Cartoon metal? It’s worked so far on Metalocalypse, Adult Swim’s double-bass-pedal answer to Josie and the Pussycats. In its first season, the over-the-top animated series did a pretty damn good job fusing the worlds of Aqua Teen and Some Kind of Monster, and just like its rock parody forebears, the show’s fictional band, Dethklok, has taken the natural next step by issuing its songs in CD form next month.

Doesn’t surprise me that The Dethalbum has racked up thousands of downloads at my leak sources already. People who have shelled out cash for Spinal Tap and Tenacious D records can probably count on their fingers how many times they’ve spun those in the past three years—sure, “Big Bottom” is funny to quote, but why not just watch the superior movie instead? (And don’t get me started on Break Like The Wind.) These albums aren’t supposed to last without their movies’ and shows’ context. Right?

In only a few days of listening, it’s hard to make a long-term prediction about The Dethalbum, but it’s fucking funny for now, certainly in part because most of these songs are new to me. Over half of the tracks are pulled from episodes, though lengthened for the sake of the CD, and they’re all brilliant in both being ridiculous and believable as metal songs. The opening track is about mermaid murder, and it’s titled, well, “Murmaider”:

There are no fingerprints / Deep underwater / Nothing to tie one to a crime / And if you seek vengeance / All you need are instruments of pain

This entire post could be made up solely of genius lyrics (particularly “Bloodrocuted,” the second-person story of an electrician who fuses puddles of his own blood with electricity to battle bounty hunters), or even song titles (“Briefcase Full of Guts,” “Hatredcopter”), but I’d be remiss to ignore how solid the record actually sounds. Metalocalypse co-creator Brendon Small is the muscle behind the disc, handling the fake band’s Cookie Monster vocals and all of the guitars, while longtime metal drummer Gene Hoglan sits on the kit. In that respect, Small is less like Jack Black and more like Liam Lynch, the Sifl & Olly co-creator whose Fake Songs record stood out because the music behind the jokes was so robust. I suppose it’s like the old stand-up comedian’s spiel: You can’t properly make fun of a race, creed or…genre of music without being part of it.

At the very least, the leak has convinced me to watch the show more than, er, twice. I suppose that’s the kind of advertising that makes up for a lost album sale, right? If you’re not familiar with the show, hit Dethklok’s MySpace page for a tease of its forthcoming album.