Nekrogoblikon

About Nekrogoblikon

Nekrogoblikon occupies a specific corner of metal that most bands wouldn't dare touch: death metal about goblins delivered with complete sincerity despite being inherently ridiculous. The Santa Barbara band formed in 2006 when a group of musicians decided that technical death metal needed more goblin-related content and a mascot named John Goblikon who may or may not be an actual goblin.

Their early work established the template: blast beats, sweep-picked guitar pyrotechnics, guttural vocals about goblin mythology, and production quality that suggested they took the music seriously even when singing about nonsense. The 2007 demo and subsequent album "Goblin Island" set up their whole deal, though it took a few years for anyone outside their immediate circle to notice that a band with a goblin frontman was actually pretty good at playing death metal.

The breakthrough came with "No One Survives" in 2011, but really it was the 2012 music video for "No One Survives" that changed things. The video featured John Goblikon wandering through various slice-of-life scenarios as a goblin, done with enough deadpan commitment that it went viral. Suddenly people who didn't typically listen to death metal were watching a goblin ride a bike and deal with normal human problems while extremely technical metal played underneath.

"Heavy Meta" arrived in 2015 and included "We Need A Gimmick," which was either self-aware commentary or just another bit depending on how you looked at it. The album also featured "Powercore," which became a live staple and showed they could write actual hooks between the technical sections. By this point, the joke had evolved into something more interesting: a legitimately skilled progressive death metal band that happened to have goblin-based lyrical content.

"Welcome to Bonkers" in 2018 pushed further into melodic territory without abandoning the technical brutality. "Dressed in Pink" became one of their most-played tracks, mixing blast beats with an oddly catchy chorus about wearing pink clothing. "The Many Faces of Dr. Hubert Malbec" sprawled across nearly seven minutes of progressive death metal that could have worked without any goblin mythology attached.

The 2023 album "The Fundamental Slimes and Humours" saw them refining the formula they'd been working on for almost two decades. Tracks like "Bones" and "Fancy Wind" balanced comedy and competence in a way that's harder to pull off than it looks. They've toured consistently, with John Goblikon doing meet-and-greets where fans either play along or just appreciate the commitment.

They're still going, still releasing albums about goblins, still playing festivals where they're somehow both the comedy act and one of the more technically proficient bands on the bill. It's a weird lane they've carved out, but they're pretty much the only ones in it.

Nekrogoblikon shows are packed with people who came ready to lose it. The crowd is there to move, the energy is surprisingly tight for a band this silly, and there's a genuine sense that everyone knows they're in on the joke together. No pretense, just metal fans having the time of their lives.

Known for Goblin King, We Are Skeletons, Power of the Bone, Taco's Song, Dressed in Pink

See Nekrogoblikon Live