Wacken is considered the holy grail of heavy metal festivals and the makers of this documentary make that quite clear. For those of us who have never made it to Wacken, this movie gives us poor souls a chance to take in the chaos of Wacken Open Air, which is held annually in the tiny town called Wacken, about an hour outside of Hamburg, Germany. Louder Than Hell was filmed during the 2013 edition and shows picture perfect performances of Annihilator, Lamb Of God, Motörhead, Anthrax, Deep Purple, and Alice Cooper.

Though the bands are the entertainment, the clientele certainly provides some as well, these metalhead characters dress up in all sorts of costumes, growl and yell like a bunch of barbarians, drink like a fish, and headbang until their heads falls off! Louder Than Hell shows how worldwide metal fandom and the brand name Wacken is with metalheads from all around the globe make a long trip just for this festival. Director Norbert Heitker did a great job with sky view shots of the sea of people who inhabit Wacken. Quite unbelievable including the massive Tent City which makes up over 50,000!

It was also a nice touch to showcase lesser known acts like Kamikaze Kings and Ragnarok while spotlighting the Wacken Metal Battle – where young/up-and-coming acts from countries around the globe compete against one another. Louder Than Hell hits all the points as there clearly is something for everyone and this film will want to make anyone crave to have the Wacken experience more than ever.