Metal Lords Review: Peter Sollett’s Coming-of-Age Comedy Is So Not Metal

Peter Sollett’s Metal Lords is ostensibly a tribute to the teenage metal head. You know, the kids who cycle through the same Pantera, Megadeth, Metallica, and Lamb of God t-shirts every week, sit quietly in the back of every class, and listen to ear-shattering death metal in no small part to drown out the horrors of puberty and clique culture.

But beyond boasting an extensive playlist of classic metal jams on its soundtrack, the film isn’t particularly interested in the allure that this genre of music has for so many social outcasts. Rather, this often corny coming-of-age comedy preaches the value of compromise and conformity over that of youthful rebellion. As the kids might say, that’s so not metal.

The metal head at the film’s center, Hunter (Adrian Greensmith), is predictably full of anger and bitterness, stemming primarily from living with a selfish and childish father (Brett Gelman), a plastic surgeon whose philandering caused Hunter’s mom to leave the family several years earlier. And while Hunter’s channeling of his angst into guitar shreds helps him cope with his inner demons, his unpopular infatuation has left him as an outsider at school, with only his longtime best friend, Kevin (Jaeden Martell), to hang out with.

Sollett and Weiss have taken great care to make Hunter feel like an authentic headbanger, from his dress and abrasive attitude to his inability to discuss anything but heavy metal music. But the film that’s built around him rings false in nearly every scene that doesn’t hinge on Hunter getting lost in the music he’s either listening to or playing.

Hunter’s friendship with Kevin, which is meant to be the heart of the film, isn’t only thinly developed but feels completely implausible. If Hunter has been so consumed by metal in the several years since his parents’ divorce, why is he only now making playlists for Kevin to listen to? And if he’s spent most of these years becoming a highly skilled guitar player, how has he just decided to recruit Kevin to learn to play drums so his one-man band, Skullfucker, can become a duo? Hunter’s attempts to bring Kevin into the fold of the metal lifestyle create a natural tension that drives the film’s conflict, but it brings into question how these two kids, who only have each other as close friends, could possibly have been ride-or-die besties if Kevin was somehow not involved in Hunter’s lone obsession and consolation in life.

Even if one were to accept Hunter and Kevin’s friendship as genuine, their journey toward an all-important Battle of the Bands, which unfolds throughout the rest of the film, brings almost nothing fresh to the table. Here, Metal Lords treats the audience to a bevy of coming-of-age clichés, including the jock bully, Skip (Phelan Davis), the bemused authority figure, Dean Swansom (Sufe Bradshaw), and, of course, a quirky love interest with mental health issues, Emily (Isis Hainsworth), whose instrument of choice (a cello, of course) causes friction with Hunter when Kevin suggests she serve as the band’s much-needed bassist.

While the growth of Skullfucker, both in numbers and talent, does celebrate the galvanizing power of metal, the film directly connects Hunter’s excessive love of metal with his combative, antisocial tendencies. And where metal is Hunter’s way of funneling his hatred of his dad and frustrations with the superficial kids that populate his school, Metal Lords eventually suggests that his disillusionment with his surroundings has more to do with him than anyone else. It argues that were Hunter only to sand down the qualities that led him to become a metal head in the first place, he’d find acceptance from both his peers and his father. And in doing so, Metal Lords betrays rather than upholds the values of the very kids it wants to revere.