Metal Evolution.
 

http://t2.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:A...K0zK3KUU_HZrWA

I can't contain myself anymore. I cannot be insulted anymore by the ineptitude of this series that aims to chart Metal music from it's original influences to modern day sound.

I am 4 episodes in and each gets worse and worse. What makes it even more indigestible is the fact that it is co written and produced by a guy with a degree in Anthropology. This doesn't automatically mean that his word is gospel but If someone has a higher degree of education than myself, then I expect something that will tell me more than I know.

Episode 3 is virtually the same as episode one as it concentrated on British bands in the 60's but this was (vaguely) covered in the first episode.

To say that Metal was inspired by Classical and Jazz (amongst other genres) and not know it made my blood boil and the whole thing smacks of a guy who discovered Metal last week and not a guy who has been listening to it for nearly as long as I have.

If you are listening Scott, I will be more than happy for you to have a beer with me!

Poor. Poor. Poor.

As the series unfolds the narrator interviews guitarist and they talk about how they study at a jazz school, or grew up listening to classical music and how that influenced them.

I've missed the latest instalment that explores how classic 60s/70s Prog bands the likes of Yes, King Crimson, Genesis, and Rush influenced Heavy Metal.

As much as I love metal, I really don't like watching documentaries about it or reading books. I find the books are usually the worst offenders, with an incredibly limited scope that really only talks about the bands that people already talk about. I have found some winners out there like Swedish Death Metal and Heavy Metal Islam, but those are few and far between. As to documentaries, they're usually a little better. While Sam Dunn's Metal: A Headbanger's Journey and Global Metal were very broad in what they covered, at least you knew it was coming from someone who actually cared for the genre. Most seem to just be tarted up VH1 countdowns that tell you a load of crap you already know, as jackhammer has unfortunately discovered.

I thought it was interesting. Didn't really mind his shock of various things influencing music. I only really watched it to see archival footage of bands and to read a bit more into some influences. I didn't think that the shock rock episode was necessary though.

I thought some of the topics for some of the episodes were out of place like the shock rock, grunge, and maybe even the hair metal episode. The grunge one was interesting (albeit unnecessary--I've never really connected grunge and metal before outside of the Melvins or Soundgarden), but the shock rock and hair metal episodes seemed pretty useless to me because their focus centered mainly on bands who didn't contribute a whole lot to metal as a whole. Dunn's choice to not cover death, black, or hardcore punk influenced metal is a travesty because that's where some of metal's greatest bands are.

If he really wanted to do an in-depth study, given that there was enough interest from the public and money behind the project, a whole season should be donated to each sub-genre to explore their nuances and differences. Just my take on the show.

I love that documentary. It really felt like he had a deep love of metal. Plus, Dio was in it. I keep forgetting that guy is dead.

I love Gaahl's interview. "What does metal mean to you?" "Satan." "What does Satan mean to you?" "Power."

That, and it changed how I view Mayhem. They seemed so weird and mysterious before, but that interview just made them seem like some drunk ass holes.

I haven't seen Metal Evolution, but from the sound of it...I should pass?

Well it has been mentioned before we have episodes on Grunge, Power Metal (some awful bands I have to say) and shock rock (WTF?). Thrash got an episode but nothing else on from that so there are whole sections of Metal that have been overlooked in favour of genres that don't really matter. Shock Rock is music with theatrics and that's all, it hasn't evolved Metal whereas Crossover certainly did amongst other sub genres.

Worth a watch for rare interviews etc but as a concise and illuminating essay on Metal as a whole? No.

What's wrong with saying metal was influenced by other types of music?

Its been said a million times already and half of these documentaries spend just tooooooo much time, going on about the bands that influenced heavy metal. What any real metal fan wants to see, are the influential metal bands both mainstream and more obscure, and the exploration of the sub-genres in detail. How can any real metal fan take the series seriously! When extreme metal sub-genres such as death, black and doom metal were all left out.

Metal documentaries either need to focus on explaining the roots of heavy metal, or by focusing on one or two of the subgenres, and then explaining how those subgenres relate to all the other ones, like how thrash metal and black metal are related, stuff like that. Trying to cram it all into one documentary is always going to leave metalheads disappointed and non-metal viewers no more informed than a quick glance over a wiki.