Reviewed: May 2021 Released: 2021, Lexington Books Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP Dr. Nelson Varas-Diaz is widely recognized as the world’s foremost expert on Latin American Metal and he has been busy since we last checked in. This month I’m reviewing two things that have his fingerprints all over them and…
Library of Loudness (Book Reviews)
Popoff, Martin- Driven (Book Review)
Reviewed: June 2021 Released: 2021, ECW Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP Back in November of 2020 I reviewed LIMELIGHT, the second book in Popoff’s epic Rush trilogy. In that review I said, “…Part III, DRIVEN, slated for release in 2021, is going to have half the musical output but triple the…
Larsen, F. Lars – To Kill To Live To Kill (Book Review)
Reviewed: June 2021 Released: 2020, Independent Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP I like bands that have extra drive and ambition in their creative endeavours. Any Metal bands can write, record and release and album but it takes a little more effort and creativity to go beyond. Manticora is one of those…
Bowman, Durrell- Experiencing Rush (Book Review)
Reviewed: June, 2021 Released: 20215, Rowman & Littlefield Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP There is an interesting book series that I recently became aware of. It is called ‘A Listener’s Companion’ published by Rowman & Littlefield. The basic idea is that an expert on a band writes a detailed analysis of…
Suter, Paul, (ed.) HM A-Z (Book Review)
Reviewed: May 2021 Released: 1985 , Omnibus Press Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: JP The quest. As many of our regular readers may know, I’d stated on a number of occasions our goal is to review every single book about Hard rock and Heavy Metal. Sometimes I have to dig really deep…
Steel, Jo-Killer Magazine #1 (Magazine review)
Reviewed: May 2021 Released: 2021, Indie Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP In the eternal war against crappy music, every army needs it’s foot soldiers and it’s leaders. Joe Capitalicide is one of those leaders. This guys does it all, a true Metal warrior. Artist in such bands as Iron Dogs, Expunged,…
C., Hermann- Black Metal Media 1992-1994 (Book review)
Reviewed: May 2021 Released: 2021, Lohengrin Productions Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP It’s not too often I’ll buy a book I can’t really read but in this case I made an exception. I’ll explain more in a moment. Black Metal Media is a hard cover, coffee-table book that is not really…
Isoaho, Timo-Nightwish:We Were Here (Book Review)
Reviewed: May 2021 Released: 2018, Deggael Communications Rating: 5/5 Reviewer: JP I’m on a bit of a Nightwish kick lately and have bought and read two books on the band; Marco Hietala’s autobiography, STAINLESS? and this one. Please feel free to enjoy both. There are many, many ways to structure…
Hietala, Marco (w. Kangasluoma, Timo)-Stainless? (Book review)
Reviewed: May 2021 Released: 2017, Docendo Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: JP The Metal world was stunned in early 2021 when Marco Hietala, the bassist and co-lead singer of Nightwish, announced that he was leaving the band. Nightwish is arguably one of the biggest Metal bands on the planet and scenario this…
Shadrack, Jasmine H. – Black Metal, Trauma, Subjectivity and Sound (Book Review)
Reviewed: May 2021 Released: 2021, Emerald Publishing Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: JP Black Metal is and still continues to be the most written about sub-genre of Metal, even to the point of saturation. The academic world is no less to blame for the recent glut (perhaps an unfair choice of terms)…
Weiss, Mark – The Decade That Rocked
2020, Insight Publishing 378 pages Rating: 4.5/5 Review: Celtic Bob THE DECADE THAT ROCKED, quite the understatement. There is an old saying, “If you remember the 80’s, you weren’t there”. This may ring true for some, but being a teenager during that decade who only had the records, tapes and…
Endean, Gareth-Half A Ton Of Heavy Metal (Book review)
Reviewed: April 2021 Released: 2020, Indie Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP Metal heads love our lists. There are many Metal books that are essentially just a list, I own at least ten of them. Websites too…countless lists. Top-this, best-that, worst of, rank, compare and analyze, lists are fun and easy to do…
MacDonald, Bruno-666 Songs (Book review)
Reviewed: April 2021 Released: 2020, Lawrence King Publishing Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP This is a really, really great book and I like it a lot but we need to address the elephant in the room. This is not really a book about ‘Metal’. In his introduction author and all…
Chapman, Ian-Experiencing Alice Cooper (Book review)
Reviewed: April 2021 Released: 2018, Rowman & Littlefield Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP Alice Cooper is back with a new album and by a nice coincidence I discovered a book about Alice Cooper I had not read yet so I bought it, read it and I figure this is as good…
Beach, James – Rusted Metal (Book review)
Reviewed: April 2021 Released: 2021, Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP Sometimes size does matter. When it comes to Metal, bigger is better, that is the principle of excess that drives Metal to greater heights; harder, faster, meaner, etc. As the maestro Yngwie J. Malmsteen once infamously declared, “Less is not more.…