Staying power

Heavy metal still gold mine inside world

of rock music

So, how does it feel, music fan, to be in the middle of the summer of metal? Loud enough for you? Bands such as 3 Doors Down and Staind get as much radio airplay as teen pop. Linkin Park and Korn have just set off on the highly anticipated Projekt Revolution tour with an unlikely associate, rapper Snoop Dogg.

The Ozzfest tour is selling big in most venues, according to promoters. And it’s not just the metal dinosaurs — Black Sabbath is headlining — who are drawing fans to the annual heavy metal festival.

Newer bands such as Lamb of God (an “extreme metal” band from Richmond that signed a major-label deal last year), Unearth and Every Time I Die are attracting young metalheads, too.

Ozzfest is flourishing in a soft summer market, while Lollapalooza, the alt-rock revue that had critics in a lather of anticipation, tanked ignominiously due to poor ticket sales.

Heavy metal may not inspire critical hosannas, but it has something the niche bands of indie rock do not: mass popularity. Traditionally, it has appealed to disaffected, young suburban and rural white guys, whereas punk music, the inspiration for many indie rock bands, was more of a soundtrack to urban disaffection.

Whatever the source of unrest, metal remains a trusty emotional safety valve.

“Detuned power chords and lyrics that scream alienation have fueled the platinum sounds of almost every major band of the past two decades, from Nirvana, Metallica and Soundgarden to Linkin Park, Story of the Year and In Flames,” writes Guitar World editor Brad Tolinski.

“It’s very alive,” says Joe Berlinger, the co-director of “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” a documentary, in select theaters today, about the veteran metal outfit Metallica.

He and filmmaking partner Bruce Sinofsky aren’t fans particularly of metal. They befriended the band while making “Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills,” a 1996 documentary about the trial of three small-town Arkansas teenagers accused of triple murder.

“The evidence that the prosecutors came up with is that these kids listened to Metallica and wore black shirts,” Mr. Berlinger charges.

Working formally with Metallica, they tracked the band for two years (from March 2001 to August 2003). “We went to Oslo to Berlin to Bologna and all throughout America,” Mr. Berlinger says, marveling that the band can draw up to 100,000 fans in some markets.

Metallica’s most recent album, “St. Anger,” debuted at No. 1 in 30 countries, including the United States.

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