Filmmakers Mike Redman and Jason Köhnen have kicked off their Indiegogo campaign to fund the first-ever documentary, titled METAAL, on underground extreme metal scene in the Netherlands. Their goal: to document — via interviews with original members of Thanatos, Asphyx, Pestilence, Celestial Season, Gorefest, Sinister, Acrostichon, The Gathering, et al. — how the energetic and creative Dutch scene emerged in the mid-’80s and how it defiantly survives to this very day. Redman and Köhnen (who is also a founding member of re-activated doom/death outfit Celestial Season) also corralled label bosses (DSFA), producers (Berthus Westerhuys), and fans of the scene (such as Testament’s Eric Peterson, Atheist’s Kelly Shaefer, Soulfly’s Max Cavalera, et al.) to provide the widest angle view as possible on one of the world’s premier music scenes. Not only a bunch of extreme metal dudes talking past, present, and future, but the filmmakers have added archival live footage as well.
Says METAAL‘s Jason Köhnen: “We’ve walked around with the idea of making a documentary covering the Dutch metal scene for quite a while now. Somehow now the time seems right to put all of our efforts into this passionate project. We also think it’s of great importance to archive this part of music history before much of the archival footage is forever lost and we feel its time to pay tribute to this part of metal history.”
To push METAAL from conceptual into reality, Redman and Köhnen have launched an immersive and cooperative Indiegogo campaign to fund the project. Across 11 campaign donation packages — from 10 (METAAL supporter) to 1000 Euros (appearance in the film) — METAAL offers the ability to be a part of Dutch metal history. Indeed, the filmmakers aren’t petitioning for the next Transformers film (god forbid!) but they need our help. So say, as the Dutch do, “Met de deur in huis vallen”: donate and become a part of the Indiegogo while the campaign is active (links after the trailer)!
Adds Köhnen: “METAAL is an independent, non-profit project, so we are currently investing our personal budgets to make the film and the wells are running dry. To be able to create a quality film, we’ve decided to start a crowdfunding campaign and also involve like-minded metalheads to make the film as comprehensive and personal as we can. One of the perks is to have your old-school band photo featured in the film, or be a part of preserving metal history by becoming an associate producer. We’d greatly appreciate any support so we can deliver something unique.”
METAAL official website: https://www.metaalfilm.com
METAAL official Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MetaalFilm
METAAL Trailer: https://youtu.be/K7V6ay9nen0
