Cartoon band rocks out in real time

In the cartoon world of

Metalocalypse

, the death metal supergroup Dethklok is the biggest band in the world.

In the real world, Dethklok has also achieved an unlikely popularity - releasing an album that's spent seven months on the Billboard charts, and heading out on a nationwide tour that brings them to Philadelphia next month.

Metalocalypse, which returns to television with original episodes on Sunday, follows the exploits of Dethklok, which comprises singer Nathan Explosion; self-hating bassist William Murderface; Pickles the Drummer; the fastest guitarist in the world, Skwisgaar Skwigelf, and the second-fastest, Toki Wartooth.

The show features the band members dealing with mundane situations like family reunions, employee evaluations and preparing their own meals - while remaining unaware that their rabid fans and employees are frequently killed or maimed by the band's antics.

"The show isn't a parody of metal. You can't just make fun of the metal world by saying, 'Oh, hey, look, isn't everybody stupid for taking themselves so seriously?' " said Brendon Small, co-creator of Metalocalypse. "It is a parody of celebrityism. It's a show about a group of celebrities who can't do anything for themselves."

The show's second season resumes Sunday night at midnight on the Cartoon Network. The show is coming off a hiatus after the band's college tour with . . . And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead.

Small, who composes all of the music for Metalocalypse, also provides vocals and instrumentals for Dethklok, except for the drums.

He wrote more than 20 of the tracks for the first season, 15 of which were compiled on Dethklok's debut album, The Dethalbum. Among the songs are "Hatredcopter" ("I fly a gigantic monster / I am captain evil stopper / I get to wear big black helmets / I pilot the Hatredcopter") and "Bloodtrocuted" ("Open up your veins and splash the blood / And hit the power lines / Bloodtrocuted. . . You'll be bloodtrocuted. . .")

Since the album debuted in September at No. 21 on the Billboard 200 chart, it has sold more than 195,000 copies, and is still on the Soundtracks chart at No. 18.

"The show's success didn't really catch us by surprise, but the CD has done phenomenally well," said Mike Lazzo, senior vice president for programming and production at Adult Swim, Cartoon Network's late-night block of original and syndicated cartoons.

Small, the show's co-creator, studied guitar at the Berklee College of Music in Boston before taking classes in comedy writing.

"Somewhere around my third or fourth year at school, I started to get really antsy, wondering where I was going with music," Small said. "So I started learning comedy."

His first show, Home Movies, ran for four seasons on UPN and Adult Swim, which is primarily aimed at men ages 18 to 24. After the show's run ended, Metalocalypse co-creator Tommy Blacha and Small went to metal concerts.

"Tommy and I had been going out with some really scary bands, and I reacquainted myself with metal," Small said. "Metal had gotten so much heavier and scarier and people started playing their instruments again. I like when people are good at their instruments. I actually just really like it when people are good at their jobs."

About a year after Lazzo suggested that he do a show about music, Small pitched an idea for a show about a death metal band. Lazzo immediately liked the idea, and Small got to work recording the show's theme song.

Blacha and Small provide the voices of the band members. Guest voice-overs have been provided by Metallica's Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield.

"Sometimes we get musicians who want to do guest spots on the show, but we don't always have the room," said Small. "But I got to work with Metallica, so all of my rock dreams have been fulfilled, and on the acting side we have [regular voice talent] Mark Hamill and Malcolm McDowell."

The cartoon version of the band even has endorsements with real equipment companies, including Krank Amplification and Gibson Guitars.

Like many shows on Adult Swim, Metalocalypse has short, 11-minute episodes, though this season will have at least one half-hour episode.

"If we think the talent is capable of making a half-hour show, we tell them go ahead," Lazzo said. "We let the length occur natural if there is a big story worth more time or a short character-driven piece."

Of course, a comedy about a heavy metal band is bound to draw comparisons to This Is Spinal Tap, the 1984 rock mockumentary.

"There have been only three or four good music movies ever made," said Small. "Even 20 years later, we were conscious about not making Spinal Tap again. Those guys did it all, playing their own instruments. We decided we could either have a band on the way down like them or make them the biggest band in the world."

Lazzo said Dethklok's album needed to be more than musical satire. "If The Dethalbum was just a parody CD, I wouldn't want to listen to it that much. It's just really good music."

Dethklok's second live tour, this summer, stops at the Fillmore at the TLA in Philadelphia on June 27. Small and other musicians play the music live on stage while a synchronized cartoon of the concert is projected overhead.

"You can look at our stupid faces if you want to or at the movie theater-sized screen," Small said. "We will be the pit orchestra to the ballet that is the show. It's like a big, stupid Disneyland ride except with murder scenes above the band."