Posts Tagged ‘heavy metal in baghdad’

HEAVY METAL IN BAGHDAD ON HULU

Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 12:39pm by Vince Neilstein

Acclaimed documentary and recipient of “Top 5 Metal DVDs of 2008” status, Heavy Metal In Baghdad — the moving documentary about Iraq’s only (at least at the time) metal band and the incredible obstacles they’re forced to overcome just to survive — is now available for streaming in its entirety on Hulu.com. Big ups to Vice / VBS.tv and Hulu for making this happen — more people need to see this incredible movie. In case you somehow missed it, watch the trailer below.

-VN

[Thanks: Bryan Wall]

HEAVY METAL RETURNS TO BAGHDAD

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008 at 4:00pm by Corey Mitchell

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Nothing like seeing heavy metal hit prime time television.

On last night’s The Rachel Maddow Show on MSNBC, Maddow (pictured above) mentioned the Iraqi band Accrassicauda (see my review of the documentary Heavy Metal in Baghdad) and how they were forced to flee their home country more than five years ago after the American-led invasion.

According to the eloquent liberal commentator Maddow, heavy metal has once again returned to Iraq.

Maddow quoted an article in USA Today that talked about the bands Brutal Impact (pictured below) and Dog Faced Corpse and their performances at a “private party on the banks of the Tigris” this past Saturday. “Tables were broken, lyrics were screamed, amps were maxed out.”

Maddow further added that band members had been stereotyped based on their appearances (just like in the good ol’ US of A), except people assumed they were either Mahdi Army supporters or members of al-Qaeda because of their black wardrobe and goatees.

One 18-year-old female fan, Nadaa Haidar, who was rocking out to a Metallica cover said, “There’s nothing wrong with wearing a veil and listening to metal.” Added the extremely pleasant Maddow, “Amen to that. Rock on!”

Seriously, now. Do you ever think you will see Bill O’Reilly or Sean Hannity give a shout out to metal? Maddow certainly throws goat better than Sarah Palin. Here’s the link to the video since the embed doesn’t work. Fast forward to the 3:00 mark if you want to see only the segment on metal.

Be sure to check out that USA Today article for an excellent four-minute video on the concert. The highlight is a crowd singalong to Metallica’s “Nothing Else Matters.”

-CM

HOW METAL ARE YOU? THESE TWO DOCUMENTARIES WILL MAKE YOU LOOK LIKE THE NEW METALLICA ALBUM COVER

Monday, July 21st, 2008 at 2:15pm by Corey Mitchell

How much do you love heavy metal? Are you willing to die for it?

Two new excellent documentaries will make you feel like a complete pussy when you realize what some people will do for the love of metal and punk rock.

Heavy Metal in Baghdad and Heavy Load, while very different in feel and execution, portray two groups of metalheads with wildly differing sets of challenges that make their lives’ missions to bang thy head that doesn’t bang.

Baghdad tells the story of Acrassicauda (Black Scorpion), the only heavy metal band in Iraq, who must deal with a lack of venues to play in, laws against headbanging, more laws that require musicians to perform one pro-Saddam Hussein song per set, and, oh yeah, getting their practice pad literally bombed to pieces.

Click to read more…