Soichi Negishi is a sweet boy, who loves and honors his parents, has a crush on a cute girl whom he wishes he had the nerve to confess to, and writes Swedish-style music with lyrics laden with love and food.  He wishes to be the sensation of the music world, to carry his message of love and peace to everyone around him.  The trouble is that is that no one bothers to listen to his words!  In fact, he finds himself booed everwhere he tries to sing his saccharine lyrics.  And yet, when he dons the KISS-like make-up of Krauser II and takes to the stage with his heavy metal rock band, Detroit Metal City, everyone sits up and take notice!  This double life is taking its toll on Soichi – the harder he tries to break away from it, the tighter it clutches him to its bosom!  What's a guy to do?

The Skinny

As volume 4 of Detroit Metal City begins, we are still at the Satanic Emperor Music Festival, organized by the daughter of Jack Ill Dark, to crown one of the participating bands with the title of Satanic Emperor.  We left Soichi, at the end of volume 3, away from the stage where his band is playing without him due to unfortunate circumstances – Nature has called him and he finds that he cannot answer her call, due to the fact that the members of rival metal band Deathism are hogging all the portajohns!  By the time that they clear out of them, it is too late for Soichi, who now has the added embarrassment of  having soiled himself.  Can life get any more humiliating?  Just wait…in the meantime, Deathism have taken their own stage, and are stirring their audience up with their scatologically inclined music and antics, as Ill Dark's daughter ponders the evolution of heavy metal music from her vantage point in the audience.

The first round ends, and four bands are left "standing" – Helvete, Horror Aesthicians, Deathism and Detroit Metal City!  And sadly, Soichi's tights aren't even dry yet!

 

In a flashback chapter, we discover that Deathism has not always been the band that they present themselves as at the Festival – they began their musical life as a simple heavy metal band, although a couple of their members suffered from problems in the bathroom.  When Jack Ill Dark made his famed tour in which he battled one indie band per country, Deathism was seriously ticked off to lose out to the – to them – unknown DMC.  They went to the concert and were dismayed at DMC's lack of respect for Ill Dark.  It was their newborn hatred of DMC which led to the rebirth of Deathism as a scat metal band, to the dismay of one of the members, who never completely got on board that particular track.  Back to the present, where DMC is preparing to take the stage, and discussing the reality of the situation – they have to eliminate Deathism here and now.  

 

As DMC comes onto the stage, Deathism is spraying their fans with feces (not really, of course, it's mud),  when DMC's fans notice Soichi/Krauser's soiled tights, and the hype begins – DMC has taken Deathism's own act to a whole new level!  The battle of the Bands is on for real – and each group is working to outdo the other in terms of reaching new scatological heights!  When DMC's foulmouthed manager is assaulted by what she thinks is Soichi, no one knows what to make of it, especially Soichi, who certainly didn't do it.  And worse is to come, when the band Helvete's prophesy of setting the world on fire begins to come true – literally!  It's anyone's guess how the Festival will end, or if anyone will make it out alive to tell the tale!

Overall

 

I'll start by saying that this volume of Detroit Metal City certainly deserves its explicit content rating – be warned that there is a great deal of scatological references – words and gestures.  But it isn't really pointless, it's just situational.    You really have to feel sorry for Soichi – especially in the scene where he thinks his time has come, that the people he is with will appreciate his own style of music for what it is.  And then he's shot down again, back to reality.  It's becoming far too easy for him to transition into Krauser, though, without really trying – he has serious anger management issues, which seem to trigger his alter ego.  I have to think that only a minor miracle is going to get him out of a life  of heavy metal music – he's too good at it. This is another great volume in the Detroit Metal City series.  There is a stellar moment when Krauser takes Helvete's own satanic prophecies and turns them against the band!  The graphics are great, as always, and we meet some interesting side characters who only add to the fun.  Expect the unexpected with Detroit Metal City and you will receive it!  Another can't miss volume – can't wait for the next one!

 

ComicsOnline gives Detroit Metal City, volume 4, 4.5 out of 5 Shinigami bowel movements!