Doug Van Pelt

Metal: A Headbanger's Journey

Here was a full-length documentary about one of my favorite subjects: Heavy Metal. Sam Dunn, a 30-year old anthropologist, took his curiosity of other cultures and turned his scholarly lens upon his life-long musical favorite. He travelled to such places as the infamous Wacken Open Air Festival, and he interviewed a number of those involved in Norway's black metal scene (including Mayhem members and convicted church burner Jorn Tunsberg), as well as Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson (on the stage of the infamous Hammersmith Odeon, no less), Alice Cooper, Dee Snyder, Brian Slagel, Tony Iommi, Slipknot, and dozens more for a really well-rounded study of the genre. The only thing glaringly missing was a look at Christian metal, which would've fit nicely in his "Religion and the Occult" chapter. Since the Director and Narrater proclaimed that "each band's penchant for trying to be more evil than the next was what kept me in love with metal all these years," it's not a surprise that he'd ignore the burgeoning offshoot genre that Christian metal became. His classifications of styles was pretty dead-on, but not without room for criticism, of course (are The Scorpions really a "power metal" band?). It was fascinating to hear Dee Snyder chronicle his speech at a Senate hearing on rock music and censorship. Hearing a Norweigan minister explain what it was like to see his church burn down one night was chilling, as was the matter-of-fact interview with the convicted felon who burned it (who said he'd do it again). The description of the sound, which is boiled down to the use of the diminished fifth or tri-note, is a fun study; as is the overall study about the generalized stereotypes that have slagged metal since its inception. And one cannot comment on the film without complimenting its monsterous soundtrack, which will quicken the pulse of any headbanger watching. Well done.