REVIEW: Heavy Metal in Baghdad on VBS.tv

The online series 'Heavy Metal in Baghdad' is a breath of fresh air - actually more like a terrified, exhausted gasp. In five short docudrama episodes the series does well to diverge from the ‘embedded journalist in Iraq’ video segments that we’ve become so used to on CNN and Yahoo’s online series Hot Zone. The series follows VBS.tv affiliates Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti on a perilous tour of Baghdad to seek out Iraq's only heavy metal band- Acrassicauda.

Though seeking out a heavy metal band in Iraq seems a unique idea, and warrants the title of the show- the true originality of the series stems from Alvi and Moretti's vantage point ... or lack thereof. They don’t have the clout of a high powered news organization around Baghdad. We begin to see this drawback on their less-than-V.I.P. entrance into the city: routed like stowaways through Erbil, Kurdistan and nearly rejected from a Baghdadi hotel frequented by the mainstream foreign press.

Though the two hipsters are never tossed into a gunfight or thrown to the ground by a roadside bomb, the current chaotic state of Baghdad is ever-present. The violence, tension and fear are all front-and-center of this series, exposed in post-curfew explosions and quick glimpses of AK-47s.

VBS.TV does very well to host this type of short series. Launched by Spike Jonze of Adapatation and Being John Malkovich feature film fame, VBS.tv is a free online broadband network ala MTV's Overdrive and CBS's Innertube (see last year's THR review). In this case, VBS' videos are delivered by content pioneer Brightcove. VBS continues the counter-culture trend of its print magazine parent ‘Vice’ with over a dozen programs like ‘Heavy Metal’ that see the world with fresh, edgy perspective.

Viewing the content is easy and fast, and navigating the site is just as effortless. With expanded programming that touches on unique and interesting topics, VBS TV may just achieve their slogan – ‘Rescuing you from television’s deathlike grip’