Dethklok

Sometimes the cream does rise to the top. Dethklok, the unsympathetic and hilarious protagonists of Cartoon Network's series Metalpocalypse, managed something that no flesh-and-blood death-metal group has yet: debuting at #23 on the Billboard charts. As funny as The Dethalbum (Williams Street) is lyrically and conceptually, its musicianship is no joke; "The Lost Vikings" and "Go into the Water" wouldn't be half as amusing without their precise recreation of death- and black-metal tropes. Writer Brendan Smalls and star session drummer Gene Hoagland deliver the band's repertoire on record—onstage there will be a full band. Also appearing are two veteran bands whose noisy mania no doubt inspired Dethklok's metalhead creators. There's Cincinnati's Chimaira, whose Resurrection (Ferret) features fleet, pounding, extreme metal laced with crisp touches of thrash, and Louisiana veterans Soilent Green, who tease with speedy prog bluegrass breaks and pastoral guitar bits on their latest, Inevitable Collapse in the Presence of Conviction (Metal Blade), but really serve a gravelly and gritty gravy of moshitundinous grooves. All Ages.
Sat., June 14, 6 p.m., 2008