Unlike 2004’s Some Kind of Monster which painted Metallica as a band of wussified school girls, Iron Maiden: Flight 666 goes a long way in reminding viewers why metal is worth getting passionate about. It’s not about the image or the scene, it’s about the pure unadulterated release; it’s about the joy fans take in the music.

You’d be hard pressed to find a better example of this phenomenon than Iron Maiden: Flight 666; a tale of six jovial gents who have spent half a lifetime building a metal empire that could rival just about any music artist in history and their 2008 Somewhere Back In Time world Tour.

You see the meat in this metal doco sandwich is the fact that the Maiden men bought their own jumbo and proceeded to fly the bastard around the globe, and we really mean they flew it. Singer Bruce Dickenson piloted many of the tour legs himself if you don’t mind. Regardless of your feelings toward the band or the genre, the film is extremely watchable. Beyond its musical documentary pedigree it’s a fascinating snapshot of the human condition and our interaction with music in general.

Because the tour travels around the planet the differences and similarities between the cultures and the way in which they engage with music and musical artists is at times jaw-dropping. This is particularly the case as the band moves through South America where fans were camping outside venues for anything up to ten days just to assure themselves a better position at the concert. Grown men stand with tears streaming down their faces as they watched these metal champions from across the oceans play; musical gods who were now standing before them in the flesh.

The success of this film was always going to depend on the characters themselves and luckily viewers couldn’t ask for a better bunch of blokes to carry a film. The band members and their crew are fully aware of their success and the position of privilege they have found themselves in. It’s this self depreciating humility which endears each and every character to us and keeps the audience on board until the wheels touchdown.

If you’re not a fan of metal you might just end up fast-forwarding through a few of the live songs which are littered through the doco but you’ll enjoy the journey, on the other hand, if you’re into the music then this may just about make your film of the year podium.