Detroit Metal City Volume 6 cover image is courtesy of barnesandnoble.com.

Rated “M” for “Mature”

Soichi Negishi loves Swedish pop music, shopping in trendy places, and doing whatever’s fashionable.  But sweet-natured, well-mannered Soichi is also Lord Johannes Krauser II, the front man and guitarist for the indie death metal band, Detroit Metal City.  No matter how much he wishes he could simply play his acoustic guitar and sing happy songs, Soichi cannot deny that as a death metal god, Negishi is a natural.

Detroit Metal City, Vol. 6 finds the members of DMC looking for a change of scenery.  Bassist Jagi considers joining “Crisis Sham,” a visual kei band.  Soichi also looks for someone to replace him as the new Lord Krauser II, and finds a kindred spirit in Naoki.  But will his label Boss go for it?

Meanwhile, the so-called Lord Krauser I finally comes out of the shadows as he makes his bid for revenge against DMC and everyone around the band.  Why?

THE LOWDOWN:  Several new characters make their debut in this sixth volume of Detroit Metal City, and judging by these stories, they are going to be pretty good.  Half of this volume is devoted to the time before DMC and the seminal events of their record label.  This is a fun read for so many reasons – the characters being the main reason.  Also, the first half of this volume focuses on the stories that creator Kiminori Wakasugi does well:  pitting the world of death metal against the world of the normal folks.

This volume is also a great jump-on point for new readers.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Fans of metal will love Detroit Metal City.

A-