Metal Family Review

In recent years, there has been an increase in indie animations, including on platforms such as YouTube. One of those series is the musical-themed Russian mature animation series, Metal Family.

The action-adventure and drama series focuses on a Russian family of metal fans, each with their own personalities: there are Victoria and Glam, two metalheads in love with one another, and they have two children, Heavy and Dee. It follows the creative ways that the family deals with problems every day and manifests various tropes. Dee is 15 years old and Heavy is 13. Victoria is 37 and Glam is 39-40.

The series has a number of interesting small details that sets it apart from other animation series. For example, the opening of each episode begins with the character, or characters, hanging up their key, with the way each character hangs up their key a specific reflection of their personalities. There are also various pop culture references throughout the series to bands such as Metallica, System of a Down, Black Sabbath, Bon Jovi, and Led Zeppelin. Unlike some other series, this show takes place in a blurred world, without any specific location.

Metal Family does not shy away from mature topics. Victoria often drinks and smokes, while her husband, Glam, does not. She even gambles. The last part of the first season focuses on Glam Shvagenbagen’s troubled childhood going to a music conservatory. He meets a friend named Ches/ Chive who introduced him to Twisted Sister, heavy metal music, and gives him his current nickname. He leaves home for good after living with his abusive father, Gustav. Leaving his past behind, he chooses to be part of the “rabble” as his father puts it. He finds a family for himself in music and in the companionship of Victoria.

The show plays with the idea of a “strong man” defending a “weak” woman. In this series, Glam is diminutive but nasty in a polite way while Victoria is buff and brash. She is not afraid to throw a person out of a window or punch a hole through a wall, if warranted. Glam is more calculating and can solve problems by using his mind. Victoria likes to smash things apart – as she does in an escape room in an episode. She is a little like Princess Bean in Disenchantment, an alcoholic, and Harley Quinn in the series of the same name, who carries around a baseball bat which she uses to protect herself, those she cares about, and fight for what she believes is right.

The series is produced by a small team and is created by Alina Kovaleva. Xydownik co-directed the series with Kovaleva. Both work as series animators. According to the fandom site for the series, Koveleva works on the series full-time, using Adobe Animate CC. It took over two years to create the show’s first season. Alexey Khrapov worked in the show’s sound department. Alexey Vasilevsky composed original music, apart from the show’s other music. Karin Karimova worked as a violinist, Daniyl Yakovenko as a music consultant, and Luis Rojas as a guitar soloist.

The Russian voice actors have been consistent. Blin voices Glam and Dee. Roman Volkov voices Gustav and Xydownik voices Heavy. Kovaleva voiced a Youtube Instructor in a 2021 episode as well as Victoria. Xydownik also voices Ches in two episodes, along with characters like Rowd and the Conservatory Dean. Flynn The VA voices Drusilla. There’s also a background character named Celestie, and therapist Dr. Hans.

The English dub introduced new voice actors, including Elliot Cancel as Chive / Ches, Randolph Castellanos as Dee, Lydia Shvagenbagen, and Richard Armstrong, Hoctor as Gustav, London Hartman as Heavy, Kylie Ann as Mary Shvagenbagen, Ry Harte as Glam, and Chiari Queen as Victoria. Hoctor also voices biker gang member Bug, Ann voices Anna, a cynical radical feminist.

The series first aired on September 13, 2018, released in Russian, with English subtitles added after its release, ending its run in 2020. The pilot episode was also a music video sung by Avantasia, is entitled “The Story ain’t Over.” Since February 2021, an English dub of the episodes has been released on a separate YouTube channel, with a hilarious 3-minute trailer for the release of the English dub. Through 2021, the 10-episode first season aired on YouTube and the second season began in late December 2021. Oksana Gunchenko helped translate and adapt the episodes of the series.

The series has been positively received by fans, with over 140 fan fics on Archive of Our Own, garnering hundreds of thousands of views on YouTube, and has high rankings on IMDB. Hundreds of thousands more follow a fan site for the show on the Russian language social media platform, VK. This is impressive for a series with relatively new voice actors, with this series as their first big roles, and even for animators. A few are involved in other indie animated projects, like Kylie Ann as an animator on Legends of Myiorda, an anime/cartoon series. Some previously worked on Russian language productions.

Updates about the series are shared on Xydownik’s Russian-language YouTube channel, the Instagram account of Kovaleva, a channel on Telegram, and Kovaleva’s VK account. Like Helluva Boss, Heavy, one of the show’s characters, has an official Instagram account, posting candid photos from his life. This encourages people to be more deeply invested in the show. There’s even an official store to buy merchandise and items related to the show.

The voice acting and animation of Metal Family were intriguing. The story kept me watching the episodes and I say this as as a person who likes listening to metalheads like Caleb Hyles and the band Twisted Sister. The characters were complex enough and were not stereotypes which made me excited about what is going to come next. In the end, I’d highly recommend this series, especially for those who like badass characters, music, and compelling stories.

Metal Family is available on YouTube.