with the United States Treasury called "Pickles' Nickles."

Pickles also sings the chorus of the song Hatredcopter and Kill You, a song on the second disc of the deluxe version of Dethalbum, which was actually written by his old band Snakes 'n' Barrels. However, credit to the vocals on Hatredcopter. He has been the only clean vocals on any song of the band. He also has shown the ability to play guitar with skill adequately enough, and holds his own musically, unlike Toki and Murderface.

William Murderface

William Murderface

William Murderface

William Murderface plays the bass guitar for the band; however, this seems rather unnecessary, as Nathan has stated that they mix his bass out of "pretty much every song." However, Murderface improves noticeably after Pickles introduces him to the concept of "free-balling," prompting the rest of the band to consider including his bass on their next album. He plays a black five-string Gibson Thunderbird Studio Bass with a white pickguard. He is able to play bass with his penis (which he refers to as his "hog"). Band mates also refer to him as a "Cock Slap Bassist." He was raised by his grandparents Stella and Thunderbolt Murderface, after he lost his mother and father in a chainsaw murder-suicide, carried out by his father when William was just an infant. People usually refer to him as just "Murderface," except for his grandparents and people who formally address him. He has a heavy lateral lisp and a diastema, as well as tattoos on his stomach which state "Pobody's Nerfect" and "This Mess Is A Place."

One can observe that Murderface has a habit of urinating inappropriately (on a display of olives at the grocery store and on journalist Nick Ibsen's shoes) or referring to urination, and even has a one-man side project called Planet Piss, to which he seems to have very little real commitment. He is usually seen carrying a knife, which he uses to eat, mutilate, destroy, and do other things. According to the Tribunal's expert, Dr. Gibbons, Murderface is a self-destructive personality who expresses his self-loathing through "bodily mutilation, tattooing, alcohol abuse, and coprophilia." According to Pickles, he is a nihilist and likes to collect "morbid crap" such as torture devices and American Civil War memorabilia. Murderface has at least some familiarity with firearms as he recognizes the sound of his "driving gun" (an antique Mauser C96 handgun) after hearing it fired. Murderface endorses a brand of doorknobs known as "Murderknobs." He is also, somehow, a notary public.

Despite outwardly being the angriest and most violent member of Dethklok, Murderface is arguably the most sensitive and insecure. He is convinced that he is hideous and unlovable, and refers to himself as "the fat one." He seems to go through periods of loneliness and depression, which are only magnified by his bandmates' complete inability to react to his emotions. For example, when Pickles goes on a reunion with his old band, Murderface forlornly announces to his bandmates, "I miss Pickles".

While in high school, Murderface's principal allowed him to play bass, drink, and smoke dope to earn his high school diploma after Murderface threatened to cut his eyes out. He regularly throws tantrums when he is frustrated or annoyed, which has resulted in several destroyed bass guitars, two destroyed acoustic guitars, and one destroyed guitar of Toki's. He owns a custom-made dungeon/torture chamber, and supposedly spends most of his time there when not with the band. Murderface thinks he is a great speller, but demonstrated his lack of skills in his preparation and appearance on "Celebrity Spelling Bee." (For example, he misspells "confusion" as "k-u-n fusion".) He also thought that they let you spell your own words at spelling bees. Naturally, he was in for a rude awakening. After a near-death experience (falling drunk from the Murdercycle, and subsequent mayhem) he was prompted to seek faith in several churches, including the Church of Satan and the Church of the Atheists. Eventually he decided that all religions were "the same boring crap" and gave up his search.

Murderface appears to be an American Civil War buff. When Dethklok gave Murderface President Kennedy's presidential limo as a birthday present, they replaced the driver's seat with the chair in which President Lincoln was assassinated, eliciting such happiness that he cried blood.[20] Murderface also owns a pair of original shoes from the Civil War, which Dethklok's adopted son Fatty Ding-Dongs ruined, provoking tremendous anger. Finally, when Murderface was lying in a hospital bed after his motorcycle accident, Skwisgaar returned a borrowed copy of Ken Burns' Civil War documentary which he hadn't watched. He also received a bass guitar from Nathan Explosion, which irritated him slightly, as he already had a large pile of them next to his bed.

In the episode "Cleanzo" it is revealed that Murderface has never written a complete song for Dethklok ever despite claiming he was the "lead songwriter" in a press conference, and that his bass lines were figured out and shown to him by Skwisgaar, which he still doesn't perform well enough to actually merit any respect by the band. Murderface twice tries to write a song in "Cleanzo", first an acoustic song apparently called "Titty Fish", the second a reggae song for Dr. Rockzo; both these attempts are thwarted after Murderface gets frustrated and smashes the guitar.

In "Dethclown" and "Religionklok," they reference mixing his bass out of albums almost entirely.


Tour

On September 18, it was announced that And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead are going to support Dethklok on a tour of twelve college campuses to promote Adult Swim. A post on Dethklok's myspace blog states that the tour will be for students only except for 50 tickets set aside for the UCLA show in the Los Angeles area. In the same post Charles Offdenson states that this is a "short tour" and that their goal is to do a big tour very soon with other metal heads. According to an e-mail newsletter, the band will feature Brendon Small, guitarist Mike Keneally, bassist Bryan Beller and drummer Gene Hoglan. On October 15, the [adult swim] website had put up the tour dates on their adultswimpresents.com page. In an interview with Ultimate Guitar, Brendon Small revealed that the Dethklok tour will "be like The Gorillaz, with the animated characters" with Small's ensemble of musicians performing visibly.

Discography

Fictional albums from Metalocalypse

  • 2006 or earlier: Dethklok (shown in Dethfashion)
  • 2006: Dethwater (released in the episode Dethwater)
  • 2007: Untitled (mention of a new album was made in the episode Dethecution)

Actual albums under Dethklok

  • 2007: The Dethalbum

Songs

Name Episode Availability Outside Episode
"Deththeme" (Demo) N/A MP3 available on Brendon Small's personal website and on The Dethalbum as a hidden track.
"Deththeme" Intro to every episode Demo MP3 released on AdultSwim.com and on Dethklok's official MySpace; Available on The Dethalbum.
"Duncan Hills Coffee Jingle" "The Curse of Dethklok" Demo MP3 released on AdultSwim.com and on Dethklok's official MySpace; Available on The Dethalbum Deluxe Edition.
"Sewn Back Together Wrong" "The Curse of Dethklok" Available as an unofficial MP3; featured on "Mordhaus Tours" on the Metalocalypse Season 1 DVD.
"Thunderhorse" "Dethwater" Demo MP3 released on AdultSwim.com and limited release on Dethklok's official MySpace; featured as a bonus track in the Xbox 360 and PS2 video game Guitar Hero II; Music Video appears as an opening scene on Episode Two; available on The Dethalbum; Part of the "Viking Trilogy".
"Dethwater Practice" "Dethwater" Available on The Dethalbum as part of the song "Murmaider".
"Murmaider" "Dethwater" Limited Demo MP3 on Dethklok's official MySpace; available on The Dethalbum
"Birthday Dethday" "Happy Dethday" A.K.A "Birthdayface" Demo MP3 released on AdultSwim.com and limited release on Dethklok's official MySpace; available on The Dethalbum.
"Awaken" "Dethtroll" Demo MP3 released on AdultSwim.com and limited release on Dethklok's official MySpace as "Awaken Mustakrakish"; available on The Dethalbum
"Death Metal Lullaby" "Dethtroll" Never released
"Hatredy" "Dethkomedy" Limited Demo MP3 released on Dethklok's official MySpace, small clips used as intermissions in "Curse of Dethklok" known as "Transition"; available on The Dethalbum Deluxe Edition.
"Bloodrocuted" "Dethfam" Limited unofficial MP3 release on The Duncan Hills Coffee Myspace; available on The Dethalbum.
"Dethfam" "Dethfam" Limited MP3 release on Dethklok's official MySpace.
"Inner Child Tied and Beaten in My Trunk" "Performance Klok" Limited MP3 release on Dethklok's official MySpace; also known as "Banana Stickers".
"Fansong" "Mordland" Limited Demo MP3 release on Dethklok's official MySpace; available on The Dethalbum.
"Dethharmonic" "Fatklok" Limited Demo MP3 release on Dethklok's official MySpace; available on The Dethalbum. Featuring Emile Autumn on violin.
"Crush My Battle Opponent's Balls" "Skwisklok" Limited MP3 release on Dethklok's official Myspace.
"Briefcase Full of Guts" "Murdering Outside the Box" Limited Demo MP3 release on Dethklok's official MySpace; available on The Dethalbum.
"Go Forth and Die" "Go Forth and Die" Limited Demo MP3 release on Dethklok's official MySpace with alternate lyrics; available on The Dethalbum.
"Murdertrain a Comin'" "Bluesklok" Limited Demo MP3 release on Dethklok's official MySpace; available on The Dethalbum Deluxe Edition.
"Castratikron" "Girlfriendklok" Available as an unofficial Demo MP3; Available on The Dethalbum.
"Blood Ocean" "Dethstars" Limited Demo MP3 release on Dethklok's official MySpace; available on The Dethalbum Deluxe Edition.
"Go into the Water" "The Metalocalypse Has Begun" Limited Demo MP3 release on Dethklok's official MySpace; available on The Dethalbum
"Hatredcopter" N/A Demo version available on European release on the Saw III Soundtrack; available on The Dethalbum.
"Better Metal Snake" N/A Available on The Dethalbum; Part of the "Viking Trilogy".
"The Lost Vikings" N/A Available on The Dethalbum; Part of the "Viking Trilogy".
"Face Fisted" N/A Available on The Dethalbum.
"Kill You" N/A Available on The Dethalbum Deluxe Edition.
"Dethecution" (A.K.A. "Let the Dying Begin") "Dethecution" N/A
"Draw Your Sword" "Dethlessons" N/A
"Burn the Earth" "Dethvengeance" N/A
"Duncan Hills (We fear no death)" "Dethdoubles" N/A

Mentioned as song titles

Name Episode Notes
"Electric Eel Chair" "Dethwater" Mentioned as song title
"Scaled and Gutted and Undercooked" "Dethwater" Mentioned as song title
"Scuba Tank Filled with Fart" "Dethwater" Mentioned as song title
"Killed by a Troll" "Dethtroll" Mentioned as song idea
"Blood Puke" "Mordland" Toki merely mentions it as an idea for a song title, then takes it back, stating "That's right, we already wrote that... good song, though."
"Guts Punched, Balls Throw Up" "Go Forth and Die" Mentioned as a song idea, however we do hear a capella rendition of the polyrhythms of the song.

Songs performed by other artists or bands

Name Episode Performed by Availability outside episode
"Underwater Friends" "Dethwater" Toki Wartooth and the fish Never released
"Water Horsey Blues" "Snakes 'n' Barrels" Snakes 'n' Barrels Never released
"Snakes 'n' Barrels Reunion Album" "Snakes 'n' Barrels" Snakes 'n' Barrels Never released (note: heard briefly during the credits, consists largely of guitar feedback and the violent grunts and screams of Snakes n' Barrels members, Nathan Explosion notes that it's "the most brutal album ever.")
"Planet Piss" "Dethkids" William Murderface Never released
"Happy Metal World Rainbow" "Dethkids" Juliette Sarmansadandle, Toki Wartooth and Pickles Never released
"Truth Invaders" "Religionklok" Prayer Bolt Never released
"I'm Just a Rock 'n' Roll Clown" "Dethclown" Dr. Rockzo, the Rock 'n' Roll Clown No longer available on YouTube.
"Murmaider (Muzak version)" "Dethvengence" Unknown Never released
"Titty Fish (Acoustic)" "Cleanzo" William Murderface Never released
"Goodbye, Snowy Road" "Cleanzo" Dr. Rockzo, the Rock 'n' Roll Clown Never released

Download Video Music

Dethklok - Duncan hills coffee- original video
Dethklok - Nerve
Dethklok - DethJingle
Dethklok - Go Forth and Die comp
Dethklok - Crush my battle opponents balls
Dethklok - The After Dinner Payback
Dethklok - Victim Of Changes

Monday, November 26, 2007

Soulfly Music Video Download


Soulfly is a thrash metal band started by Max Cavalera in 1997 after his decision to leave Sepultura. The band, which incorporates elements of thrash metal and nu metal as well as Brazilian and African world music influences, has released five albums so far; Soulfly, Primitive, 3, Prophecy, and Dark Ages.

Soulfly, Primitive, and 3 - previous lineups

Brazilian thrash metal singer Max Cavalera formed Soulfly after he left the band Sepultura in 1996. He recruited a lineup of Roy Mayorga on drums (formerly of Thorn), Jackson Bandeira on guitar (formerly of Chico Science & Nação Zumbi) and former Sepultura roadie Marcello D. Rapp (Marcello Diaz formerly of The Mist) on bass with Cavalera on guitar and vocals.

On the band's website, Max Cavalera said that he founded the band "with the idea of combined sounds and spiritual beliefs." As well as leaving one of the world's most popular thrash metal bands, he had to deal with the unsolved murder of his stepson and best friend Dana Wells. The first self-titled album, Soulfly was released in the spring of 1998 and reached number 79 on the Billboard 200.

Besides fronting Soulfly, Cavalera has branched out into other areas usually not associated with heavy metal musicians. He became a much-sought-after speaker at music conventions, as evidenced by his appearances at CMJ's New Music Marathon in New York and Holland's Crossing Boarder Festival, both in late 1997, and signed on to sing a TV commercial for Sprite in his native land of Brazil.

Soulfly played on the 1998 Ozzfest mainstage alongside Ozzy Osbourne, Megadeth, Tool, Limp Bizkit, Sevendust, and Coal Chamber.

Max Cavalera also guested on the Deftones breakthrough album Around the Fur in 1997 on a song called "Headup" about Wells' death (he got the name for the band from the lyrics of this song as there is a part that goes "Soulfly, Fly high, So fly, Fly free"). Chino of the Deftones appeared on Soulfly's first two albums contributing to the tracks "First Commandment" and "Pain". The influence of nu metal appeared on 2000's Primitive, however, it was the most successful album by the band in the US reaching number 32 on the Billboard 200 and number 11 on the US independent charts. Joe Nunez replaced Roy Mayorga on drums for Primitive. Max Cavalera produced the third album 3, released in 2002, which reached number 46 on the Billboard 200 in that year. Mayorga was back behind the drumkit for 3.

Prophecy, Dark Ages, and Beyond - current lineup

Cavalera recruited a whole new lineup for the Prophecy album. Joe Nunez was back behind the drumkit with Marc Rizzo formerly of Ill Niño on guitar. There are two bassists playing as members of Soulfly on Prophecy - David Ellefson formerly of Megadeth and Bobby Burns of Primer 55. Cavalera claims to have done this to have a mixture of old and new school metal on the album.

Max Cavalera explains on the bands website that he wants to use different musicians as part of the group for each album. "This is an approach that I've wanted to do for a while. I never wanted Soulfly to be a band like Metallica, with the same four guys. On every Soulfly album, we've changed the line up and it will probably continue that way. In order to do that, I had to start from the inside out and bring in people who caught my attention, that I had never played with before, and create this."

In Sepultura, Cavalera had shown an interest in world music as shown in Roots, featuring elements of the music of Brazil's indigenous peoples. This approach continues on the Prophecy album with Cavalera travelling to Serbia to record with traditional musicians. On the track "Moses", an explicit statement of his religious beliefs, he works with Serbian band Eyesburn featuring reggae influences from one of his heroes Bob Marley. Other tracks on the album feature instruments from the Middle Ages, sheepskin bagpipes and Serbian Gypsies.

Prophecy was released on March 30, 2004 and as at April of that year had reached a peak of number 82 on the Billboard 200 although it has reached the top 50 of the Australian album charts.

In February of 2005, Soulfly released their first DVD, entitled "The Song Remains Insane". This was a biographical look at the band which contained live footage from all over the globe, interviews, and all of the bands music videos. In August of 2005 Roadrunner Records reissued their self-titled first album as part of the label's 25th anniversary celebration.

That fall, on October 4, 2005, Dark Ages was released. Many critics have described Dark Ages as a return to Cavalera's thrash metal roots of the early Sepultura days; however, the world metal influence found on the first four Soulfly albums is definitely present. In fact, this time, Cavalera traveled to five different countries — Serbia, Turkey, Russia, France, and the United States — in order to record all the sounds that he desired to have on the new album.

The core band on Dark Ages still consisted of Max Cavalera, Marc Rizzo, Joe Nunez, and Bobby Burns, but on this album, Dave Ellefson came back to lend his talents to a couple tracks, Eyesburn vocalist Coyote sang on "Innerspirit", Stormtroopers Of Death vocalist Billy Milano and Russian singer Paul Fillipenko screamed on the hardcore influenced "Molotov", and Max's stepson, Ritchie Cavalera from Phoenix-based "Incite", sang on "Stay Strong".

Soulfly is currently supporting Dark Ages on a world tour and is travelling the world with various bands such as Deftones, Korn, Skindred, and Gizmachi that has stretched from North America, through Europe, and onto Asia.

In a recent interview regarding the follow up to Dark Ages, Max had this to say about the new album,

"I have some really exciting songs. I was working with Mark Rizzo, my guitar player. We get along great and love a lot of the same stuff. Bands like early Sepultura, Slayer, Destruction. We also like a lot of grindcore like Napalm Death and Bolt Thrower. We have been writing some stuff like that. We also have some material with a Soulfly vibe and the Soulfly grooves. One thing I like about Soulfly is we have the grooves in between the heavy parts. There are no names yet. I have been joking though as the new material makes ‘Dark Ages’ sound like a pop album. This new stuff is pretty heavy."

Max Cavalera recently arranged The 10th Annual D-Low Memorial show, and played with several guest artists. The band was joined on stage by Danny Marianinho of North Side Kings, Richie Cavalera of Incite, Dave Ellefson, and their former longtime drummer Roy Mayorga who currently plays with Stone Sour. But most notably, Max was reunited onstage for the first time in 10 years with his brother Igor Cavalera. Max and Igor formed Sepultura together in the early 1980s, but had not played together since Max's departure in 1996. Igor joined the band mid-way through the set for a jam on the drums and stayed onstage to play the Sepultura classics "Roots Bloody Roots" and "Attitude" with the guys.

On Tuesday, May 1, 2007, Max Cavalera will be premiering a new 4-track demo from Soulfly's upcoming new album which is expected to be ready for a release by the end of the year. "Inflikted" will be available via soulflyweb.com and myspace.com/soulfly until June1, 2007.

Currently Soulfly are halfway through recording their anticipated 6th studio album, which is still untitled. Max Cavalera is said to be traveling around the middle-east looking for sound samples to integrate with the new songs. A 2008 release date has been announced, with Max and co. returning to the studio to finish off the tracks before the new year.

Band members

Current members

  • Max Cavalera - Vocals, guitar (1997-present)
  • Marc Rizzo - Guitar (2003-present)
  • Bobby Burns - Bass (2003-present)
  • Joe Nuñez - Drums (2000-2001, 2003-present)

Former members

  • Jackson Bandeira - Guitar (1997-1998)
  • Logan Mader - Guitar (1998-1999)
  • Roy Mayorga - Drums (1997-1999, 2002-2003)
  • Marcello D. Rapp - Bass (1997-2003)
  • Mikey Doling - Guitar (1999-2003)
  • David Ellefson - Bass (2003-2004)

Download Free Soulfly Music Video

Soulfly - Prophecy
Soulfly - Bleed
Soulfly - Back to the primitive
Soulfly - Seek n' Strike
Soulfly - Refuse-Resist
Soulfly - Tribe (Live)
Soulfly - innerspirit
Soulfly - Eye For An Eye(Live @ Montreux Jazz Festival 2002)
soulfly - babylon@graspop 2006
soulfly - Downstroy@graspop 2006
Soulfly - Fuel The Hate Medley@Rock AM Ring
Soulfly - JumpDaFuckUp - Video: SlipKnoT | Music: Soulfly/Corey Taylor
Soulfly - Roots (live @ Brutal Assault 2007)
Soulfly - LIVE Prophecy 2007-08-10 - Josefov, Czech Rep.

Disturbed Music Video Download

Disturbed - Remember
Disturbed - Stricken
Disturbed - The Game
Disturbed - Ten Thousand Fists Video
Disturbed - Deify
Disturbed - rise
Disturbed - I'm Alive

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Metallica

Metallica is an American heavy metal band formed in Los Angeles, California in 1981.They have released eight studio albums, two live albums, two EPs, nine videos, and are currently working on a ninth studio album. Metallica has become one of the most commercially successful musical acts of recent decades, and are considered one of the "Big Four" pioneers of thrash metal, along with Slayer, Anthrax, and Megadeth. The band have sold more than 90 million records worldwide, including 57 million albums in the United States alone, which makes them the most commercially successful thrash metal band of all time.

History


Early days (1981-83)

Metallica was formed in Los Angeles, California, October 28, 1981 by rhythm guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield and Danish-born drummer Lars Ulrich, after both had placed classified advertisements in the publication The Recycler about forming a band.[citation needed] The early incarnation of the band went through a number of members, including Dave Mustaine and Ron McGovney. Metallica got its name when San Francisco-area metal promoter Ron Quintana asked Lars to help pick out a name for his new magazine promoting U.S. and British metal bands. Quintana came up with a list that included the name "Metallica," while Lars suggested "Metal Mania" and "Hesse"; Lars decided to use "Metallica" for the band's name. The name was intended as a combination of "Metal" & "America," in essence pre-establishing themselves as the greatest heavy metal act to originate in America (Lars wanted to renounce his Danish heritage).

Metallica's music was inspired by bands such as Deep Purple, Black Sabbath, Rush, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, Motörhead, Saxon, Thin Lizzy, Queen, Mercyful Fate, Venom and other, mainly British, metal bands. They also took inspiration from punk bands like the Misfits, Zeroption, and The Ramones and UK hardcore bands such as Discharge.

An early business card (circa 1982). The band's self titled demo would later take its unofficial name from this same card.

An early business card (circa 1982). The band's self titled demo would later take its unofficial name from this same card.

In early 1982, Ulrich convinced Metal Blade's Brian Slagel to include the song "Hit the Lights" on the first Metal Massacre compilation. Desperate for a full time lead guitarist, Ulrich posted an ad in a local newspaper. Dave Mustaine from Huntington Beach, California, who at the time was playing in the band Panic responded and met for an audition. Ulrich and Hetfield were so impressed with Mustaine's warm-up and equipment, they asked him to join before the audition even began.

In March and April of 1982, several demos were recorded with this lineup including Hit The Lights, Ron's Garage (which was recorded in McGovney's garage) and the Power Metal demo. A few months later the band recorded a full demo, No Life 'Til Leather, which quickly drew attention on the underground tape trading circuit. They then went on to release a live demo titled Metal Up Your Ass.

Later that year, Ron McGovney left the band and Metallica asked Trauma bassist Cliff Burton to join. Burton agreed if the band would relocate to his hometown in Castro Valley, CA. With Burton the band recorded the Megaforce Demo. After establishing themselves in the Bay Area thrash metal scene, Metallica traveled to the New York Tri-State Region in 1983 at the urging of promoters Jon and Marsha Zazula. After a few gigs the band signed with the Zazulas' new label, Megaforce Records. Shortly after being signed, Ulrich and Hetfield decided Mustaine's aggressive and disruptive behavior (related to alcohol and drug use)[1] was becoming too much to handle. Kirk Hammett was brought in from the band Exodus to replace Mustaine, who went on to create Megadeth.

Thrash metal pioneers (1983-86)


Kill 'Em All

In late spring 1983, the band travelled to Rochester, New York to record their first album, Metal Up Your Ass. However, due to conflict with the record label regarding the title, the album was later renamed Kill 'Em All. The album was not an initial financial success, but it earned them a growing fanbase in the underground metal scene. Despite the animosity, Dave Mustaine still has co-writing credits for "Jump in the Fire" (with different lyrics from earlier demos), "Phantom Lord", "Metal Militia" and "The Four Horsemen" (originally titled "The Mechanix", [or alternately "Mechanics"], and listed as such on early demo tapes, with the earlier demo version having entirely different lyrics). The 1989 re-release included fan favorites "Am I Evil?", from Diamond Head, and "Blitzkrieg" from the band Blitzkrieg, which were later included in their Garage album.

Ride the Lightning

A year later, Metallica released Ride the Lightning. The album's inclusion of a slower, more introspective song, "Fade to Black", set Metallica apart from other thrash bands. In addition to the title track and "Fade to Black", it boasts "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Creeping Death", and the 9-minute instrumental "The Call of Ktulu." Last is the title track, "Ride the Lightning," a protest against capital punishment (However, in an interview with Guitar World magazine, James Hetfield has stated that the song is not an indictment of the death penalty, in which he is a believer[citation needed], but simply an exploration of the concept of being in a terrible situation with no control.

Dave Mustaine still has credits recognized for "Ride the Lightning" and "The Call of Ktulu".

Master of Puppets

When Ride the Lightning caught the attention of major labels, Metallica signed with Elektra Records. Their first release with Elektra was 1986's Master of Puppets, which would serve as their breakthrough album. Despite the fact that no singles were released from the album, the band received minor airplay from album tracks "Master of Puppets" and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)". Fans looking for an alternative to glam metal bands of the day relished in furious songs such as "Battery" and "Damage, Inc.". The band gained even more exposure when they were asked to open for Ozzy Osbourne, and Master of Puppets climbed to number 29 on the Billboard Top Album Charts.[7] Some critics consider the album to be the "greatest heavy metal album of all time".

Tragedy strikes Metallica

On September 27, 1986, during the European leg of their Damage Inc. tour, Cliff Burton died near Ljungby, Sweden when Metallica's tour bus skidded off an allegedly icy road and went onto its right side.Burton was thrown out of the window and the bus landed on top of him. It is debatable whether Burton was dead at this point or not, although he would certainly have been critically injured. A winch that was lifting the bus off him snapped, causing the bus to crush him a second time. Burton's death left the band's future in doubt. The three remaining members decided that the bassist would want them to carry on, and with the Burton family's blessings, the band sought a replacement.

Commercial success (1986-2000)

Bassist auditions

Among the auditionees was Les Claypool (of the band Primus), a childhood friend of Hammett's. The band liked Claypool but felt his style was "too funky". Hetfield later explained that Claypool was literally "too good" and "out there" for Metallica. Ultimately Claypool was not offered the job, and Jason Newsted, formerly of Arizona's Flotsam and Jetsam was asked to join. Newsted officially joined Metallica on October 28, 1986 three weeks after Burton's funeral.[ ] The band finished their tour in the early months of 1987. In July 1987, with the hectic and ultimately tragic Damage Inc. tour behind them, the band released an all covers EP titled The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited. The long since out-of-print EP (now considered a collector's item) was recorded in an effort to utilize their newly constructed recording studio, test out the talents of Newsted, and to relieve some of the grief and stress following the death of Burton.

...And Justice for All

...And Justice for All, the first studio album since Burton's death, was released in 1988. The album was a massive commercial success, reaching number 6 on The Billboard 200, their first album to reach the top 10.

On the album very little of Newsted's bass is audible. According to Newsted and the other band members, this is a result of the internal hazing and bullying toward Newsted for being the newest member and replacement for Cliff Burton. Ulrich has also stated his opinion that the lack of perceived bass resulted from Newsted exclusively mirroring Hetfield's rhythm tracks; accordingly, it should be noted that on the aforementioned The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited, Newsted's bass is quite audible. There were other complaints with the production, such as Lars Ulrich's drums clicking more than thudding and the thin sound of the guitars.

The Damaged Justice tour followed to promote the new album. Fans again appreciated fast and furious tunes, as well as lengthy songs, such as on "...And Justice for All" (9:45) and "To Live Is to Die" (9:48). In fact, all the songs are over 5 minutes, with 7 of 9 songs over 6 minutes long.

Despite criticism, in 1989, Metallica received its first Grammy nomination for the album. The nomination was for the newly created Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance Vocal or Instrument categories. However, the award was given to Jethro Tull for the album Crest of a Knave. The result generated much controversy as Metallica was widely expected to take home the award and was standing off-stage waiting to receive it after performing the song "One" for the telecast. Jethro Tull (who was considered by most to not even be a Hard Rock/Metal group) had not even bothered to attend the ceremony, assuming that their chance of winning would be a long-shot. Lars Ulrich even referred to the snub in accepting a Grammy for "Enter Sandman" three years later, stating, "We gotta thank Jethro Tull for not putting out an album this year".

Following Metallica's release of ...And Justice for All, they embraced the mainstream music world with their debut music video for the song "One". The band performed the song in an abandoned warehouse, and was then extensively "remixed" with footage of the film version of Johnny Got His Gun. Rather than organize an ongoing licensing deal, Metallica simply bought the rights to the film outright. This is why the film has not had a subsequent DVD pressing apart from a release in the UK. The end result featured a coherent but shortened "mini-movie" version of "Johnny Got His Gun" with an intricate level of synchronization between the song and the film's dialogue, creating a singular narrative between the two.

The "remix" video was submitted to MTV, with the alternate "performance only" version held back in the event that MTV would ban the remix version. MTV accepted the remix version despite its length (the video ran for nearly ten minutes). The video would be viewers' first exposure to Metallica and was voted #25 in the fall of 1999 when MTV aired its last "Top 100 Videos of All Time" countdown. The video was also prominently featured during MTV's 25th Anniversary edition of "ADD Video," which showcased the top videos to air on MTV in the last 25 years.

Also, later on in 2006 Metallica would release "The Videos". This DVD collection included all music videos by Metallica from 1989 through 2004, but it featured "Two Of One". This was the original "One" video and the "Jammin' Version", which was the video of the band performing in a warehouse.

Metallica (The Black Album)

On 14 August 1991, Metallica released their self-titled album, Metallica (popularly known as The Black Album by fans), which included songs such as "Enter Sandman", "Nothing Else Matters", "Sad But True," "The Unforgiven," "Holier Than Thou," and "Wherever I May Roam." The record was co-produced with Bob Rock, whose resume included work with hard rock acts The Cult, Bon Jovi and Mötley Crüe. The album featured a black cover that had a very pale image of a snake in one of the corners, with the band's name in the opposite corner. The album art evoked humorous comparisons to fictional band Spinal Tap,[citation needed] who in the spoof rockumentary This is Spinal Tap put out an album with an all black cover.

The majority of the making of the Metallica album and the following tour was documented in A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica. The recording sessions were a long and arduous process, lasting over a year due to infighting among the band's members and endless arguments with Rock about the album's direction, scope, and sound. The cost of recording the album was over $1 million (as stated on Behind the Music: Metallica). However, despite the battle to finish the album, it quickly became the band's most successful release, charting at number one on the Billboard charts.[15]

The album's first single was "Enter Sandman", which showed off the new album's slowed-down style of music compared to Metallica's previous work. The Black Album is currently tied for the 26th spot of highest selling album of all time in America.

Due to the album's new style of sound, more charges of selling out would be aimed at Metallica throughout the 1990s, to which the band often joked that they did indeed sell out - each and every date of the tour (as stated on Behind the Music: Metallica). In 1992 during a hugely financially successful co-headlining GNR-Metallica Stadium Tour with Guns N' Roses, Hetfield suffered severe second and third degree burns to his left arm due to pyrotechnics during the opening of "Fade to Black" in the Olympic Stadium (Montreal), leaving him unable to play guitar for a portion of the tour. Former Metallica roadie and Metal Church guitarist John Marshall filled in for the rest of the tour on guitar while Hetfield continued to sing.

Load, ReLoad, Garage Inc., S&M


After almost three years of touring to support The Black Album, including a headlining performance at Woodstock 1994, Metallica went straight back into the studio to write and record their sixth studio album Load. They took a break in the summer of 1995 and played 3 outdoor shows which included Metallica organizing and headlining Donington Park UK supported by Slayer, Skid Row, Slash's Snakepit, Therapy? and Corrosion of Conformity. The Short Tour was entitled 'Escape from The studio Tour 1995'. On December 13 of that year, they recorded their rehearsal for Lemmy's 50th birthday party; four Motörhead covers, which were later released (titled "Motörhead–ache") as part of the Hero of the Day singles collection. The band spent around a year writing and recording new songs, resulting in 1996's Load. During early production, Load was intended to be a double album. Ultimately, it was decided that it would be best to release half of the songs first, continue to work on the remaining songs, and release them the following year. This resulted in the follow-up album, ReLoad.

By 1996, with the release of Load, all band members had cut their hair (although Hammett eventually grew it back), which was ridiculed by fans,[citation needed] including band friends Alice in Chains, whose edition of MTV's Unplugged featured, on Mike Inez's bass, the words "friends don't let friends get Friends haircuts".

These albums represented a significant musical change for Metallica. The band's break-neck metal tempos and layered guitar compositions had largely been replaced by bluesy guitar tones and slide guitar. Several songs include the use of new instruments including the use of the hurdy-gurdy and violin in "Low Man's Lyric". The changes on Load and ReLoad had been anticipated by earlier experiments (especially on The Black Album).

Metallica's Ninja Star Logo

Metallica's Ninja Star Logo

Sales of these albums were lower than sales of the previous three albums. Hetfield noted later in the documentary film Some Kind of Monster that the songs on these two albums were initially thought by the band to be of only average quality, and polished and reworked repeatedly until judged to be releasable. Hetfield also felt, however, that Metallica's changed image worked to the songs detriment, saying that " 'Bleeding Me', is, I think, some of my better lyrics of all time, and what are people talking about? Lars' fuzzy jacket."

In December 1997, Metallica performed on NBC's Saturday Night Live to promote ReLoad. They performed "Fuel" and "The Memory Remains" with Marianne Faithful.

In 1998, Metallica compiled a double CD called Garage Inc.. The first CD contained newly recorded covers ranging from Killing Joke, The Misfits, Thin Lizzy, Mercyful Fate, and Black Sabbath to more unexpected choices like Nick Cave and Bob Seger (the band's cover of Seger's "Turn the Page" garnered extensive radio airplay). The second CD gathered together previously released covers, including the original The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited, which had become a scarce collector's item. The CD also included B-side covers going as far back as 1984. Their cover of Queen's "Stone Cold Crazy" won a Grammy for Best Heavy Metal Performance.

On March 7, 1999, Metallica was inducted into the San Francisco Walk of Fame. The mayor of San Francisco, Willie Brown, proclaimed the day "Official Metallica Day" in San Francisco. A month later, on April 21-22, 1999, Metallica recorded two performances with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, then conducted by Michael Kamen. Kamen, who had previously worked with Bob Rock on "Nothing Else Matters", had approached the band eight years prior, just after The Black Album was released with the idea of pairing Metallica's music with a symphony orchestra. Kamen and his staff composed additional orchestral material for a number of Metallica songs and the concerts featured broad selection of songs dating as far back as Ride the Lightning. Metallica also wrote two brand new Kamen-scored songs for the event, "No Leaf Clover" and "−Human". The audio recording and concert footage were released later that year as the album/concert film S&M, in November 1999, on CD, VHS, VCD, and DVD.

Backlash (2000-2001)

Napster controversy


In 2000, Metallica discovered that a demo of their song "I Disappear" was being distributed via the Napster P2P file-sharing network. Not only was the song unfinished, it was supposed to be released in combination with the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack.

They soon discovered that in addition to the demo, their entire catalogue was freely available. The band initiated legal action against Napster, demanding that 300,000 Napster users found to be trading Metallica songs be banned from the network. Legal actions were also filed against Yale University, University of Southern California, and Indiana University for not blocking Napster from their campuses. In 2001, Metallica and Napster agreed to an out-of-court settlement which led to Napster user accounts being locked out (the band did not take legal action against any individuals for copyright infringement).[citation needed] This led to Lars Ulrich providing a statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee regarding copyright infringement on July 11, 2000.

The lawsuit created a public relations nightmare. Throughout the controversy, websites hosted cartoon parodies of band members, portraying them as selfish rock stars who were out of touch with their fans. One of these was a cartoon parody entitled Napster Bad!, by Camp Chaos, which spawned an entire series. Critics mocked Ulrich by spelling his name as "Lar$". Many users specifically posted Metallica files on P2P networks to contradict the band. As a result, a traditional first P2P network search engine query term - to test that the software is connecting properly with search date - is for Metallica. In retaliation to the controversy, Ulrich appeared during the 2000 MTV Video Music Awards, in a skit with that year's host Marlon Wayans, that blasted the idea of using Napster to share music. Marlon played a college student sitting in his dorm room, listening to Metallica's "I Disappear". Ulrich, playing himself, walked in and asked for an explanation. Upon receiving Wayans' excuse that using Napster was just "sharing", Lars retorted that Marlon's idea of sharing was simply borrowing things that were not yours without asking. He called in the Metallica road crew, who proceeded to confiscate all Wayans' belongings, leaving him almost nude in an empty room. Napster creator Shawn Fanning responded later in the ceremony by presenting an award wearing a Metallica shirt, saying "I borrowed this shirt from a friend. Maybe, if I like it, I'll buy one of my own".

Public ridicule was widespread as Metallica had gotten their start via underground trading of bootleg recordings of their performances. Metallica's defense was that Napster was allowing free access to their back catalogue and not live bootleg recordings, which the band had always encouraged. In 2007, years after the controversy, Metallica was still subject to ridicule for its actions, even being named #17 on Blender magazine's list of "biggest wusses in rock" for its "anti-Napster crusade".

Newsted's departure

Kirk Hammett (2007)
Kirk Hammett (2007)

As plans were being made to go into the recording studio in 2001, Newsted left the band, due to as he put it, "the physical damage I have done to myself over the years while playing the music that I love". Subsequent interviews with Newsted and the remaining members revealed that Newsted's desire to release a CD and tour with his Echobrain side project - and Hetfield's intense resistance to such an idea - was the primary cause of Newsted's departure . Additionally, a Playboy interview revealed that the "hazing" that Newsted received since joining the band had not lessened over time. Finally, Newsted had never shared the songwriting partner status that Burton had enjoyed (in 15 years with the group, Newsted only received co-writing credit on three songs: "Blackened" from ...And Justice for All, "My Friend of Misery" from Metallica and "Where the Wild Things Are" from ReLoad). The 2004 documentary, Some Kind of Monster provided more insight into the reasons for Newsted's departure. In the film he says he felt his former bandmates' decision to hire a therapist to help solve their problems was "really fucking lame, and weak".

Resurgence (2001-present)

St. Anger era

In July, 2001, Hetfield entered rehab due to "alcoholism and other addictions". For nearly a year, Metallica ceased to function in any meaningful way. Ulrich and Hammett, for the first time, seriously considered the possibility that Metallica might be finished. Hetfield eventually returned to the band following his rehab hiatus and was required to work only four hours a day and spend the rest of his time with his family. Metallica continued slowly as a three-piece throughout the writing and recording of their next album. Longtime producer Bob Rock handled bass duties for the sessions. The making of the album was documented for the movie, "Some Kind of Monster". The film also exposed to fans that Metallica had sought the guidance of a therapist, Phil Towle, to deal with a vast amount of the band's inner turmoil.

Following the album's recording, Metallica held auditions for Newsted's permanent replacement in early 2003. Among the auditioning bassists were Pepper Keenan, Jeordie White, Scott Reeder, Eric Avery, Danny Lohner, and Chris Wyse. Robert Trujillo formerly of Suicidal Tendencies, and Ozzy Osbourne's band, was eventually chosen as the new bassist. Trujillo's resume also included Infectious Grooves as well as a stint with Black Label Society on their Boozed, Broozed, and Broken-Boned DVD. As Metallica moved on, Jason Newsted also found a new musical home joining Canadian thrash metal legends Voivod in 2002. In an interesting turn of events, Newsted also became Trujillo's replacement in Ozzy's band during the 2003 Ozzfest tour (which included Voivod as part of the touring bill).

In June 2003, Metallica's eighth full-length recording, St. Anger, debuted at number one on the album charts. The intentionally raw and unpolished album drew harsh criticism from fans. The record's under-produced sound, Hetfield's "flexible" sense of pitch, Ulrich's steely sounding snare, and the absence of any guitar solos received particular criticism. Despite this, the album won the best metal performance at the 2004 Grammys. The song "St. Anger" was used as the official theme song for WWE's SummerSlam 2003.

While preparing for the Download Festival in England in 2004, Ulrich was rushed to hospital with a mysterious illness, and was unable to perform. Hetfield searched for volunteers at the last minute to replace Ulrich; Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and Slipknot drummer Joey Jordison volunteered, with Lombardo performing the songs "Battery" and "The Four Horsemen".

Having toured extensively for two years in support of St. Anger on the Summer Sanitarium Tour 2003 in festivals featuring Mudvayne, Deftones, Linkin Park, and Limp Bizkit and then the lengthy Madly in Anger with the World tour with Godsmack (in which nearly every performance was professionally recorded and sold on livemetallica.com) Metallica took a break from performing and spent most of 2005 with friends and family; however for two historic shows on November 13, 2005 and November 15, 2005, the band opened for the Rolling Stones at AT&T park in San Francisco.

Ninth studio album


On February 16, 2006, Metallica announced on their official website that after their 15+ year relationship, longtime producer Bob Rock was stepping down and would not be producing Metallica's next studio album. Rock had produced every Metallica album since 1991. Metallica is currently working on a studio album with producer Rick Rubin[20] who has produced albums for other prominent rock and metal bands such as Danzig, Slayer, System of a Down, Slipknot, Beastie Boys, Audioslave, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Rage Against the Machine and Linkin Park. Metallica and Rubin go back a long way, in the eighties as Danzig friends and fans, James Hetfield doing backing vocals on the self-titled Danzig album (1988), also produced by Rubin.

Metallica debuted an untitled song nicknamed "The New Song" in Berlin, Germany on June 6, 2006 on the European leg of the Escape from the Studio '06 mini tour. On August 12, 2006, Metallica debuted another song in Tokyo, Japan on the Asian leg of the tour, nicknamed "The Other New Song". They have also supported the Summer Sonic tour in Tokyo and Osaka, along with Linkin Park. The band had previously unveiled new songs throughout the years prior to their release.

It was during this time on tour that the band finally bowed to fan pressure and decided to make each of their albums available from the iTunes Store - though strictly in the U.S. and Canada until issues with their European label are resolved - allowing individual tracks to be legally downloaded for the first time. Exclusive tracks from the Seattle '89 shows were added to the band's first four albums.

On October 13, 2006 Metallica announced that they would release a DVD containing all their videos from 1989 to 2004. The DVD, The Videos 1989-2004, was released on December 4, 2006 worldwide and on December 5 in North America. The Videos 1989-2004 eventually became available on the iTunes Store.

Metallica also recorded a cover of Ennio Morricone's "The Ecstasy of Gold" for a tribute album entitled We All Love Ennio Morricone, released on February 20, 2007. While "The Ecstasy of Gold" has been played as the introduction for every Metallica performance since the mid-1980s, it has always been played from a recording (with the exception of the S&M performances). However, this new version features the band itself performing the piece, giving a new guitar-based interpretation to the music.

On February 9, 2007 Metallica confirmed that pre-production on the new studio album had been completed, and recording of the new album would begin on March 12, 2007. The band also announced that a summer tour, later named "Sick of the Studio '07", was in the early planning stages. Eleven dates of this tour have been announced so far.

On June 15th, 2007 Metallica returned to HQ after a short break to begin rehearsing for their "Sick of the Studio '07" tour. The winners from the METALLICA: THE VIDEOS 1989-2004 DVD radio and online contests were treated to the HQ VIP treatment with a BBQ, a few autographs, and an intimate performance from the band in the jam room.

Metallica's 2007 tour began in Lisbon, Portugal at the 13th edition of mega-rock festival Super Bock Super Rock in which they played the song "...And Justice for All" for the first time in eighteen years. Metallica played to a crowd of more than 50,000 fans. The tour ran through July 2007. On July 3rd, 2007, Metallica performed at Τerra Vibe as part of the 11th Rockwave festival in Athens, Greece. On July 7th, 2007, Metallica performed at Wembley Stadium as part of Live Earth. At "Live Earth" Metallica played the songs "Sad But True", "Nothing Else Matters" and "Enter Sandman". BBC, who were broadcasting the event from the UK, were flooded with complaints after they missed the beginning of "Sad But True" and then cut off before "Enter Sandman" during the set, to a pre-recorded Crowded House performance from the Sydney show . "Enter Sandman" was highlighted on NBC's "Live Earth" presentation. They performed at Wembley Stadium the following day, as part of their tour "Sick of the Studio '07", with support from Mastodon, Machine Head and HIM. On the 10th of July they performed at Valle Hovin Stadion in Oslo, Norway in front of 40.000 people. Stockholm, Sweden on the 12th of July, Aarhus, Denmark on the 13th, Helsinki, Finland on the 15th and finally on the 18th they did a show in Moscow, Russia in front of 62,000 people.

On Metallica's "livemetallica.com" download site, the show in Denmark only has the latter part of the concert due to a massive power failure, so as a result, the show is available for free.

At E3 2007, Harmonix announced the song "Enter Sandman" will be featured on the video game Rock Band due out November 2007. A month later, it was revealed that the song "One" will be featured on the Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock video game, due out in October 2007.[28]. "One" has also been licensed for Rock Band.

In the July issue of Q, a music magazine in the UK, Metallica was featured on the cover and it included the band members telling their whole story on the band's 26-year relationship.

Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum said in a recent interview, "Lars [Ulrich, Metallica drummer] is a good friend of mine. He played me the demos from San Francisco, and I turned and looked at him and I said, "Master that shit and put it out." It's ridiculous. The demos were sick. Eight-minute songs, all these tempo changes, crazy fast. "It's like, 'Dude, don't get slower when you get older, but don't get faster!? How are you gonna play this live?' And then me and Lars were out partying all night, and he had to go in the studio the next day and do this stupid like nine- or ten-minute song, and I was laughing at him — because he played me the demo of it, and it was [sings really fast drum part], so fast

Band members


Current members

  • James Hetfield - rhythm guitar, lead vocals (1981-present)
  • Kirk Hammett - lead guitar, backing vocals (1983-present)
  • Robert Trujillo - bass, backing vocals (2003-present)
  • Lars Ulrich - drums (1981-present)

Former members

  • Jason Newsted - bass, backing vocals (1986-2001)
  • Cliff Burton - bass, backing vocals (1982-1986)
  • Dave Mustaine - lead guitar, backing vocals (1981-1983)
  • Ron McGovney - bass (1982)
  • Lloyd Grant - lead guitar (1981)

Discography


Studio albums

Date of Release Title U.S. Sales U.S. Billboard peak
July 25, 1983 Kill 'Em All 3 million #120
July 30, 1984 Ride the Lightning 5 million #100
March 3, 1986 Master of Puppets 6 million #29
August 25, 1988 ...And Justice for All 8 million #6
August 12, 1991 Metallica 15 million #1
June 4, 1996 Load 5 million #1
November 18, 1997 ReLoad 3 million #1
June 5, 2003 St. Anger 2 million #1
TBA Untitled ninth studio album

Awards and recognition


Metallica has won seven Grammy Awards:

  • 1990: Best Metal Performance - "One"
  • 1991: Best Metal Performance - "Stone Cold Crazy"
  • 1992: Best Metal Performance With Vocal - Metallica
  • 1999: Best Metal Performance - "Better Than You"
  • 2000: Best Hard Rock Performance - "Whiskey in the Jar"
  • 2001: Best Rock Instrumental Performance - "The Call of Ktulu" with Michael Kamen and the San Francisco Symphony
  • 2004: Best Metal Performance - "St. Anger"

MTV Video Music Awards:

  • 1992: Best Metal Video - "Enter Sandman"
  • 1996: Best Metal Video - "Until it Sleeps"

American Music Awards:

  • 1996: Favorite Artist: Heavy Metal/Hard Rock: Metallica - Load
  • 1996: Favorite Metal/Hard Rock Song - "Until it Sleeps"

Bammies:

  • 1996: Outstanding Drummer: Lars Ulrich
  • 1997: Outstanding Hard Rock Album: ReLoad

Billboard Music Awards:

  • 1997: Billboard Rock and Roll Artist of the Year: Metallica (RIAA Diamond Award)
  • 1999: Catalog Artist of the Year: Metallica
  • 1999: Catalog Album of the Year: Metallica (The Black Album)

Kerrang! awards:

  • 2003: Hall of Fame

Governor's Award:

  • 2004: Governor's Award - Metallica

Metallica were ranked by MTV the 3rd "Greatest Heavy Metal Band in History", and was listed at #5 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock and at #1 on VH1's "20 Greatest Metal Bands." In 2006, in Kerrang! magazine, Metallica achieved the place of the third most important band in the past twenty-five years; also in Kerrang! during 2006, three of Metallica's albums appeared in the "100 Greatest Rock Albums Ever": Ride the Lightning (#80), Metallica (#15) and Master of Puppets (#2).

The band will be eligible for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2008.


Metallica Music Video Download

Metallica - One
Metallica - St. Anger
Metallica- Enter Sandman
Metallica - nothing else matters
Metallica - The Unforgiven
Metallica - Until it sleeps
Metallica - Welcome home (Sanitarium)
Metallica - Fade To Black
Metallica - Unforgiven II
metallica - fuel
Metallica - I Disappear
Metallica - No Leaf Clover