Global Metal

It was all clear, after the roots and influences of metal were told in "Metal - A Headbanger's Journey" the next chapter was about to begin: What happens to Metal if it goes global?

I guess "ambitious" is the best word to describe the second metal documentary of Sam Dunn and Scott McFadyen - it will probably never win an Oscar - but even more hearts of metal fans. I am really thankful for the fact that the two didn't get carried away too much with certain topics. It is very interesting - especially from an anthropological point of view - to see how foreign cultures react to something almost completely western. Metal doesn't incorporate as many commercial aspects as other global trends, it transports different messages which are more genuinely reflected by the fans worldwide. I think the statement of the film is Bruce Dickinsons, who claims that kids all around the world reach a state in their development where they just want to get up, scream and go wild. It think this is the base for this film - it is normal that young people have a lot of compressed energy and anger to let loose. The times of the easter rabbit, santa clause and gnomes is over. They realize that reality is cold and tough - Metal offers them a valve to let release these feelings. It's nothing bad, in fact it should be considered a treatment. Let them go wild.

But in many cultures this behavior is not welcome and mostly not understood. This film tries to explore how kids (and adults) try to be understood and not be linked to extremist thoughts or low lives.

At some points it is explained very well, at some others it unintentionally mixes politics with culture. Although Metal definitely has certain political aspects the messages are interpreted in a very different way around the globe and unfortunately this documentary doesn't fully capture these impacts. The comments of some artists, especially Tom Araya from Slayer are rather dull and prove that some musicians have no idea of the real consequences their fans face in different parts of the world. Is this good or bad? The film leaves these decisions to the viewer...

I for myself really enjoyed this journey and though it has ups and downs it draws a very impressive momentum of a genre that has mostly chosen to go its own way.

Global Metal is lifetime head-banger Sam Dunn's second document of heavy metal music. This time we concentrate on metal as global phenomenon. We travel with Sam Dunn from China to Japan, Israel, Iran, Indonesia etc, which countries doesn't seem so metal in front. This document tells about morality, message and controversial of especially on religious countries.

Sam Dunn did it again. Global Metal is awesome both visually and by content. The document is build in fantastic way, and it tells more tales of the most powerful genre, metal-/heavy music. For most metal fans it comes by surprise that heavy metal can be found such unexpected countries like India for instance. The document proves that anthropologist-metal head Dunn knows what he's doing.

That's of the praise. Global Metal was good, but it had some disappointments as well. I would have liked to more countries, like Thailand, and Taiwan (where black metal bands like Anthelion and Crionics come from), and more darker genres - because it's more rule than exception that there is always soft genres like nu metal, heavy metal, power metal and death metal in these documents. Black metal is often totally ignored. Global Metal was also kind of short by length.

But I was quite pleased, because they did show some dark metal genres, and also a traditional Japanese genre-phenomenon Visual Kei. The document was very interesting and full of content. Sam Dunn is great because it's easy to hop in, it almost feels like I'm on the gigs myself instead just watching the screen. This document is highly recommended for every metal fans and people interested in metal out there.

Global metal is the second Sam Dunn Heavy Metal documentary. The first, 'Heavy Metal: A Headbanger's Journey' is, so far as I know, the standard documentary covering the Heavy Metal scene. It does an excellent job of both detailing the history of Heavy Metal, and explaining its appeal, but it is focused on explaining Heavy Metal to those who do not know much about it, and because of this, might conceivably have less appeal to hardcore metalheads.

'Global Metal" by contrast, is probably better calculated to bring new information to the attention of experienced Metal fans, but is not a condensation of extensive knowledge about the global metal scene, and it shows. This is not a bad documentary, but as exploration on Dunn's part, and constituting a light survey, it is not quite so informative as the first.

I would further note that this is not a comprehensive documentary on metal throughout the world, but is more a "metal is spreading to exotic places" sort of documentary. This fact is not a criticism, but knowing this is likely to be important to at least some of the people looking up the film on IMDb.

A truly comprehensive film covering the history of metal would necessarily be of epic length, considering that this documentary does not cover the US or European Metal scenes in any significant fashion and yet at 93 minutes, the film does not seem to be especially dilute.

I am not a metal fan myself and still absolutely loved this movie. And after watching this I agree that the anthropology books need some update about the current culture.

This film could be considered as a "sequel" to the film Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. Saying that you must imagine where this film tries to take you, another big travel around the globe to explain Metal Music, his fans, etc. And it results really well, but I must say the final product is not as great as Sam Dunn's first film (Metal: A Headbanger's Journey). You might get kind of bored when you see it, and the reason isn't that the film has mistakes or something like that, the reason is that it's such an enormous sub-culture that the film tries to show you that the film may feel long and with a slow treatment. Once again they show us some aspects a fan may have not seen about the music or the people who hears that. It's not a film you must have to see or to own, but if you are interested into Metal or it's fans around the globe, you won't get disappointed.