Brendon Small’s Galaktikon – “Galaktikon II: Become The Storm” [Album Review]

Compared to most metal musicians, Brendan Small has come a considerable way over the last decade-plus. Of course he’s not alone, as the team that has been with him since Dethklok’s Dethalbum (released one month shy of exactly ten years ago) assists and celebrates with him. Along with bassist Bryan Beller (Steve Vai, The Aristocrats), ‘The Atomic Clock’ Gene Hoglan (Testament, Strapping Young Lad) and producer/engineer Ulrich Wild, Galaktikon II is birthed at long last – after the first Galaktikon dropped five years ago.

From the luscious opener of “Some Days Are For Dying” the marriage of heavy and harmony, the definitive Small trademark, is graciously slathered over this space age metal-opera. Musical pieces like “The Agenda” and “Become The Storm” are thick with Brian May/Queen tone and melody homagé; as well as the Devin Townsend-like song structures, in part from Hoglan’s precision touches. Most impressive however, is Small’s vocal applications throughout this time, using a Broadway lead voice one minute then character growls and timbres the next. The album’s longest piece “The Ocean Galaktik” seems almost the main fulcrum this epic tale revolves around, then you remember there are seven tracks still to go!

Dethklok faithful and newcomers alike will have multiple replays of joy from this latest masterpiece. One can seriously imagine this becoming a musical, if pressed hard enough, and good God knows we are in dire need of a GOOD one. Honestly, tell me your mental visuals don’t peak during “Nightmare” and “Could This Be The End” with a straight face. Adult Swim may have given the metal masses a big ‘fuck you’ over Metalocalypse, but Brendan never forgot who got him where he is. This is his thank you to us for indulging and supporting his genius, and we are extremely grateful.

Galaktikon II: Become The Storm Track Listing:

01. Some Days Are For Dying
02. Icarus Six Sixty Six
03. The Agenda
04. The Ocean Galaktik
05. My Name Is Murder
06. Become The Storm
07. Nightmare
08. Could This Be The End
09. To Kill A God
10. Exitus
11. Rebuilding A Planet

Run Time: 55:41
Release Date: August 25, 2017

Check out the band’s happy new single “My Name Is Murder”