“Metal Lords”, a comedy about two marginalized teenagers who form a heavy metal band

When you start watching Metal Lords (2022), you don't associate it in any way with the dark and violent universe of Game of Thrones, but rather with light and bright films such as School of Rock, Airheads or The World According to Wayne. But the name of D.B. Weiss as a screenwriter and producer, indicates that he is responsible for this film as he was at the time of the hit HBO series based on the books of George R.R. Martin.

Now, if you know the iconography that surrounds heavy metal bands, then the association with Game of Thrones isn't so crazy. Dragons, swords, sorcerers and dungeons, it's not uncommon to imagine that D.B. Weiss loves metal. But comedies with these fanatical characters of this music are anything, but never dark or violent. Here the protagonists are two teenagers who suffer marginalization in school who study and decide to take refuge forming a heavy metal band. One of them, Hunter (Adrian Greensmith) is a fan of that music and lives his life supposedly under the precepts of that world, his guitar is everything. The other one, Kevin (Jaeden Martell), is much quieter. He loves to play drums, but he is a shy boy looking to survive his teenage years.

The band is not complete until they get a third member. At the beginning of the film, a girl with trouble controlling her anger appears, Emily (Isis Hainsworth), who with her talent as a cellist could become the ideal complement. It does not look like a metal head, but it does have the anger and sense of marginalization that the band needs to complete its energy. Hunter isn't too convinced it's a good choice. But the date of The Battle of the Bands is approaching and its grouping must be part of it.

This beautiful trio is the foot both for comedy and for being a classic film of initiation or passage to adulthood, a coming age as it is said in English. Heavy metal is a universe that offers a lot of material to make humor, everything that surrounds this music is rich and fun. The film shows a great affection for its characters, it is not cruel, nor sordid, it is pure sympathy and tenderness. The three protagonists are instantly endearing each other.

And of course, the soundtrack is as good as you can imagine in a movie like this. Judas Priest, Iron Maiden, Metallica, Black Sabbath, Panther, Ozzy Osbourne, are heard throughout history. Disc covers and references that are more obvious or more subtle, are also part of the heavy metal party offered by Metal Lords. And of course, there are also cameos. A luxury quartet that we will not anticipate here but which appears at a key moment, making a funny moral debate about the decision that one of the protagonists must make.

Metal Lords is a comedy resolved with pure sympathy, quite the opposite of the representation of teenagers that is seen today in many films and series. A small film that could be taken as an oasis in troubled times. We could assume that was the idea for which D.B. Weiss decided to write and produce this title. A break after his most ambitious and exhausting projects.

This production is now available to watch on Netflix.

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