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The recently released Dethalbum II seeks to continue Brendan Small and Tommy Blacha’s Dethalbum, which was released two years ago and parodied Scandinavian death metal on the television series “Metalocalypse,” featured on Cartoon Network’s Adult Swim.

The current album continues exploring the musical styles of metal drummer Gene Hoglan. Remnants of parody are present in this new album, but not to the extent that they were in the first album. The lyrics care at times difficult to hear and understand.

Yet, the tracks on the new album are crisper, the solos are more intense and the songs, while very technical in orchestration, are not as formulaic as their predecessors.

Compared to the last album, Dethalbum II is slightly less esoteric. This doesn’t mean that fans of the first album won’t like this one. In fact, the complaint is that Dethalbum II attracts a narrow audience.

The band focuses more on their music in this album.Yet, a lack of humor doesn’t make this CD anything more than a typical metal album. It was those over-the-top, scratchy lead vocals and ridiculous lyrics that made the original such a hit.

Dethalbum debuted at No. 21 on Billboard’s Top 200. It would not be surprising if this album fails to make a dent in the top 200.

Dethalbum II offers monumental solos on many tracks, and provides a lot of energy for some songs, but fizzles on others. Fans of the show should definitely pick it up, but the real staying power of Dethalbum II will depend on its ability to appeal to the general public, not just the fans.