Metal Cinema: Metal Lords (2022)

 

 

CLICK AND YOU'LL START SEEING POLISH WORDS !

After feeling dirty from the previous installment, I decided to cleanse my soul and body with something more casual.

Metal Lords is a movie from 2022 r., written by D.B. Weiss (no idea who) and directed by Peter Sollett (doesn't ring bell either). It tells the typical story about the frens playing in a band with a cute name (Skullfucker), who decide to participate in (how else) the High School Battle of the Bands. Their main opponents are a Pop group, who surprisingly enough, are actually a bunch of cool guys, which I admit, feels novel. As a matter of fact, the main protagonists are their own worst enemies.

Genre-wise it's comedy drama about adolescence and brotherhood during tough times, and mandatory romance. The movie would qualify as a family film, if not for nudity, swearing and Heavy Metal.

Metal Lords shares some traits with Deathgasm, in this sense, that there's also a young rookie band trying to vent their daily frustrations, where one guy is overly cocky, while the other is a shy guy, who surprisingly enough, doesn't have problems with the ladies.

As can be easily guessed, while looking at the poster, there are 3 main characters: Kevin the introvert, who looks like a lame Harry Potter, and who is a drummer. Guitarist Hunter, whose lack of confidence he tries to make up with being a jerk towards everyone, and the violin player Emily, who has some psychological issues, which is in turn shown in a serious matter, instead of for laughs. The relationship between the three will go through many trials and turmoils. There will even be a cliche moment of the band splitting up. Will the group manage to work together and win the Battle of the Bands? You'll have to see it yourself.

From the description above, one can assume that it's a rather lightweight movie. No paranormal cryptids, apocalypse, nor zombies. Instead, a single father raising a kid, but constantly being busy with finding a woman to get laid and buying his consciousness off by giving gifts to his son. A girl with anger issues. Or simply, bullies, who beat someone up only, because he's different. You know, slice of life thing.

In one of the scenes, we receive a cameo of many prominent Metal musicians. It was a very nice gesture, and I approve of it. Big thumb up.

I also had some thoughts (yup) during the seance. The trope about a band pushing their limits to achieve their goal reminded me a little of Whiplash (which might be an intended acknowledgement, not only because of the subject of Metal Lords, but also because Metallica's song with that exact title is being played at some point). The minor appearance of a bass player, who wrecked the rehearsal room was really funny, and it's a pity that he didn't reappear later in the movie. I also grinned when there was a dialogue, where the guitarist mentions about getting the contract. We live in times, where basically every rookie Metal band is releasing stuff on their own. The labels role is mostly reduced to produce CDs and distribution. It's a far cry to the position that labels used to have, as nowadays, people are pretty much self-efficient.

And the key question - why Metal doesn't try to widen their scope with ie. Electric Violin? Or maybe Sitar? I'm curious if there is ever going to be a band, who would at least try it, and do something fresh with it.

To conclude, the movie is certainly watchable, and despite not avoiding overdone traps, and being a just another coming of age story, it left me with positive feelings.