Metal Lords Review: Peter Sollett’s teen comedy celebrates metal but is weighed down by moments of self-discovery

3/5

Story: Metal Lords follows Hunter and Kevin, two high-schoolers who are part of a metal band. They need to find a bassist before they perform at the Battle of the Bands, but the two best friends first have to walk a path of self-discovery before they can really stick it to the man.

Review: First things first, I was headbanging or playing air drums through half of the film’s runtime, and this is testament to how the makers of Metal Lords have gotten everything related to metal right. The movie celebrates the powerhouse music genre, and to a rock/metal head such as myself, Metal Lords comes out as nothing but entertaining. 

The story, written by Game of Thrones fame D.B. Weiss, is the used and reused story about outcasts coming up, discovering the power in themselves and winning it all. While this is the case, the dedication of the makers to bring the magic and energy of metal, gives the movie an edge. While it’s safe to say the movie does not reach the levels of Richard Linklater’s School of Rock, Metal Lords holds its ground. 

Hunter’s (Adrian Greensmith) mother left him and his childish father and he has found refuge in metal and has a post death metal band called Skullfucker. The two-man band has his best mate, Kevin (Jaeden Smith) on the drums. Kevin is a metal virgin and is trying his best to keep his only friend company. The two social outcasts at high school decide to enter the Battle of the Bands, but need to recruit a bass guitarist. The rest of the story is something we’ve seen before, with them finding the third outcast, with Kevin falling in love with her. But Emily (Isis Hainsworth) is a cello player, which puts her out of favour with Hunter. 

While the story is the same old one, what makes Metal Lords entertaining and outright enjoyable for a fellow metalhead is the fact that the movie celebrates Metal with shoutouts and details about bands such as Pantera, Black Sabbath, Motorhead, Slipknot, Megadeth and more. The songs used in the movie will also have you headbanging half the time, with songs such as Hail to the King by Avenged Sevenfold and the Immortal War Pigs by Black Sabbath, with the latter playing a big role in the movie. 

The montage where Kevin explores Metal and learns to play War Pigs on the drums, gives you goosebumps. The montage elevates the movie with Kevin slowly turning himself into a metalhead while videos of some of the greatest faces and bands of the genre accompanying it. But then again, the bits that include metal is all that stands out in the movie, which would be just another regular teen comedy without it.

The movie, though, takes some of its runtime to let the characters examine themselves and throws them on a journey of self-discovery. Hunter is a complicated character with issues that stem from how he decides to treat others around him. But towards the end, he comes back a different man after a short spell at a rehabilitation centre. He understands that letting it go and acceptance are the ways to an easier life. While this might sound like a very “non-metal” thing, that's what the writers went with, and this just might pull down the movie a little. 

Even with all its flaws and several plot holes, Metal Lords is an enjoyable movie for the metalhead, telling us things like, “Metal is commitment, and speaking truth to power, and sticking it to the man, and speed. Metal is taking the wheel”. While the writers and director deserve all the praise for all the little details delivered to celebrate one of the most impressive music genres, one might just hope that they had stuck to it throughout the movie.

Verdict: If you like metal, watch Metal Lords without thinking twice. Even if you don't come out of it having loved it to bits, you would have spent 90 minutes enjoying some good music and two teenagers learning the power of Metal. This teen comedy is enjoyable and is worth the watch.