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"RELEASE THE KITTIES!" - Nathan Explosion

Nathan Explosion is a fictional member of the virtual metal band Dethklok who are the lead characters in the animated series Metalocalypse. He is voiced by the show's creator, Brendon Small, who also writes the music for the show.

AppearanceEdit

Nathan Explosion is the frontman, lead vocalist and "lyrical visionary" of Dethklok. He always speaks in a very deep, grave voice, known as a death growl, even when not singing in public. He is a tall, imposing figure (Skwisgaar is the only one who overcomes him in terms of height) with long jet black hair, black fingernails, pale skin and green eyes. When performing on stage, he sometimes wears corpse paint. Throughout the series, Nathan's appearances changes:

In Dethgov, in the childhood flashback, a very young version of Nathan has his hair cut to jaw-length and his clothes are the same as his adult version in the show.

In Renovationklok, at the time the newly formed Dethklok had signed with Crystal Mountain Records, Nathan's hair was almost symmetrical, save for a stray hair strand, and he wore a sleeveless black shirt, black jeans and boots. This was during the time where Nathan was in his prime, as he had a muscular build from playing football in his high school days.

By the time of Metalocalypse, Nathan's hair was parted back on his left ear and he wore a grayish black T-shirt, dark blue jeans, and black boots. Physically, he has very broad shoulders, a wide chest, prominent high cheekbones, and a square jaw. He had also become visibly older, having developing wrinkles on his face, losing his muscle definition, and growing a noticable beer gut from drinking too much alcohol.

During episodes Girlfriendklok and Performanceklok, Nathan wears a light purple polo shirt with pink horizonal stripes just below the chest, light blue jeans, light gray shoes, and has his hair cut so that part of the hair mainly draped over the shoulder is longer than the one in back, and the stray hair strand is gone.

In Dethwedding, Nathan is seen wearing a black tuxedo along with the rest of the band during Pickles's older brother Seth's wedding reception.

In the music video "Thunderhorse", Nathan is wearing barbarian garb inspired by ancient Norse Vikings and Conan the Barbarian, and he wields a double-sided axe.

In the music video "Black Fire Upon Us", Nathan is wearing black armor and wields a sword similar to Toki's black armor in "I Tamper With the Evidence at the Murder Site of Odin" except that Nathan is wearing a helmet much like in "Thunderhorse", a long cape, and his armor has more spikes and large shoulderguards.

ConceptEdit

Cannibal Corpse lead singer George "Corpsegrinder" Fisher has said in interviews that Nathan is based on him. This has been confirmed by Brendon Small.^[1] Nathan also shares similarities with the late Peter Steele of American crossover thrash band Carnivore and gothic metal band Type O Negative, such as being the lead vocalist of his own band, having a tall, imposing figure, an angry-looking face, long black hair, green eyes, and a deep singing voice.

PersonalityEdit

Compared to the rest of the Dethklok members, Nathan is shown to be very calm in an almost unusual way, despite what happens around him. However, if someone close to Nathan is negatively affected or Nathan himself is negatively affected, Nathan will express either horror or anger and annoyance.

In all episodes of Metalocalypse, Nathan is usually seen composed and serious. This is mainly due to being the appointed frontman of Dethklok and knowing that being a frontman of an extremely popular metal band has a lot of responsibilities that must be taken seriously, especially coming up with ideas for the songs. Despite his apparent seriousness, Nathan occasionally smiles in some episodes, such as Dethkomedy, and is shown to have a dark and wicked sense of humor with most of his jokes and sarcasm being directed towards Murderface. He is also capable of texting knock-knock jokes in Toki's manner of speech.

Nathan has a fairly simplistic way of thinking, often describing things and assessing their value in terms of whether or not they are "brutal" or "metal." He is impulsive in his reactions and decisions and has violent tendencies toward things he dislikes. For example, he once purchased several designer watches with the sole intent of smashing them. According to an expert procured by The Tribunal, he shares a similar psychological profile to that of former Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin in his ability to "galvanize the proletariat."

Despite his academic ineptitude, he sometimes displays a better ability for basic reasoning and analysis than his band mates. For instance, in Performanceklok he was able to draw the conclusion that Dr. Twinkletits was using the banana stickers as a form of psychological validation.

Although he does not show it, Nathan is very much aware of his own flaws, especially his stupidity, and even went so far as to try earning a GED in Go Forth and Die. He is also aware of the more obvious flaws of his bandmates and once pointed this out to Ofdensen during a band meeting by yelling, "WE CAN'T DO ANYTHING RIGHT!"

Charles described Nathan and Pickles as the two most responsible members of the band and left them in charge of things while he was away for a few days. Despite being the one to protest on the idea that they have a sense of responsibility at all, Nathan is seen acting in a parenteral manner by checking Toki had everything for his trip to the camp and by cleaning up his room while gone as well as rushing to the camp when he discovered Magnus Hammersmith was there.

Skills & HobbiesEdit

Nathan has a lack of skill in regards to public speaking. When speaking publicly, Nathan shows a profound difficulty reading the speeches written for him by Ofdensen and usually gives up trying.

Nathan is cross-dominant, as an example of being a lefthanded shooter, but a righthanded writer. But, when it comes to holding the microphone or using melee weapons, such as the sword in the music video for "Black Fire Upon Us", Nathan is ambidexterous.

Nathan has been hinted to have a level of multilingual capabilities. He is capable of speaking fluent French, as shown in the episodes Mordland (complimenting Dethklok's chef about a drink) and Dethsiduals (to apologize to the owner of a winery when bandmates Toki Wartooth and William Murderface cause havoc there for their unruly behavior). Nathan is capable of reading Norwegian in Dethdad when he tells the band that the "first black metal records shop that started it all" Toki introduces the band to is actually a smoked fish shop.

Nathan is capable of driving a motorcycle, as seen in the opening introduction of every Metalocalypse episode and briefly in Religionklok.

Nathan is the only Dethklok member shown to be proficient in firearms as he is able to use rifles and bazookas in episodes Dethdad and Doublebookedklok.

Although his body is out of shape, Nathan is quite strong and has even been seen weight lifting. He is likely the physically strongest of the group.

Music TalentsEdit

Nathan is apparently a lead songwriting force in Dethklok and demonstrates specific knowledge of music and songwriting, particularly observable in Cleanso. During Dethklok's travels, Nathan comes up with violent ideas for song material, which he records on a portable digital recording device. He has exacting standards and appears to have the final word in the music Dethklok produces; he will erase entire finished Dethklok albums if they do not ultimately meet his approval.

Although the singer and front man of the band, Nathan has displayed little other music talent outside of his vocal contributions. However, he is the only band member who actually "knows" what the sound of Dethklok is, whereas the other band members don't mind if a song is on the album which is not the "dethklok sound", Nathan completely objects to the idea.

RelationshipsEdit

Skwisgaar SkwigelfEdit

Toki Wartooth...!Edit

William MurderfaceEdit

PicklesEdit

Magnus HammersmithEdit

It was Nathan who put Magnus in his place when he got out of hand. Later when he finds out Magnus is at the camp Toki went to, Nathan was concerned about it and appears not to 100% trust Magnus.

LoveEdit

While Nathan has professed his passion for all things brutal and dark, his ability to maintain romantic relationships with women also suggests his desire to love and be loved in all of its form and splender.

FamilyEdit

Nathan's mother is overbearing and his father is rather stern. In the episode Dethfam, Nathan's mother rambles at him incessantly, much to his annoyance. Nathan's father states that he was happy until Nathan was born and resents having had to spend his "beer money" on children's clothing. Nathan is known to make hateful comments regarding his family, particularly his father. In the short interview Family, he expresses an irritation at his resemblance to his mother and says the mere fact that he has a family makes him "very angry inside." Later, he states that the fact that his parents had sex to create him makes him want to be buried alive.

In Dethdad, he admits that he has a good relationship with his father, mentioning they drink and hunt together and even admitting that he would be upset if his father died.

Character BiographyEdit

ChildhoodEdit

Nathan was raised in Florida, the sole child of Oscar and Rose Explosion. Nathan did not speak until the age of five and was an unremarkable student in high school, excelling only in frog dissection and football. He eventually dropped out without earning his diploma.

In Dethgov, when his classmates and teacher were killed after he won the election for class president in the second grade, Nathan remained virtually unaffected .

Season1Edit

Season2Edit

Season3Edit

Season4Edit

TriviaEdit

In Dethcarraldo, Nathan's spirit animal is revealed to be a Crocodilia.
In Dethgov, Nathan is made Governor of Florida after the public execution of Governor Kip Slaughter by rabid Dethklok fans. This alarms The Tribunal, causing them to go Purple Alert.
Nathan has an apparent hatred for clowns, especially Dr. Rockzo during the episodes where he makes appearances. In fact, he wrote and reads out loud during therapy a hate letter describing how much he hates Rockzo. However, he changes his opinion about him when he sees Rockzo perform live with his old band Zazz Blammymatazz and thinks he's "fucking amazing".
Nathan is the only Dethklok member to be shown wearing glasses besides Offdensen and Murderface, though they are only for reading.
In the episode Dethcarraldo , Nathan is revealed to be 1/4 Yaneemango, a savage tribe from South America.
His name is a rather obvious pun on the term "Napalm Explosion".

ReferencesEdit

↑ Electronic Musician interviews Metalocalypse co-creator, Brendon Small | Scoring and producing the music for Dethklok in a home recording studio

NavigationEdit

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