Metal Lords is a teen comedy revolving around heavy metal music. It follows the story of two best friends who want to win a music competition with their metal music. It is now available on Netflix.
Warning: This article contains heavy spoilers
Plot summary
The movie starts with Kevin (Jaeden Martell) and Hunter (Adrian Greensmith), two high school students, practicing a song in Hunter’s basement. Kevin is a drummer and Hunter plays guitar. Both of them are passionate about metal music, Hunter more than Kevin. Hunter believes they are destined to do great things with their music. Together, they have a band called ‘Skullfucker’.
The two best friends are shown to be the misfits of society. They are often bullied in school. They go to an afterparty, where a pop band called Mollycoddle is performing. Hunter scoffs at how bad they are and makes fun of them. Meanwhile, Kevin gets drunk and talks to a girl named Kendall (Analesa Fisher). They flirt for a while.
The school bullies corner Hunter and start beating him. They push him towards the stage, where the band is performing and accidentally break their piano. The lead singer of the band, Clay (Noah Urrea), tries to help Hunter, but Hunter refuses and badmouths his band. Clay tells him about the Battle of Bands competition.
Hunter is really excited about the competition and thinks that if they win the battle, it will change everything about them. The two start practicing their song ‘Machinery of Torment’ but realize they need a bass player.
They try to find someone who is interested in metal and can play bass but end up with disappointing results. Hunter buys new instruments for their band with his dad’s credit card. Kevin tries to practice the music at his home but has to stop after he gets a complaint from his neighbor about loud noise. He goes to school to continue his practice.
He meets Emily (Isis Hainsworth) at school, a girl who plays the cello. Emily has extreme anger issues and needs to take medications, or ‘happy pills’ as she calls them. Kevin asks her if she likes post-death doom metal, but she doesn’t know what that is.
Kevin gives her the polyrhythms for ‘Machinery of Torment’ and requests her to play it on her cello. She absolutely kills it with the song and Kevin is let impressed. He thinks she is the person who will complete their band.
The next day at school, Hunter gets attacked by his bullies again. They cut a part of his hair. The bullies are suspended for two weeks.
Hunter gives Kevin a list of metal songs for him to practice. Kevin copies the list and gives it to Emily. After a few days, Emily finally gathers the courage to meet Kevin and the two play ‘War Pigs’ together. Kevin is now sure that Emily can complete their band and they won’t need a bass player. Nothing can stop them from winning now.
If you have any doubts about the ending, here’s a complete breakdown.
Metal Lords explained in detail:
The beats of wrong decisions
Kevin takes Emily to Hunter and tells him about everything. Hunter straight-up refuses to let Emily be part of the band because she is not metal enough. He thinks that having cello in a metal band is ‘gay’.
Disheartened, Emily leaves. Kevin calls her and apologizes for his friend’s rude behavior. The two meet up and are seen getting closer. Because of this, Kevin is two hours late for their band practice. Hunter is quite angry and shouts at Kevin. Kevin gets upset by this and leaves his house.
The scene changes to Kevin and Emily spending time together at Emily’s home. Emily confesses that she has stopped taking her pills and calls Kevin her happy pills.
The next day at school, there’s a ‘show not tell’ activity in English class. Hunter and Emily share this class. Hunter performs about metal and passive-aggressively taunts Emily throughout his performance. Emily loses her cool and attacks him.
Kevin learns about this and is unhappy with Hunter. He confronts him and calls him a weak person. Kevin says that he is better off without him and storms out. He leaves the band as well.
Meanwhile, Clay hears Kevin practice his drums in school and approaches him. He begs Kevin to perform with his band at his sister’s wedding as their drummer has been admitted to a rehab. Kevin reluctantly agrees.
He performs with Mollycoddle at the wedding and everyone loves their performance. Clay offers him to be part of their band and Kevin takes it up. Kevin then sees Kendall, who invites him to swim with her. She tries to kiss him but he pushes her off and goes away.
Meanwhile, Hunter has painted his face and has worn a metal attire, and tries to forcefully enter the wedding Kevin is performing at. The security guard stops him and he is taken to jail.
The plectrum of luck
His dad comes to bail him and is done with his shenanigans. He tells Hunter that this was his last straw and admits him to a wellness center. The scene changes to Hunter waiting for the doctor at the wellness center. He is surprised to learn that his doctor is the infamous Troy Nix (Joe Manganiello). He was the guitarist and vocalist of the band Kiloton that had won the Battle of the Bands competition in 1996.
Hunter is in awe and questions Troy about how he ended up here. Dr. Troy soon realizes that there is nothing wrong with Hunter and he can’t keep him at the center just because of his music taste. But Hunter will only be able to get out on Monday because the committee would need time to review his recommendation. The Battle of Bands is on Friday.
Kevin soon learns that Hunter is at the center and goes to rescue his friend. He presses the fire emergency button, creating chaos at the center. Kevin recognizes the drummer of Mollycoddle, who is also at the center of his substance abuse.
He rescues both of them and they make a run for it. The receptionist recognizes Kevin and starts chasing the trio. They manage to lose her but come face to face with Dr. Nix.
Instead of taking them back to the center, Dr. Nix gives Hunter his plectrum. The three manage to escape. Hunter apologizes to Kevin for his behavior. They go to Emily’s house and Hunter apologizes to her and invites her to be part of their band. Emily says that she is not ready and runs away.
The metal end
It is the day of the competition. Hunter and Kevin are ready to perform. Kevin tells Clay that he can’t be part of two bands and says that he has bought their old drummer back from rehab.
Mollycoddle performs and people absolutely love their performance. Emily arrives backstage in a black dress and dark makeup, matching the band’s vibes. The trio is ready to perform but the principal says they need to change the band’s name because it is indecent. After a bit of thought, they change it to ‘SkullFlower’.
They perform ‘Machinery of Torment’ on stage and the audience loves it. Everyone starts vibing to the music. This causes a little chaos and pushing around. At the end of the performance, someone accidentally pushes Hunter, making him lose balance and fall. Heavy music instruments fall on his leg and hurt him badly.
There’s a small time jump and the three band members are sitting in Hunter’s basement and practicing. Hunter has a cast on his leg. The viewers then learn that they’ve won second place in the battle. And surprisingly, Hunter looks quite okay with it and even praises Mollycoddle, who came in first. The movie ends with the three of them bickering together and having fun while practicing.