'Metal Evolution' Creator Discusses Lost 'Extreme Metal' Episode With THE AGE OF METAL (Audio)

October 8, 2012

In 2011, Banger Films released the biggest-ever series on the history of heavy metal and hard rock, "Metal Evolution". Based on Banger's groundbreaking "Heavy Metal Family Tree," the series explored over 40 years of metal history — from early metal and shock rock to thrash and nu metal. Following metalhead-turned-anthropologist Sam Dunn, "Metal Evolution" took viewers on an unprecedented journey to over 30 countries on four continents to interview 300 of metal's most respected musicians, including Alice Cooper, Bruce Dickinson, Slash, Lemmy, Lars Ulrich, Tom Morello and members of VAN HALEN, DEEP PURPLE, SLAYER, LAMB OF GOD and many more. The series was a huge success, hitting #1 on VH1 Classic (U.S.) and MuchMore (Canada),and broadcasting on networks in the United Kingdom, Norway, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, Sweden, Finland, Belgium, Brazil, India and elsewhere.

Despite this success, metal fans around the world claimed there was one glaring gap in the series: There was no episode on metal's most underground sub-genre: extreme metal.

For many metal fans, extreme metal is heavy metal. Since its emergence in the mid-'80s, extreme metal has pushed metal to its sonic and aesthetic edge; bands like DEATH, MORBID ANGEL, CARCASS, ENTOMBED, DARKTHRONE, DIMMU BORGIR, OPETH and many more combined guttural vocals, blast beats and lyrical themes of death and the occult to create metal's most transgressive offshoot. Though deeply underground, extreme metal is not an obscurity: it is metal's motor of innovation and continues to thrive today.

However, extreme metal was considered too extreme for some TV networks so Banger has come up with a different way to turn "The Lost Episode" into a reality.

Commented Banger: "We're launching an IndieGoGo campaign. We're appealing to the international metal community to help raise the funds to create the Extreme Metal episode. Contributors' support will send Sam on a global journey from San Francisco and Tampa to the United Kingdom, Norway and Sweden to investigate the history, myths and intricacies of extreme metal. Sam will unravel the lineage between Extreme Metal's divergent branches — Death Metal, Grindcore and Black Metal — and meet with the sub-genre's most influential sonic architects: POSSESSED's Jeff Becerra, CELTIC FROST's Tom G. Warrior, MORBID ANGEL's Trey Azagtoth, EMPEROR's Ihsahn, OPETH's Mikael Åkerfeldt and dozens more. The result will be an unforgettable portrait of metal's fastest growing sub-genre."

A new interview with Dunn conducted by Miguel Rozo of The Age Of Metal can be heard below.

Interview (audio):

Find more on

Prev More News Next

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).