The Metalocalypse Has Begun

"The Metalocalypse Has Begun" (also known as "It Has Begun") is the season finale of season one of Metalocalypse.

Synopsis
Dethkok's lives are in danger as Crozier and the Cardinal take further action to eliminate, enlisting the help of a stronger assassin. The band is not aware of their growing list of enemies... until now.

Plot
The episode begins with the band on the Dethkopter having a meal served to them in skull bowls by Jean-Pierre. Charles reminds them that they have been receiving death threats from their fans, which Pickles interprets at first as meaning that the fans will die until Charles him otherwise. The CFO attempts to give the band a safety briefing but he gets interrupted by Nathan, so he gives up and asks the band for ideas on Dethmerch. Skwisgaar then introduces their new idea, the "time travels face bag" and the whole band puts on plastic bags over their heads, which allow them to "travel through time, at the speed of regular time, with plastic bags".

Reluctantly playing Dethwater
A TV announcer talks about Dethklok's album, Dethwater being the biggest budgeted record in history that was followed by a class action lawsuit. Nathan declared that the album would never be played live, saying that the album is not for humans, it's for "underwater sea creatures". This angered the fans, many who formed a renegade group and signed a suicide petition and a terrorist petition to pressure the band to play live. After several acts of vandalism that destroyed national monuments and left several metal fans and innocent bystanders dead, Nathan announced that they would play Dethwater live. He thinks it's the wrong thing to do artistically and the right thing to do financially.

Senator Stampingston begins a tribunal meeting discussing the recently announced concert. General Crozier gives a bit more information, telling everyone that the concert will take place in Poland, specifically in the Gulf of Danzig, where the band can play to the fish in the Baltic sea. The tribunal expects severe destruction of natural resources and the death of fans as per usual Dethklok fare, so the Senator declares the meeting adjourned. Cardinal Ravenwood then has a secret meeting with General Crozier about eliminating Dethklok. Cardinal Ravenwood says "According to the ancient scriptures they must be killed, or an apocalypse of metal will be upon us" possibly referring to the Sumerian prophecy previously mentioned. Crozier agrees that they must take action and Ravenwood warns him that Salacia has been in his mind and he has a feeling something really bad will happen.

The man with the silver face
Crozier then excuses himself because he has to meet an "important ally" and tells Ravenwood to meet him at the rendezvous point, to which the Cardinal apprehensively agrees. The shot cuts to what appears to be a solitary storage building in the city. Inside there are several human bodies in various states of mutilation hanging from meat hooks while a live victim lies naked on a torture table, being looked over by a man with a metal mask. Crozier enters the room, but speaks to the man from a distance, asking if he knows who he is, to which the masked man says yes. Crozier then remarks he's been looking for the masked man for months, calling him an "elusive bastard". The masked man replies "the only reason you found me was because I let you." Crozier then informs him that his brother has been killed.

Whether in anger, grief or by coincidental timing, the masked man chooses that moment to kill his prone victim on the table and ask Crozier how he knows about his brother's death. The general answers that Agent 216 worked for him and was the best he had. He then tells the masked man that he knows who killed his brother and wants to help him get revenge.

The fated concert
Both the Klokateers and the Tribunal make extensive preparations for the concert and several orcas gather at the site. As the concert starts, a huge platform rises from the sea, which has the band inside and they begin to play. Crozier then gives the command "kill them all" and the Metal Masked Assassin responds "Dethklok will die, I promise". He assembles what appears to be a double-ended halberd and begins mowing down Dethklok fans around him. Crozier then gives the order to launch missiles and three stealth ground attack aircraft approach the platform and being firing missiles. The band continues playing as the missiles explode around them and the Metal Masked Assassin uses a grappling hook to launch himself to the platform. When a metal guard is raised to protect the band from a missile, they finally stop playing and Nathan asks what the hell is going on. From the control room, Charles determines that they are surrounded and evacuates the band in the "pentapods".

The Metal Masked Assassin sees the escape pods launch around him and Crozier orders him to shoot them down. The assassin uses a large caliber gun to shoot at one of the turbines of Toki's pod, which goes off course and takes Skwisgaar's pod and causes both of them to crash. Skwisgaar and Toki are confused and upset, not knowing why they were attacked or why their pods failed. Skwisgaar asks Toki where they are, what did they fly in and what was wrong with his guitar playing earlier that night. Toki gets offended and defends himself saying he sounded great, but Skwisgaar replies that he "sounded dildos agains".

Murderface, Nathan and Pickles land in their designated areas and Pickles says that this is the fan attack Ofdensen warned them about and they talk about bad fans ruining things for everybody. They are found and surrounded by the Tribunal's troops, but they mistakenly believe it's their rescue team and ask for fancy cheese and Kool-aid. One of the soldiers shoots sleeping gas grenades at their feet and the gas released knocks them out.

Meanwhile, Skwisgaar and Toki are still arguing about their playing, with Skwisgaar saying that Toki plays badly and Toki saying that Skwisgaar is boring. They are interrupted when a tree next to them practically explodes, to which Toki remarks "that's weird" before they see the Metal Masked Assassin running towards them with murderous intent.

As Crozier's troops close in on Nathan, Pickles and William, a troop of Klokateers comes to the rescue and they begin to fight, with the Klokateers using medieval weapons against Crozier's modern automatic rifles.

The Metal Masked Assassin shoves Skwisgaar and Toki down and points guns at their faces, telling them "it's time to die". Skwisgaar says his farewells to Toki, saying "I will sees you in Valhallska." Toki replies "I've always hated you, Skwisgaar." and the lead guitarist says "I knows, Toki, I knows."

CFO and the Assassin meet
The assassin prepares to kill them but he is interrupted by a gunshot from Charles. The CFO confronts the assassin, saying "that's my bread and butter you're f*cking with." The two men drop their guns and prepare to physically fight, Charles takes off his tie and the assassin pulls out two knifes. They have a brief but intense fight in which both get injured, but Charles is the ultimate victor as he breaks the assassin's right arm, stabs him with his own knife and kicks him into the river. Elsewhere, the fight between Crozier's troops and the Klokateers has ended with devastating results: everyone is dead except for Dethklok, the General, the Cardinal and five of Crozier's soldiers. Crozier prepares to kill the three band members in front of him but the Cardinal insists on praying before the deed or the results could be devastating. Crozier orders him "Do it, NOW!" As the old man chants in Latin, he stops and opens his eyes as the dark figure of Salacia appears in front of him, furious that the two of them betrayed him.

The defeat
With a wave of his hand, Salacia decapitates the remaining soldiers, which shocks Crozier and Ravenwood. Mr Salacia then says "be blind" and the Cardinal's eyes explode. With a twist of his hand, Salacia makes Ravenwood's intestines shoot out of his mouth and tells Crozier he will be needed later and puts him in an unnatural sleep. He gazes over the unconscious members of Dethklok and remarks "we will meet again" and fades away as Charles approaches with Toki and Skwisgaar in tow.

Pickles, Nathan and Murderface regain consciousness and get up as Ravenwood uses his dying breath to say "the Metalocalypse has begun."

Songs featured in this episode

 * "Go into the Water"

Guest Voices

 * George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher

Trivia

 * The monitor at the Dethwater concert had images of Blood Ocean in them, particularly of Nathan's robot arm.
 * As Nathan sings to the fish, more sea life gathers, including anglerfish, jellyfish and hammerhead sharks.
 * Skwisgaar mispronounces Valhalla even though it's a Scandinavian word and not an English one, meaning it should be part of his native vocabulary.
 * This is the final episode of the show to be presented in the 4x3 screen format. This changes in the second season, starting with the episode "Dethecution."
 * Skwisgaar and Toki's exchange as they prepare to die is reminiscent of Leia and Han's in Star Wars which made a lot of fans speculate about the nature of their relationship.
 * The words Ravenwood says in Latin are the first few words of the "Our Father" prayer.