hardcopy's Thoughts on Metalocalypse Season 3 in the 21st Century

Hi, I'm hardcopy, and I sprained my ankle during three separate occasions.  One was three weeks after the last one.

The first time I have been exposed to Metalocalypse is during the final episodes of season 2.  I wish I was able to discover this earlier so I could have had more time to enjoy it, but I would like to say that I am a huge fan of the series regardless of not being there since the beginning.  The flash-like animation is awesome, the music is great and spawns amazing concerts, and the extras in the season box sets are pretty cool (I do prefer season 1's extras over season 2, but I still like watching both). 

When you look at the two seasons back to back you do notice great improvements, but the more drastic improvement is the music.  Between Dethalbum I and II the variety sky rockets and continues to do so now that we are currently in the middle of season 3.  Many fans prefer Dethalbum I because the songs held more memories to specific episodes like "Murmaider" and "Blood Ocean" but Dethalbum II started to become more of an album instead of a soundtrack to a series.  The music had Dethklok-like qualities but the varieties were expanding.  The drum work had noticeably changed and were spread into different varieties of grooves while guitar solos weren't so harmonically or melodically scaled based in the same minor key signature (at least that's what I got from it, and I'm not a huge expert on music theory).  Fans also commented on the lyrics changing into more death metal genre like lyrics instead of plastered with inside jokes and Dethklok antic humor like in Dethalbum I.  There are many other differences between season 1 and 2 besides music, but this is just one example I wanted to share.

So what does season 3 have to offer?  Like I said before, we are in the middle of the season.  Ten episodes have been released so far, and compared to the previous seasons, season 3 has been a huge jump for all of us.  But that's ok because it's great.  I gotta say when the first episode for season 3 came out, I nearly shit my pants; I was so excited.  But when the second batch of episodes came out, I was still enjoying them but it started to go downhill a little bit.  Before I get to that, here is my list of what makes Season 3 so great:

1. Longer episodes
2. More detailed story lines
3. Better animation
4. More variety in the music
5. Some character background/development
6. More Dethklok antics
7. More guest stars
8. A push for the main storyline with the Tribunal (council of impressive gentlemen)

The episodes were also more centered around Ofdenson, Dethklok's manager, who hasn't really shown his importance until the finale of season 2.  When the premier of season 3 aired, the beginning of the episode showed Ofdenson's first record label signing with the band until his supposed death when the Revengencers, Tribunal, and Klokateers have a full on battle against each other occurs after the CD release party.  He comes back towards the end of the episode, but when he is asked about what actually happened, he says that it isn't the time to explain and they have other things to worry about.  At the end of the last episode aired so far, clips were shown about what really happened but nothing was fully explained.  All we know is that Ofdenson knows too much.

One of my favorite episodes of season 3 so far is "Fatherklok" because for once we have a really good Skwisgaar centered episode along with a very good plot which before the episode made fans think about "who is his father anyway?"  The Christmas special was really good also, but if I say that, I would just have to keep going with all the episodes that were released during those few weeks.  The humor was awesome, hamburger time is placed in a nice cozy space in my heart, and Steve Vai in "TributeKlok" is awesome.

I was really looking forward to seeing the next string of episodes that were announced to air during the fall.  Unfortunately only one episode out those five recently aired held up to the bar the other episode's raised, but still not as good as the last five.  "DethZazz" was really neat because you got to see more of Rockso's life, and the plot in the latest episode with Ofdenson being a bad ass was just...not unfair but like a tease.  It's like the animators put strings their secret uber plot notebook and dangled it in front of my face, but you know what, that's what catches you.

The animation has improved.  Instead of having the same stances that most of the band members are engined with, their movements are more fluid and different and the definition looks more enhanced because of the lighting and details that went into the character's expressions.  The music has also managed to become more diverse, and this is way more noticeable than in the previous season.  Nathan also screams, the drums go into half time and don't stick with just one groove throughout the entire song, you have some more guitar riffs, and the bass has more variation.  Overall I do like the visual and audio enhances.

As for some things I'm not impressed with the latest string of episodes in season 3 are, again, the plot devices, how every character has their own song (I just think it's a little weird), how there seems to be more Toki centered storylines, and the gags aren't quite as good as the other episodes that launched the season premiering.  But every good show has a dry spell, and theirs doesn't seem that bad.  I am looking forward to more episodes and figure out what the hell happened in the last episode.