Metalhead Anthropologist Sam Dunn is back to show the world what happens when metal goes global. Along with co-director, producer and writer Scot McFayden, Sam ventures to Asia, South America, and the Middle East to discover metal’s meaning upon people with vastly different cultural, political and religious backgrounds. After returning to one of the world’s largest heavy metal festivals, Wacken Open Air, in Germany-Dunn, McFayden and crew set out to discover the globalization of heavy metal.

          Their first stop is Brazil, South America, famous for being the most populous country in South America and the birth of Sepultura-Brazil’s most famous metal export. Max Cavalera sheds some light on poverty and incorporating traditional cultural music with Western heavy metal as seen on the Sepultura album ‘Roots’.

          After feeling the heat in Brazil, Sam travels to the land of the rising sun to find out what happens when metal’s rebellious spirit mixes with Japan’s conformist nature. Interviews with Slayer and Marty Friedman express the change in Japanese society from Deep Purple’s legendary concert at the Budokan to Tokyo’s Loud Park festival. Japan’s lifestyle is so vast from any other Asian country. Though Tokyo may be a city filled with high-class businessmen taboos are non-existent in music. Visual Kei, as told by Marty Friedman, is ‘glam meets Goth meets extravagant heavy metal’. As crazy as it may seem to the Western world, Japan is transforming our American music and making it their own.

          Next stop is Mumbai, India where the billboards are plastered with Bollywood film posters and metal bands play at beach resorts. Even though India’s culture is modernizing the metal scene is just getting started. Mumbai lacks concert venues, which forces metal bands like Demonic Resurrection to play at a beach resort at the end of the city that also hosts traditional Indian weddings. Metal gives these people an identity and a voice rather than listening to parents that disapprove. Fan Anant Dwivedi states: “Music is one language, like the sky above us, it is one for everyone”.

        As the Global Metal crew leaves India with some very valid statements, they head to China where the metal scene is still young. A fantastic interview with Tang Dynasty’s Kaiser Kuo is held on the Great Wall where he talks about China’s first interactions with metal. A visit to the 666 Rock Shop (China’s only metal record store) and the MIDI music school shows that China has a strong future in metal.

        Next in line is Indonesia, a poverty-stricken society on beautiful soil. Max Cavalera describes how Indonesians relate to 3rd world lyrics because they themselves experience it first hand. Lars Ulrich talks about the horrors of Metallica’s first show in Indonesia, where the extensive violence lead to all international metal bands to be banned from the country. In the city of Jakarta most bands discuss social and political injustice that surrounds the country. Tengkorak, India’s most popular metal bands have incorporated themes of religion and disagreement with capitalist countries. Sam visits a Muslim mosque at the end of Ramadan where a fan expresses that metal is their life though religion creates their personal relationship with God.
Speaking of religion… Israel is next on the map. Orphaned Land’s Kobi Farhi describes Jerusalem as ‘a harmony of colours and praying’. A certain controversial song is discussed in this scene, and speaks of holocaust horrors. Yes, friends, it is Slayer’s infamous ‘Angel of Death’. Though, some of Israel’s metal scene was offended when listening to the song for the very first time, they now understand that it was not meant to offend, but to paint a picture of the horrors that should never be repeated. Kobi states that there is plenty of darkness in the world, which is why we should spread the light.

         The second Middle-Eastern destination is the rich city of Dubai. There are two main reasons for coming to Dubai: firstly, Iran did not accept the crew’s visas due to problems within the country. Secondly, Dubai is hosting Desert Rock festival, the safest place for Middle-Eastern metalheads to enjoy their music. Iran’s metal fans disclose the challenges they have purchasing music, due to restrictions on CDs and band merchandise. Lars Ulrich in particular gives insight to the fact that the only way the fans are able to obtain metal is to download. Let’s just say that his point of view has changed in the last few years since the Napster incident. Overall, Dubai’s fans have shown that metal is an outlet to deal with war, problems, oppression and anger in a positive way.

         The documentary is slowly coming to a close but there is one more place Dunn must return to. Bangalore, India is about to see Iron Maiden live for the very first time. Over 30,000 Indian metalheads wait outside the stadium ready to let their emotions fly. This is also a pinnacle moment for Sam: to have the chance to see his favourite band playing in a country for the first time to thousands of diehard Maiden fans. Bruce Dickinson believes that: “Kids are kids. Cause no matter what culture you’ve come from at least a certain portion of kids in whatever cultural society wanna just get up and just go “Aaahh”, like that, and… we kind of provide that soundtrack”. This is what India had been waiting for all along and I can only imagine how ecstatic they were to finally experience this.

          It is proven that metal is global, as it’s meaning has reached fans on every continent. Whether you are living in extreme poverty or extreme wealth, whether you are facing war or making peace, Metal is a soundtrack for our souls. It is more than just an identity, and more than a genre of music. It is freedom bringing us together to create a global metal community.



RATING: 8 out of 10

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