''Metal Down Under'' is a 2014 documentary directed by Nick Calpakdjian. The film uses interviews, archival footage and animation to trace the history of

heavy metal music Heavy metal (or simply metal) is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the United Kingdom and United States. With roots in blues rock, psychedelic rock and acid rock, heavy metal bands developed a ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. Calpakdjian partly funded the film through

crowd-funding Crowdfunding is the practice of funding a project or venture by raising money from a large number of people, typically via the internet. Crowdfunding is a form of crowdsourcing and alternative finance. In 2015, over was raised worldwide by crow ...

website Pozible. It was released in Australia on 22 August 2014 with distribution by MGM. On 1 September 2014 it debuted on the

ARIA In music, an aria (Italian: ; plural: ''arie'' , or ''arias'' in common usage, diminutive form arietta , plural ariette, or in English simply air) is a self-contained piece for one voice, with or without instrumental or orchestral accompanime ...

Top 40 Music DVDs chart at #4.

Content

''Metal Down Under'' traces the history of heavy metal music in Australia from the early influences of bands such as Buffalo,

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

, The Angels and

Rose Tattoo Rose Tattoo are an Australian rock and roll band, now led by Angry Anderson, which formed in Sydney in 1976. Their sound is hard rock mixed with blues rock influences, with songs including "Bad Boy for Love", "Rock 'n' Roll Outlaw", "Nice ...

to present day acts including Ne Obliviscaris, King Parrot,

Karnivool Karnivool is an Australian progressive rock band formed in Perth in 1997. The group currently consists of Ian Kenny on vocals, Drew Goddard and Mark Hosking on guitar, Jon Stockman on bass, and Steve Judd on drums. Karnivool emerged from a band ...

and

Psycroptic Psycroptic are an Australian technical death metal band formed in Hobart, Australia in 1999. Mainstay members are Dave Haley on drums and his brother Joe Haley on guitar. Their lead vocalist, Jason Peppiatt, joined in 2004. In 2008 they signed ...

. The film is divided into three 55-minute episodes featuring interviews, archival footage and animation sequences with the first episode discussing the early development of metal from hard rock influences to the

thrash Thrash may refer to: *Thrashing (computer science), where increasing resources are used to do a decreasing amount of work *Thrash (surname) *Thrash, mascot of the Atlanta Thrashers *''Thrash Rally'', a top-down perspective rally racing video game ...

scenes of late 1980s

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

and

Sydney Sydney ( ) is the capital city of the state of New South Wales, and the most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Sydney Harbour and extends about towards the Blue Mountain ...

, in particular

Hobbs' Angel of Death Hobbs' Angel of Death were an Australian thrash metal band that began in 1987 in Melbourne, and are one of the first Australian groups to perform in that genre. They released two studio albums, ''Hobbs' Angel of Death'' (1988) and ''Inheritance' ...

and

Mortal Sin A mortal sin ( la, peccatum mortale), in Catholic theology, is a gravely sinful act which can lead to damnation if a person does not repent of the sin before death. A sin is considered to be "mortal" when its quality is such that it leads to ...

. There is also some examination of the niche record stores Metal For Melbourne and Utopia, ''Hot Metal'' magazine and the influence of

public radio Public broadcasting involves radio, television and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service. Public broadcasters receive funding from diverse sources including license fees, individual contributions, public financing ...

on the spread of the genre. Part two looks at the influence of

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

band

Allegiance An allegiance is a duty of fidelity said to be owed, or freely committed, by the people, subjects or citizens to their state or sovereign. Etymology From Middle English ''ligeaunce'' (see medieval Latin ''ligeantia'', "a liegance"). The ''al ...

in the development of a national touring circuit, as well as the

Metal for the Brain Metal for the Brain was Australia's largest heavy metal music festival. The event was held in Canberra annually, usually towards the end of the year, and featured Australian bands almost exclusively. The festival was established in November 1991 ...

festival and the extreme metal bands

Blood Duster Blood Duster was an Australian extreme metal and stoner rock band from Melbourne. Their name came from the song "Blood Duster" by John Zorn, from the 1989 album '' Naked City''. History Formation The band was formed in 1991 by Jason Fuller (a ...

Alchemist Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscience, protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in Chinese alchemy, C ...

and

Sadistik Exekution Sadistik Exekution was an Australian extreme metal band from Sydney. The band formed in 1985, although their main active period was from 1986 until 2004. Known for their outrageous live show antics, notorious behaviour and non conformist att ...

. The third part looks primarily at several of the more prominent currently active bands with some discussion of the

metalcore Metalcore (also known as metallic hardcore) is a fusion music genre that combines elements of extreme metal and hardcore punk. As with other styles blending metal and hardcore, such as crust punk and grindcore, metalcore is noted for its use of ...

scene and the shape of the scene at the present time.

Distribution

''Metal Down Under'' was released on DVD in Australia through MGM Distribution. It was released in the UK and Europe through Plastichead Distribution on 10 November 2014. Its official release date on iTunes is 18 November 2014 worldwide (ex USA).

Reviews

"Nick Calpakdjian has made a funny and engrossing film that finally sheds a light on a part of Australia's popular culture that has been left in the dark for its entire existence, a vital and important document that even people who couldn't care less about heavy metal should see. After spending two years of his life on this, he deserves nothing but respect." Reviewed by Brian Giffin. "One might even go so far as to say that Metal Down Under is an important piece for the Metal community, as it may well be, itself, a stepping stone to another such feature in the future; and that will hold promise for another time. " Reviewed by Tristan Peterson, Metal Obsession.

Interviews

Non-musicians

Andrew Haug Andrew Haug'is a radio, radio announcer and heavy metal music, heavy metal musician from Melbourne, Australia. He is one of the most prominent figures in Australia's largely underground music, underground heavy metal scene. Haug started his ra ...

, broadcaster *

Lochlan Watt Lochlan Watt (born 1987) is an Australian radio announcer, journalist, record label owner and musician from Samford, Queensland. He is currently based in Melbourne. Career He has hosted Triple J's heavy music show The Racket since Februar ...

, broadcaster, writer * Brad Wesson, co-owner, Soundworks Touring * Robyn Doreian, journalist, editor ''Hot Metal'' magazine * Greta Tate, record store manager * Simon Lukic, broadcaster * Chris Maric, publicist * Leigh Wilson, collector who has filmed Australian metal shows since 1981 * Brian Giffin, writer, broadcaster

References

{{Reflist

External links

IMDb page
2014 films Australian documentary films Documentary films about heavy metal music and musicians 2014 documentary films 2010s English-language films