Last Friday Cinnamon and I took my daughter, Allison, to see Dethklok up at the Wiltern theater in LA. Dethklok, is by far the most successful band in the world, at least in the universe of the Adult Swim cartoon Metalocalypse.

Cinnamon, as usual, was over the top in her enthusiasm. She had a shirt made up beforehand that said "Explode me", a visual reference from the cartoon based on a groupie chasing lead singer Nathan Explosion. She also gave herself and Allison full "heavy metal" makeup.

When I bought the tickets I had no idea what the "concert" would actually be like. It turned out that creator Brendon Small and were down in an "orchestra pit" and above them was a theater-sized screen which played the equivalent of music videos while the band played Dethklok classics like "Murmader", "Briefcase full of Guts", "Bloodrocuted" and the Duncan Hills coffee jingle (scream for your creaaaaaaaaam!). There were also some animated segments featuring the behind the scenes activities and adventures of the band and their support staff (for example, level-one technicians are responsible for cleaning the dead bodies and severed limbs off of the stage during concerts).

The band played for about an hour, which was probably as much brutality as a geezer like me could take. We showed up late both to miss the LA traffic and to bypass the two opening (real) metal bands. I do have to say that I developed a greater appreciation for music that was way more metal than any I'd ever enjoyed before. There was a power and intensity that worked better in a live setting it ever can when recorded.

And all 3 of us made it out of the show alive.