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38 out of 40 people found the following comment useful :-
An insightful and respectful tour of metal's wide landscape, 23 September 2005

Author: Musagetes from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

I saw this film on September 22 at the Atlantic Film Festival. I was with some people who had never heard anything heavier than KISS and wouldn't know Black Sabbath from the Black Label Society. It's a mark of this film's excellence that they really enjoyed it and felt they had gained an understanding of the metal scene.

This is no gushing fan-tribute. Well, it is in part, but I couldn't stay objective either were I given the chance to sit down with Bruce Dickinson at the Hammersmith Odeon. Seriously, it rises far above the fulfillment of a metal fan's dreams to explore many different elements of what makes metal both an enduring artform and one that remains on the fringes.

The structure of the film follows distinct topics - Gender, Censorship, Death & Violence, and more. Each area is thoughtfully explored with comments from many musicians and some outside observers. From the calm commentary of Rob Zombie to the wry humour of Dio to the laughable minimalist interviews with Norwegian black-metal players, there's a broad range of experiences and opinions.

This is an excellent documentary in every way.

I knew it was going to be great when I got my first glimpse of the big chart of metal bands that correctly put KISS far away from the actual musicians. Ronnie James Dio further obliged with a running commentary on Gene Simmon's preference for money over music.

You'll get to see and hear a lot of great bands, from the standard warhorses like Maiden, Metallica, Motorhead and Slayer to the less-mainstream stuff like Voivod.

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29 out of 29 people found the following comment useful :-
Entertaining fan's-eye view of Heavy Metal history, 26 May 2006
Author: el-mno-p from Newcastle, England

Like many music documentaries, A Headbanger's Journey is caught in two minds: should it provide an overview of its chosen subject for those without the knowledge, or does it delve deeper, assuming its audience already have a firm understanding of the music and its origins? Naturally, it attempts both, and it does manage this balance to a satisfactory degree.

Maybe that's just because it's such an entertaining film. The titular headbanger, Sam Dunn, is a lifelong metalhead and an anthropologist by education, and he makes a likable companion in our journey through the metal underground, meeting some of the biggest stars of the genre, and tracing its roots from the 16th Century through to its beginnings in popular music in late-60s blues rock and proto-metal.

However, the origins of the music are dealt with only briefly. Interviews with progenitors such as Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and various musicologists help to illuminate the influences behind the music itself, and while a separate documentary could easily be made to explore metal's origins alone, it was a good decision to limit the discussion for the benefit of those of us who've been through it many times before, and not to overcomplicate it for those new to the "who was the first heavy metal band?" debate. The performance footage, featuring bands such as Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and especially Blue Cheer, is good enough to merit the experienced metalhead watching this segment without skipping to the next chapter on the DVD.

The film really begins to pick up the pace once Dunn begins to delve into the metal lifestyle, examining the various reasons for the music's appeal to, most particularly, disaffected teenage boys. While nothing is suggested that hasn't been written and discussed a thousand times before, Dunn's travels around the US and Europe to speak to various metal fans and icons is extremely entertaining. One of the highlights is his trip to the Wacken Open Air festival, the biggest metal festival in Europe, held in Germany. We're dropped right into the middle of an ocean of metal fans, and with the handle-held camera worming its way through the crowds, you get a great feel for the festival, with so much studded black leather, hearty BBQ food, alcohol and noisy black metal destruction that the experience seems totally intoxicating. The highlight of the segment has to come from Dunn's interview with whatever's left of Mayhem these days, drunk out of their chipped skulls and as surly as you'd expect from a band whose former members are either dead or in jail. Dunn looks genuinely relieved to be away from them when the interview ends. Hilarious.

Dunn isn't going to shy away from the more controversial aspects of heavy metal, though, and his attempts to confront the ceaseless accusations against metal bands of being a corrupting influence on the Youth of America are handled with conviction. Of course, Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, metal's spokesperson at Tipper Gore's PMRC witch trials, is once again called forth to recount the day he fought for the artistic freedom of musicians everywhere. As usual, he's a good-natured and humorous interviewee.

After he's done hobnobbing in New York with Mr Snider, Dunn eventually gets his hands dirty, tackling the violent imagery of underground death metal lyrics and album art, as well as the masculinity, sexism and homoeroticism of the metal environment, but most memorably, the church burnings and Satanism related to Norway's notorious extreme black metal scene. From the moment he sets foot in Norway, he has (literally and figuratively) set foot in a completely foreign country. His hard-partying, cathartic but good-natured US metaller is like an alien in a scene where ideology and reputation is taken very seriously indeed. While Slayer's Kerry King and Tom Araya talk eloquently about exposing the hypocrisy of Christianity and the US media through their music and lyrics, Dunn's interviews with members of Norwegian bands such as Satyricon and Emperor speak with open hatred for Judeo-Christian beliefs and support for the church burnings carried about by Mayhem's Varg Vikernes in the early 1990s. The audience I was with couldn't sustain their laughter at the images of these bands when their Satanic/Nietzschean ideals and criminal intent were revealed. It took a gag by Alice Cooper, of all people, to lighten the mood again in the cinema. Dunn dismisses the Norwegian scene as a manifestation of tensions prevalent in wider Norwegian culture, and he makes a good point, but it's clear that it can't be swept under the rug so that he can continue to proclaim heavy metal as harmless (although anyone familiar with Varg will tell you that he's an exceptional case, and a genuinely dangerous human being).

Overall, Dunn's documentary doesn't really make for anything revelatory to anyone already familiar with metal, but it touches upon most of the key areas, features some fabulously entertaining music and interviews, and is better than anything MTV ever produced on the subject. Dunn's love of the music and culture shines through, and his enthusiasm is enough to make the film engaging for anyone with an interest in heavy metal (although Tipper Gore may want to see if there's anything else playing).

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32 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
Color me impressed, 25 February 2006

Author: rhicik-1 from Canada

I saw the film today and was mighty impressed. The film captured the buzz in the '80s when heavy metal became the biggest thing going. It was good to see Iron Maiden and Judas Priest contrasted to current bands such as Slipknot to show how the spirit of the genre is thriving. Tony Iommi, Dee Snider and Ronnie James Dio all give standout interviews with Dio's digs at Gene Simmons being especially revealing. It was also great to see '80s curiosities Accept and Quebec's own Voivod being represented. The segment contrasting the grunting, leather-clad bands such as Man O War with the lace-wearing bands such as Poison and Cinderella was unexpected and fascinating. Showing the closeted Rob Halford performing in full cruising gear for a rabid hetero audience was quite poignant. I especially like how the film stresses how the music let its fans dream, cope and find solace. Those like myself, whose interest in metal may have flagged in the intervening years would do well to view it and remind themselves what all of the fuss was about.

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32 out of 35 people found the following comment useful :-
Metal as a lifestyle and not a passing trend, 26 September 2005

Author: varathron1 from canada

Metal: A head banger's journey

When this documentary starts showing at the multiplexes, it will be the biggest exposure this musical genre would have gotten thus far, aside from a few ridiculous lawsuits that went public throughout the years. The concept itself that mainstream audiences will be learning of everything from Dio's unique opinions on things to Norwegian Black Metal is quite appalling. More importantly, hopefully this documentary will clear once and for all every false doubt and misconception that Metal has always portrayed to the misinformed.

A head banger's journey starts off by examining Metal's roots, the long debate in regards to who was the first Metal band ever. Then, we are taken through an analysis of how metal sub-genres came to exist. Dunn also gives his thoughts about Metal's culture, viewpoints, religious standpoints, the fans and every other aspect of metal. Some of the veterans of the scene as well as some insightful outsiders give their interesting opinions to support the argument at hand. The film balances the serious aspects of Metal with some unintentional humor. Personalities like Alice Cooper, Bruce Dickinson, Alex Webster, Slipknot, Ghaal, Dee Snider, Doro, Ihsahn and many others offer their own individual thoughts in an intellectual way while bands like Mayhem make a fool out of themselves during a drunken interview.

Dunn is a true metal head. It is his passion, yet he gives a critical and sometimes subjective opinion of the music at hand. The documentary is extremely entertaining and informative. It made me proud to be a metal head. It even made me give bands I'm not too fond of another chance. Bottom line is, if you're a Metal fan you'll enjoy this from beginning to end. If you're a curious outsider, here's your chance to understand our world better and get a more defined opinion of our music. And even if you don't, well to quote Dunn at the end: "We're doing just fine without you…"

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17 out of 19 people found the following comment useful :-
And what a journey!, 9 November 2006

Author: Paul Martin from Melbourne, Australia

I don't like heavy metal music; in fact I hate most heavy metal music. I loved Metal: A Headbanger's Journey. It had all the best components of a good documentary, one of the best released in a long time and a good companion piece on a par with Metallica – Some Kind of Monster.

Co-director Sam Dunn is both a metal aficionado and a student of anthropology. He knew how and where to delve into the culture with a healthy reverence for his subject matter, but with the objectivity to examine in a way that outsiders could glean appreciation. I found it fascinating.

In a systematic, well-structured manner, heavy metal's origins and history were examined, as was the disparity between its followers and detractors. Fans, band members and industry experts were interviewed. The questions and answers were intelligent. Historic file footage was used. The culture and its many sub-genres was analysed. The relationships between heavy metal and gender, sex, religion, Satanism and violence were all covered in a most interesting and enlightening manner.

It was shot on location, including at various concerts, across North America, UK and Europe. I found Dee Snider of Twisted Sister, Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath and Ronnie James Dio of Dio (accredited as the inventor of the devil horn sign) the most compelling interviewees, though there were many others too numerous to mention. The sum of the whole turned out a rich result.

Unlike many documentaries of late, where the primary goal appears to be light entertainment using celebrity heads, this film is truly insightful, intelligent, balanced, educational, funny and entertaining! Whatever your taste in music, I highly recommend it.

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12 out of 13 people found the following comment useful :-
a good subjective approach to the many strands and off-shoots of an under-looked genre of music, 28 October 2006

Author: MisterWhiplash from United States

Actually, to say that heavy-metal music is just a genre of music is almost insulting in some circles. As someone who's too eclectic to really be solely a metal-head, but has been in the realm of the metal world to see how it goes, I can empathize with Sam Dunn's main intention with the documentary; this music should not be seen as just some goofy, crude, offensive, or dangerous off-shoot of old-time rock n roll (not that the last one doesn't apply in one or two cases). It's to show how personal this music, and how this 'way of life' can be for a person, and how it affects personality but not necessarily in the perceived negative light. Dunn, of course, has his head totally together, which is how he can go head-to-head with metal legends &/or notorious sorts like Tony Iommi, Bruce Dickinson, Lemmy, Alice Cooper, Dee Snider, Dio and Rob Zombie (Geddy Lee is also among the big known interviewees, though it's strange to see him here when he's not really 'metal', at least in league with these guys).

But through him and his collaborators, he is able to get inside not just the off-shoots and specifics of the world of heavy-metal. The look, the style, the attitude, the controversies both domestic (i.e. Dee Snider's battle with Tipper Gore) and foreign (a superlatively done look at the Norwegian black-metal scene, which is both tense and hilarious), the women bands in the world, and how it helps some people really get better on with life either to hear it or play it or, of course, both. Dunn's look is good if, by necessity perhaps too, too brief, as he at one point lists a kind of heavy-metal family tree of sorts- all too quickly to really see every single one- and barely scratches the surface in the 96 minute running time. Maybe there is only so much that can be covered in a feature-length film, but the subject matter serves to be even more looked into; VH1 had also done a heavy-metal documentary, and it lasted four hours. On the other hand, Dunn and his people actually do get some material here that is more precious, and more enlightening. The juxtaposition of the 'true believers' and horrors in Norways black-death-metal scene with a band like Slayer, who are bad to the bone and have fans who go toe limit, is interesting.

It's the kind of documentary that really does work for that it's worth, but not enough of a good thing is explored for fans. Non-fans may get just enough that they can handle, a mix of the basic facts and key points (i.e. the coining of the term 'metal', the roots in the blues, the devil horns, and a look at outrageous album covers). It's good subjective film-making, though edging a little much on trying to get enough history along with the personal history.

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13 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
Highly recommended. Well-wrought documentary., 22 January 2006

Author: biodagar from Australia

I agree with the previous comment.

I saw this movie at an outdoor summer screening in a local park, and it was brilliant to hear the sounds of the metal we know and love pounding out through the park on a Sunday night.

The film was a considered, thoughtful journey through some of the questions that plague the minds of those who aren't part of the metal community. Such as what the fans are like, how they get into metal, why they stay with metal and rarely stray from the various genres that it has. Others include sexuality, girls in metal, and so on.

Each aspect of the documentary was soundly explored, rationally argued, and balanced. For instance, on the one hand you get the perspective of groupies, and then of groupies from bands. You get differing opinions.

In fact, the documentary is a boon for both the metal community and the non-metal community alike. On the one hand, the mettles can revel in the exploration of their community and genres; on the other, the wider community can gain some real insight into the workings of the community.

I must admit that some of the humour that our (predominantly metal) audience felt at the posturing of the Norwegian Black Metal scene, and other parts, the rest of the audience didn't necessarily get. The humour is often something which you must be part of the community to understand, which is why it all appears so serious to the rest of society: they don't get the humour.

All in all, a well-wrought, skillfully crafted, and well argued documentary. Of course there were subgenres and things missing, but you get that with all docos - there just isn't the time to do it. Given the limitations, Metal: a headbanger's journey, makes the most of it and does it well.

Highly recommended viewing.

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10 out of 11 people found the following comment useful :-
Heavy metal man!, 18 June 2006

Author: come2whereimfrom from United Kingdom

Opening with the age-old question of what was the first heavy metal song before launching into a metal head's history of the genre this fascinating documentary is a must. With interviews from rock greats like Lemmy, Tomy Iommi, Alice Cooper and Vince Neil to name but a few and concert footage of various heavy bands from Black Sabbath to Slipknot this is a sweaty, mosh pit inducing, bleeding ears look at what heavy metal music is and means to thousands of fans the world over. It is well made, surprisingly funny and brilliantly paced. There were moments in the film when the hairs on my neck stood up as memories were evoked by what I was watching. Seeing Rage Against the Machine performing killing in the name of and all the fans singing along reminded me of when I saw them fourteen years ago in room with no more than a hundred people. You can't beat the feeling of seeing a massive rock concert and the film manages to capture that feeling with the sights and sounds it is almost like you can smell the sweat. The makers also don't shy away from the controversy that has been levelled at the music over the years and delves into the various court cases and why so many believe it's the devils music. Overall it is a thoroughly engaging look at heavy metal and all that encompasses, made by a fan for fans but open to anyone, are you ready to rock?

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12 out of 15 people found the following comment useful :-
A Rock N Roll film that gets it RIGHT!, 17 November 2005

Author: filmfnboy from US

This was shown during the AFI Festival held in Santa Monica, CA.

Unlike 1988' The Decline II: "The Metal Years" disaster while a big deal at the time, it still remains a brutal "cringe-fest" from start to finish and focused on predominately one style (Glam)one era (The 80s) one location(Sunset Strip) and barely covers the period of Heavy Metal that is STILL alive and well: thrash, black, speed,etc

I would have never guessed that a film about Heavy Metal would take serious the attitudes, styles, individuals,genres and provide a clear history time-line unlike Decline and any others of that ilk.

Don't know when this will come out officially, but hopefully a distributor out there will take notice, even if its headed for the midnight movie circuit.

FEATURED INTERVIEWS: Dio *Iron Maiden * Girlschool * Twisted Sister * Motorhead * Slayer * Rob Zombie* Tony Iommi * Slipknot and more.

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11 out of 16 people found the following comment useful :-
Covers the metal underground well but misses a few things, 30 May 2006

Author: glados from Maine, USA

As a passionate metalhead I was excited to watch a movie on the subject. It has some cool interviews and the documentary tries to map the metal's evolution from the hard rock beginnings in the 60s to the multitude of subgenres today. It does well with heavy and thrash metal but when it comes to the extremes, it barely touches the surface of styles like the norwegian black metal, and omits important styles such as doom metal, or black metal with folk roots, or "alternative" projects that combine five types of male & female vocals with black metal guitars, heavy metal riffing, flutes, violins, techno/trance rhytms and ambient landscapes all in one song... Metal undeground is very complex and the variety is immense - so it is understandable that fitting all this into 90 minutes borders with the impossible. Yet it is obvious that the author is more knowledgeable about heavy metal than the recent developments in the most extreme realms ever known to the music world. Overall, quite enjoyable!

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