Review Summary: Brendon Small decides to take some breathing room and steps away from the Dethklok realm and incorporates his comedic values into another concept
In a video interview Small states the concept as: “A superhero named Triton who receives unexpected divorce papers and takes some sort of counseling to figure out what he should do with his life. During his counseling session the Lazer Witch foresees danger for Triton if he should go out and rescue his ex-wife if she happens to be in any sort of danger. Which he does once he learns that his arch nemesis Beastblade, who swore vengeance on Triton for putting him in jail, after he escaped out of jail and seduces her and performs the sticky. Fearing that she’s in danger (which she is, we find that out later) Triton comes to the rescue but he has a bump in the road and gets captured, and drug into an arena to fight off a giant worm. After his battle with the giant worm, he has an epic space battle during his time of coming to his ex-wife’s rescue. To Triton’s assumptions, his wife was in trouble. Once he confronts Beastblade and kicks his ass, he then has to face his ex-wife! Then they part ways or some silly sh*t like that.” That’s the concept in a nutshell.
Once the music goes through one ear and out the other, it takes some time to get use too. The majority of us just want another Dethklok album and more Metalocalypse seasons. When I first heard of Brendon’s new solo effort, along with many other people, our thoughts were all the same. Just random profanity coming out of our mouths and wishing for new Dethklok stuff, because I sure as hell thought he was going to go on tour to support a non-Dethklok album. This ultimately came to my knee jerk conclusion of “Oh my god I have to wait for another year or two for a new Dethalbum!” Fortunately with recent news and events; Metalocalypse season 4 has premiered since April 29thand Dethalbum III is in the works. With no news about any tours supporting
Galaktikon, there is a possible chance that
Galaktikon has been in the makings for quite some time and meant only for fun. I could be wrong about the time that was put into
Galaktikon, but the majority of the riffs seem like they’ve been used on Metalocalypse before.
As the music goes, it seems that
Galaktikon is a mixture of stuff that Brendon Small came up with over the years that doesn’t seem to fit Dethklok’s image. This is perfectly fine by me on all means; Brendon Small has showed why he’s a respectable musician in the metal community, so why not? Brendon Small described the album as ‘extreme rock’, but after giving it some listens it comes off more as Heavy Metal. Instrumentally as it goes every single riff has that Dethklok vibe with the addition of Heavy Metal influences with some outstanding solos; “Dangertits” can best amplify that concept the best. “Dangertits” is also an impressive instrumental that has aroused my optimism of a possible chance of a near future Dethklok instrumental. There is also a questionable entity named “Deathwaltz” that has successfully raised my eyebrows; it’s not bad, it has a good solo and a catchy chorus; it’s just the opening verse (you’ll know what I mean when you hear it). There’s also that vicious reoccurring cycle of a bass not being audible within a lot of metal albums, well look no further “Truth Orb and the Kill Pool” features bass audibility that has that “jazzy” lick, and a solo from Brendon that has the rock sound he was talking about (the other solos sound metal, not rock). With upbeat song like “Triton” and “Prophecy of the Lazer Witch” give a blend of that ‘extreme rock' and heavy metal sound Small has described the album. Finally, the best is saved for last during the album’s regular spin cycle. Like I said earlier, “Dangertits” is an impressive instrumental, but the true epic sound that Small was trying to deliver consistently in
Galaktikon finally shows up with the album closer of “On My Way”. The song itself showcases the climatic build up that has Triton kicking Beastblade’s ass, rescuing his ex-wife, and then leaves her, hence ‘on my way’… Musically as it goes, “On My Way” has Brendon showing off his best clean vocal performance off the entire album, with some sick guitar hooks with a nice solo. In the words of Nathan Explosion, “it’s (heavy) metal”. That was just a joke, but seriously “On My Way” is the definition of Extreme Rock.
When looking back on
Galaktikon the pros are very clear. The concept is interesting and original, awesome guitar work, the bass is audible for the most part, and Gene Hoglan. The cons are minor at times; some songs lack the bass audibility in comparison to other songs, and Brendon Small isn’t that great of a clean vocalist, but he has his moments. I respect the musical change of trying something different for a solo career, and not sticking with just Death Metal, but the album itself took some time getting use to. This might be the final nail in the coffin for some people if the album itself doesn’t have that strike or spunk on the first listen. Bottom line is that the album itself is a nice thought of trying something different, but Brendon should just stick to the blackest of the black times infinity.
