onsdag 30 Mar 2011, 11:09

I just saw Metal: A Headbanger's Journey and Global Metal and well liked it.

"A Headbanger's Journey" focusses on the culture of metal as a genre and traces it back to it's roots as well as it gives a good insight to the scene, fan culture, philosophy (if there's any) and the like. There is a part about the constant accusations about satanism, which reports also about the norwegian scene, that was very interesting. Dunn did not focus on particular sub genres, but gives the viewer an overview. He also went to Wacken in 2005 for it and there can't be anything wrong with 40,000 long haired people, drinking beer and enjoying metal music, if you know what I mean. ;-)

"Global Metal" is Dunns sequel, if you like to call it that. After the success of "A Headbanger's Journey" he received mail from all over the world, which makes him wonder, what metal culture is like in foreign places (he's Canadian) like Brazil, Japan, China, India an the Middle East. He visits all these places and talks to people from there. Though he can't dig deep in every culture, he gives - once again - a good overview and it is very interesting how different influences from all these countries and cultures are bound into the music, and create new kinds of it. I personally liked the part about Israel/the scene in Jerusalem the most, because there are many things about tolerance and respect for other religions/cultures in it. I like to quote one of the israelian musicians Dunn interviews:

"All these wars between religions, all this massacre in the name of god, this is a big confusion. We all believe in the same god. And we can stop all this bloodshed and confusion and war." - damn right we can.

I totally recommend both films to everyone, who is just a bit interested in metal music. I think it would be also interesting for people who don't like the music or the attitude of it's musicians or fans, but to quote Sam Dunn's final words from A Headbanger's Journey with pictures from the crowd at Wacken:

"If metal doesn't give that overwhelming surge of power that make the hair stand up at the back of your neck, you might never get it, and you know what? That's okay, because judging by the 40,000 metalheads around me we're doing just fine without you."

- and that's just it.