I've been a fan of metal (the music itself, anyway) for many years now. I had been aware of this documentary's existence for a while, but only decided to watch it recently. Unfortunately, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey was exactly as bad as I feared, and I have to say a very unimpressive attempt to document this vast genre of music.The first issue with the film is that it presents itself as something to appeal to both metal fans and non-metal fans alike. It tries to educate those unfamiliar with the genre, while providing some fan service to those who love it. The film continually presses the issue of metal and its fan base being looked down upon and marginalised by the rest of society, and unfortunately rather than helping the situation, Metal merely ends up re-enforcing all of the worst aspects of the subculture. Amongst the delights we are treated to are some ridiculous interviews with clueless teenagers talking about how awesome they are for liking metal and how everyone else is an idiot. Way to help the cause, guys.The biggest problem with Metal: A Headbanger's Journey comes in the form of the "Definitive Metal Family Tree" penned by director Sam Dunn and referenced frequently throughout the film. To say this "definitve" family tree contains factual inaccuracies would be an understatement. Rather than actually checking his facts as most documentary makers would do, it appears that Dunn has created this document based entirely on his own opinions, and as a result there are some truly bizarre inclusions, omissions and definitions which would be obvious to anyone even moderately knowledgeable about metal. The fact that Dunn has been a metalhead since the mid '80s only makes this tree more puzzling. For instance, did you know that Slade are a glam metal band? It's true according to A Headbanger's Journey. I wasn't aware that they were even considered a metal band, yet there they are, listed in a category apparently derived from "Shock Rock", which includes bands such as Kiss. Never mind the fact that Kiss were formed post-Slade, and considered them to be one of their primary influences. We've also got Children of Bodom labelled thrash, Judas Priest lumped in with power metal rather than in the NWOBHM category, and (rather hilariously) Cradle of Filth in the "Norwegian Black Metal" category, of which they are neither - a classic rookie mistake.Then we have the inclusion of decidedly un-metal categories such as grunge, "Hard Alternative" (including bands such as Jane's Addiction and Smashing Pumpkins), "Pop Metal" (all of which would mostly be considered hard rock), and the aforementioned "Norwegian Black Metal" category, which completely fails to take into account all non-Norwegian second wave black metal acts around in both the early '90s and later. Things like nu-metal are also included, which a great many metal fans don't consider "metal" at all. In short, the whole chart is laughable and looks like it was drawn up by a 15 year old kid who'd just purchased his first Slipknot album. There are far too many errors on the chart to talk about here, but go and have a look for yourself to see the true scale of the problem. Granted, it's difficult to get it right 100% of the time with a genre as vast as metal, but the fact that this is being presented as "fact" in a documentary film, coupled with how atrociously wrong a lot of it is, makes you think that Dunn really should have done some research before making his movie.All in all, Metal: A Headbanger's Journey comes off as shallow, ill-informed and self-serving to the Nth degree. I think a lot of people (metalheads included) will find this film at best pointless and at worst downright embarrassing. Dunn's motives were noble but in the end he failed miserably.

A Headbanger's Journey is a pretty good documentary covering the basics of Metal music and the Metal lifestyle. I seen it back in 2006 and at that time my Metal knowledge wasn't as good as it is now and I learned quite a lot from watching it. Sam Dunn, the guy documenting, seems like a dedicated and experienced fan which helps the documentary more than anything.You'll be surprised at who all appears in the interviews. Bruce Dickinson and Ronnie James Dio and tons of others are interviewed as well as some the more despised icons in Metal music. There are also interviews with fans throughout the documentary.The film covers the big shows and bands, events and the lifestyle of the Metal world and even dabbles in how Metal speaks to it's fans. It also talks about somenegative things in the genre, which is great as it shows the diversity of the culture. The only part I didn't really like about it was the pre-occupation with the different subgenres of Metal. I'm not one to say Metal is Metal, but I honestly don't worry about dissecting every subgenre either. I felt like I could really relate to the film, as I am a huge fan of Metal myself, it was a really interesting documentary and I recommend to other fans of the genre.

A well done documentary that covers a genre I do not particularly care for. The whole death-black satanic metal really disturbs me. The interviews with those guys from Norway really turned my stomach. What a bunch of sickos! Other basic hair glamor metal I can get into on occasion, but the other stuff is just creepy. The 80's footage of the kids outside of a metal concert is priceless. I wonder whatever happened to them? This film will most likely not convert outsiders to the metal side. I can attest to this. But, it's interesting nonetheless. I was glad to see Klostertaler offering his insights. He's a legend!

Metal is a personal journey of filmmaker Sam Dunn to the roots of heavy metal. While this adds a personal touch, I think it's what makes Metal a less effective documentary.The film consists of interviews of major heavy metal people, although none of them reveal anything that a metal fan wouldn't already know. Also, I think you already have to know these people to get off of the fact Tom Araya or Dio is being interviewed. Not to mention the people more obscure to the mainstream. Also, I found it a bit funny how the film tries to find maturity in heavy metal, while probably the lengthiest fan interview is of a 14-year-old girl in a studded choker.Another flaw is that few things are explored in depth. The film is constantly skimming on the subject. The anecdotes from the metal giants reveal more about the essence of heavy metal than the actual processed information. A lot of is skipped, such as the connection between Norwegian black metal and Neo-Nazism - even though an interviewee states the black metalists' view themselves as a selected few and that think certain groups must be eliminated (where have I heard that before?).Also, since the film tries to educate the viewer, Dunn should have had taken a bit more educational angle. For example, the tritone is mentioned but the viewer probably would get more of it if there actually was an explicit comparison of the demonic notes and the less demonic notes. Now it is just stated that heavy metal traditionally uses a blues scale and Satan's really horrible notes.It is not to say Metal is entirely without any credit. It gives some general insight to the genre and has the correct people talking about it. The only real mistakes are that it tries to take a too big bite and that it's trying to sell freezers to Inuits.