After watching the documentary film, Heavy Metal in Baghdad, about the ridiculous labors of Iraq’s only documented heavy metal band, Acrassicauda, I felt both impressed, if not inspired, and also somewhat annoyed.
Let’s start with the good stuff.
In the late 90s, a group of Iraqi friends got together and decided to ape their heroes and start their own metal band.
Living under the wing of Saddam is an obvious hazard on the road to metal expression, so when these guys finally played their first show, they had to both get approval from the cultural ministry and also write one for the old man himself just in case they pissed someone off in a bad way.
In the end, it was the headbanging in the audience – a fairly embarrassing thing to watch on video after the fact – that got the cultural official’s panties in a wad.
Acrassicauda, Baghdad’s finest, was off to an infamous start.
Enter the second gulf war. Baghdad has become a hell on earth. The members of Acrassicauda, unable to rehearse due to a rocket attack on their rehearsal studio, sit around musing on their fears and dream of escaping to the relative safety of Syria.
Eventually they make it to Syria, but can’t find work, and are sent packing by the Syrian government.
From there, it’s off to Istanbul and the possibility of being assigned refugee status by the United Nations.
They get their wish but must relocate to a remote Turkish city to await their reassignment.
Despite all of this, the guys hang in there, revel in being able to grow out their hair and beards, and generally dream of releasing an album after a decade of existence. They settle for a three-song demo and a handful of shows.
I love their attitude. They love what they do and the rest of the world can go fuck itself while they do it.
These guys grew up on our culture. They all but one speak flawless English, almost without accents, and they all know a hell of a lot about mainstream metal acts like Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Testament. They truly love what they do, when they can do it, and their enthusiasm is infectious. Their tenacity in the face of Sisyphean odds is as heartening as it is crushing, and as likable as they are, you can’t help but root for them.
Having said all that, I do have a few issues with the film and with the band as well.
For one thing, and I simply have to get this out of the way, Acrassicauda sucks. As a critic, and an opinionated prick, I simply can’t let that one go by without addressing it. Look, I know these guys have played less in 10 years than I have in ten weeks, but still, they can barely play at all, and their songs are simplistic and derivative of Metallica and Maiden and a sprinkle of Slayer, when the boys are feeling frisky.
You see a lot being made in the foreign press of their story, hell, learn of them through an American documentary, but in the end, it is their story that gives them any due attention because their music is shit.
God, I am a real ass for saying that.
Then there is the women, or lack thereof.
Where are the fucking women?
One of the guys is married and has a daughter. You only see these two briefly in the follow-up mini-documentary that shadows them to Istanbul. In the original film, not a single woman graces the screen for longer than a second, and never is one speaking a single word. I know it’s Iraq and I know it’s repressive, but for fuck’s sake guys. I’m fairly sure Iraqi women have a voice too.
And then, the worst part of all is that I couldn’t help but wonder, and wonder still, why it is that anyone cares about them in the first place.
Nobody fucking likes metal. Well, that is to say, no one who actually seems to matter to the world’s culture cares about metal. So when a metal band starts getting international mainstream media coverage you can bet your ass it has nothing to do with the music.
Okay, enough of that.
Thursday night I’ll be heading over to Warehouse Live to catch the legendary Swedish band, At the Gates. They’ll be playing with Municipal Waste, a band that is totally ridiculous and totally awesome. I’ll give a full report and hopefully piss someone off in the process (something I seem to do without even trying anymore).
Oh yeah, and Opeth, the world’s best metal band, is coming to Houston in October, and they will be playing with Baroness and High on Fire. This will easily be the show of the year for me. Of course, it will probably be the second show I go to all year, so there’s that.
Have a good week.
And, fuck you all!
I believe Matt Brownlie put it best when he said “Rock is Hard.”