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VANCOUVER - It may sound a little counter-intuitive, but Sam Dunn and Scot McFadyen have turned heavy metal into a cottage industry.

A few years ago, the dynamic duo first appealed to fist-pumping film fanatics with Metal: A Headbanger's Journey, a documentary about the hardcore genre's place in the world of popular music. Next, they'll be shooting footage of Rush and Iron Maiden for full-length documentary projects for each band, but right now, they're looking to make more hay out of hair farmers with Global Metal - a movie that takes a look at the international impact of distorted power chords on a variety of national musical traditions.

From klezmer-based metal in Israel to the unique brand of Latin-tinted metal from Brazil's Sepultura, Global Metal proves the genre doesn't just appeal to white boys from North American suburbs. It's a global phenomenon.

"The first film was really an overview because up until that point, no one had really looked at metal in-depth, and the movies that had been made about metal were mostly parodies," says Dunn.

An anthropology major and metal freak who brought all his expert knowledge to bear on the first film, Dunn says he and his filmmaking partner Scot McFadyen realized there was more to the story once they wrapped Headbanger's Journey.

"There were all kinds of metal coming out of each country. It wasn't just a case of people listening to North American metal all over the world, but each culture adopting metal in its own way," he says.

"Some cultures would change the lyrics, or the instrumentation, or the overall sound. Some of the stuff we heard didn't sound like metal at all," he says.

Though this may sound like a violation of metal's hard, fast, and ultimately loud rules, Dunn and McFadyen say it's a sign of metal's universal appeal.

"I think there's this tendency to look at globalization as a force that exports commodities . . . and even with metal, there's a risk of whitewashing the world with clone bands. But what we found was how alive metal was in a variety of places that we never would have expected." Dunn says from the hardcore Hindi-speaking metalheads in India to the small clutch of Iranian headbangers who are forced to remain seated for metal shows, he was constantly surprised by the level of cultural commitment - even when fans were watched by police as suspected activists or protesters.

"In a way, in some cultures, going to a metal show is a mobilizing act. It's an act of rebellion - but one that doesn't have the same consequences. You can go to a show and get your frustrations out in a safe and productive way."

For all metal's unifying power, however, Dunn says the musical genre doesn't preach change in the same way as '60s-era folk songs.

"The material isn't usually political, but that doesn't mean it's not meaningful, because in the end, it's incredibly empowering for the people in the audience."

Dunn says one of the most memorable moments over the course of the shoot happened during an Iron Maiden show in Bangalore, India.

"I've been listening to Maiden since I was 12 - so it's music I've experienced before, but to hear those songs in such a completely different environment was really eye-opening. Here were people who had been listening to Maiden for 15 years without ever seeing the band live - and I got to be there, alongside these fans, for their first time. And that was really powerful," he says.

"I have to say, we felt like we were on the cusp of something, and I guess that was one of the central themes in this movie: Youth are forming their own culture. They are creating the kind of music they want to listen to, and a lot of that music is metal . . . because in a world where things aren't going so well, metal gives people a chance to vent their anger and rise up against the status quo."

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