Directed By: Dick Carruthers

Duration: 2 hours, 10 minutes.

Heavy Metal is a lifestyle, it’s a culture, it’s an attitude, it’s a way of life, it’s a drug. Yes, these and many more references are the opinion of musicians, producers, composers, singers and even fans, when they talk about heavy metal which is the most notorious form of music and has taken by storm all its listeners, from the very young college junkie to grandfathers of metal who still love the genre for its sheer thrill and heavy orchestration. The best riffs they say happen accidentally, when you are just playing something, but that is what catches the ear.

Directed by Dick Carruthers (who has worked with Led Zeppelin, The White Stripes, Rolling Stones), the film will take you through a journey on the influences heavy metal has on each one of us, the origins of heavy metal (the pro-metal bands of the 60's and 70's, the further development in 80's and 90s, to its slight downfall in the late 90s). It bridges the three decades of the scene with it’s earliest beginnings of Grand Punk Railroad to guitar distorting Black Sabbath’s self titled debut in 1970, to Jimmy Hendrix and the blues influenced Led Zeppelin in the late '70s to Pearl Jam and Anthrax in the '90s all the way to the current scene today. There are funny moments too when a few band members do some unexpected gigs on the stage.

It also focuses on the fan following and audience loyalty towards bands they follow like Metallica, Judas Priest, Black Sabbath, Pantera, Megadeth, Motley Crue, Rainbow, Testament, Deep Purple and Twisted Sister. This documentary is considered a look at the continuing story of Metal, in the words of the people that make it, live it, breathe it.

Heavy Metal has been labeled by many as one of the most rebellious, violent and sexually demoralling genre of music. But despite all this, it still manages to garner a loyal fan-base. In this documentary, heavy metal band members speak up on their music, their emotions and power that drive them to make, what they make. They try to bring a consensus and explore why this particular style of music continues to remain misunderstood by the masses while slowly but surely edging its way into the mainstream. You have all the greats in the scene opinionating about their tryst with the genre and all that has shaped this scene to what it is today.

When people speak of the evils of this genre, they often refer to the supposedly evil and/or satanic messages that are covertly placed in the minds of the listeners through a method called backward masking which is spoken about on this film though not touched upon in much detail. Backward Masking is a technique of reversing a message and mixing it into the (forward) music track, which can be done on a computer with available software. British rock band Judas Priest was accused of culpability in the suicide deaths of two teenagers who allegedly killed themselves as a result of acting upon the back masked ‘subliminal’ messages on the band’s recordings for the song ‘Just do it’ that had a subliminal message. You can hear the song here.  

It can be said that groups like Iron Maiden, KISS, Led Zeppelin, Styx, The Eagles, Judas Priest, Jimi Hendrix, The Grateful Dead, Alice Copper, Black Sabbath and others have one thing in common - a deviation from the right and a path that leads to the wrong ideals in life mixed with violence and rebellion with satanic overtones in them.

There are exclusive band footage, interviews with music journalists from magazines like Metal Hammer, KERRANG, record producers, commentators, to the most influential and respected musicians of the genre Geezer Butler, Dave Mustaine, Dio, Steven Pearcy, Dee Schneider, Scott Ian, Kirk Hammett, all the band members of Black Sabbath, Pantera and others. Band members speak on the importance of performing live in front of an audience and most importantly the relationship between bands and their fans which Ronnie James Dio says very cleverly ‘Without them, we aren’t. Without us, they will always be!’ They tell some of their stories, experiences and confirm some of the legends.

Disc 1 keeps you glued, but as you move onto Disc 2 you find it’s the same people talking about the genre all over again. Though it can get a tad boring, it’s the hardcore fans that will tune in and get stuck to the informative parts. Twisted Sister front man Dee Snider (they are famous for the song We’re not gonna take it) has the most important part of the documentary it seems, as he is featured every few minutes.

The drawbacks aren’t many, but a few would be the over excessive interviews, lengthy artists dialogues without a shade of the questions, which leave you a little dry as to what the artists are talking about, the short live footage that gets the excitement building, only to drop soon, to the slightly grainy images of old live recordings. A true head banger would know what’s going on when the bands speak on their drumming, vocals, guitar riffs, stage antics, but a novice would be as confused as the men in the heavy metal genre.

For Metal fans this film is an obvious reason to strengthen their loyalty with Heavy Metal. As a bonus, Disc 2 features a timeline of metal bands from 1969 until 2005. Lastly don’t miss out on the 2 remarkable Twisted Sister storytelling music videos. “What do you want to do with your life?” “I want to rock” says an 11 year old. And so be it.

Rating: ****

Reviewed By Verus Ferreira