Metal Documentaries

[abraxas]

I just downloaded several documentaries on Heavy Metal.

Global Metal:

This is an awesome documentary about Metal fans from countries other then the USA and western Europe, from countries such as India, China, Iran and Jerusalem. It really was an interesting look at fans and Metal from countries with vastly different cultures.

Heavy: The story of Metal

This was made by VH1 several years ago, it isn't available on DVD so it was really cool to find a copy of it. It is divided into 4 parts

Get Thrashed:

Haven't watch it yet, but its basically the history of Thrash Metal

Combat Tour:

Not a documentary per se, its a concert from the early 80's, Exodus and Slayer open for Venom.

Death Metal: A Documentary

I use to have this on DVD, but it got all scratched, not a great documentary, but pretty good

Rat Skates: Born in the Basement

A documentary feating the original founding member and drummer for Overkill, haven't watched it yet.

[HNT]

Cool. I think decline of western civilization 2 is the best film, bit it focuses too much on shitty hair bands for me to watch it too often. I think Metal: a headbangers journey is the most fun to watch

[GL]

I've been waiting for that Global Metal one to air on VH1, as well as Get Thrashed since those are the only ones that, other than Metal: A Headbanger's Journey that look even remotely good. Heavy: The Story of Metal was decent, but there was a lot of stuff overlooked or the focus was on crap I didn't care about.

[abraxas]

Get Thrashed was a totally awesome docu, probably the best and most in-depth documentary of any kind that I have seen, it runs about an hour 40 minutes, each of the 4 big bands (Slayer, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax) all get their own segments. It covers everything from the very beginning of the scene, with some awesome material shot back in the early 80s, from the influence of Thrash on Black Metal, Death Metal, and the newer Metal bands.

Rat Skates was also very good, I never knew that originally Overkill wore makeup like Black Metal bands do today. Rat tells the story of Overkill or "Over Kill" as the name used to have a cross in the middle of the two words. Also never realized that the "O" in the band name was sort of borrowed directly from Iron Maiden's logo.

[GL]

The more I hear of that Get Thrashed one, the more it looks really good. Even though I never really cared for most of the Big Four (Slayer and Metallica are the only ones I have on mine today, and I would drop Anthrax and Megadeth and replace them with Testament and Overkill) whereas right now, it's Slayer, Exodus, Testament and Overkill which I think is a much better grouping and really only shows how far Metallica have dropped and how fast Exodus has gained while showing how consistent and solid Slayer, Testament and Overkill have been to stay good all these years.

[abraxas]

Well Matallica will always be included since they were one of the first Thrash Metal bands, no matter how much they sold out later on.

[GL]

Yeah, I know, and what with Metal being one of the places where they honor the past, it's inevitable that they would be.

I was just always more partial to the second wave over what the majority of everyone was all gaga for. Though Metallica and Slayer are rightfully up there, at least in the timeline sense, I always found Testament, Overkill, Exodus, Flotsam and Jetsam, Dark Angel, Death Angel, Sacred Reich, Metal Church, Heathen, Forbidden, Forced Entry, Onslaught, Hallows Eve, Assassin and Annihilator, as well as the German thrashers, far more interesting and enjoyable than Megadeth and Anthrax, each of which really only have two or three albums in their entire career I really like. They got up there because of the time they came out and nothing more.

[abraxas]

Yeah I know what you mean, the first 2 MegaDeth albums he only good ones, maybe the third album also, but I quickly lost interest in them, besides Dave Mustane is an asshole.

Anthrax, I never really got into them that much, they were OK until I found out that the rap song they did was actually serious, it was one thing when I thought they were spoofing Rap music.

Actually I didn't know until I watch this documentary that Overkill were around before any of those bands, Matallica included. They became Overkill in 1979-80.

Testament and even Overkill were always a little more sophisticated then Exodus, which, going back now and reading their lyrics, make me chuckle a little, the music of Testament particularly was more mature, you might say.

Although I must admit that I had every Exodus album and only one or two Testament albums.

[GL]

Actually, I was referring to Rust in Peace in Megadeth's regard, I think that one is their best album and joins the first two as being the three I was talking about back then.

And Overkill is credited with having the first true Thrash Metal song ever released to the public, as the Power In Black demo actually came out before Kill Em All did. I think that Metallica got more exposure since it was a full-length over the 5-track demo that Overkill got out.

[abraxas]

I never knew that about the demo

[GL]

Yeah, though Exodus is the one that was the first band that started to play what is nominally considered Thrash Metal. I think they first started coming up with that sound in 81, when Metallica were first coming together and Overkill was still a mostly punk-rock group. Exodus is the first group to play it, Overkill got the first music out to the masses, but Metallica is still the more reknown group since they had a professionally done full-length rather than a one-take-and-it's-out demo.

[HNT]

Yes, that, and I hatge to sat it given what's subsequently happened, but Metallica were just better musicians than the guys in Exodus and Overkill and their early records were easier to sell on that basis.

What about Accept, though? I would say that Fast as a Shar was pretty damn close to thrash, but I admit that I don't know exactly when it came out. Seems like a precursor if nothing else.

[abraxas]

Fast as a Shark came out in 1982, so it could be considered as having some influence.

You guys ever see Lamberto Bava's "Demons" that song plays in the scene with a guy driving a dirt bike in a movie theater cutting off the heads of Demons with a sword, one of the coolest scenes in 80s horror.

Accept has been around since 1968, then called Band X

[GL]

Restless and Wild, which had the album, was 83 actually.

And Accept to me always seemed to epitomize proto-Thrash than true Thrash (there's none of the punk-rock viciousness or anger in the music that the truer Thrash bands had which they got from Motorhead) and 'Fast as a Shark' seemed to be the last bridge, mainly the use of double-bass which, when combined with the rest of the sound emerged into the fully-fledged Thrash acts of the time.

And indeed, that scene is one of the reasons why I fully love that movie, and Italian horror in general.

[abraxas]

83? Damn Wikipedia!

"The intro to the track is a snippet from a crackly old children's recording of a traditional German tune titled "Ein Heller und ein Batzen" (A Farthing and a Penny). The band soon found themselves in an unintended controversy, however: even though the song dated from 1830, it was a popular marching song during the Nazi era and still held that connotation for many listeners, a fact the band was unaware of at the time."