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…
Library of Loudness (Book Reviews)
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.…
Yfantis, Vasileios-Power Ballads (Book Review)
Reviewed: April 2021 Released: 2021, Indie Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP I have no problem admitting (as if it there should be some shame or guilt) that I love power ballads. I have an 80’/90’s ballads play-list on my iPod that is several hundred songs long. From 2013 to 2016 I…
Martos, Ramon- …And Justice For Art Volume 3 (Book Review)
Reviewed: April 2021 Released: 2020, Dark Canvas Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP I’m not sure where to begin with this review! I have reviewed the two previous versions of …AND JUSTICE FOR ART and we have interview the author/creator, Mr. Martos about four times. It is hard to come up…
Wheat, Brian – Son Of A Milkman:My Crazy Life With Telsa (Book review)
Reviewed: March 2021 Published: 2021, Post Hill Press Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP I’ve read a lot of rock star autobiographies and this is one of them! On a more serious note, I don’t know why but I came away feeling slightly…underwhelmed after reading SON OF A MILKMAN. Brian Wheat, bassist,…
Tolkki, Timo-Loneliness Of A Thousand Years (Book review)
Reviewed: March 2021 Published: 2010, Indie Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP 2021 is the year where I gave up. I have the lost the war. I had been holding out reviewing only real books, actual printed on real paper books, but the digital wave has all but drowned traditional publishing. In…
Stromsholm, Kim & Makkonen, Markus-Rotting Ways To Misery (Book Review)
Reviewed: March 2021 Published: 2021, Crypt Publications Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP I really admire and appreciate the people who are heavily immersed in a music scene to take time to share their wisdom, knowledge and insight. Two such gentlemen, Markus Makkonen and Kim Stromsholm (and to a lesser degree an…
Desfosses, Felix – No Speed Limit:Quebec Metal (1964-1989) (Book review)
Reviewed: March 2021 Published: 2021, Quartz Publications Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP This book has been in the works for what seems like years and it finally available. It is no secret that the largely French-speaking province of Quebec is undisputedly the most ‘Metal’ province of Canada. They have had the…
Lake, Daniel-USBM (Book review)
Reviewed: February, 2021 Released: 2021, Decibel Publishing Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP I couldn’t help but chuckle reading this book. Near the start of Chapter Three (p. 153) we learn that John Gossard, formerly of the band Weakling, responded to the author’s request for an interview with the following quote; “If…
Hagen, Ross-A Blaze In The Northern Sky (Book Review)
Reviewed: February, 2021 Released: 2021, Bloomsbury Publishing Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: JP The 33 1/3 book series of in-depth record reviews has had an arm’s length relationship with Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. For our narrow-minded Metal purposes, of the 153 titles published to date, only five titles (Black Sabbath, Slayer,…
Laiho, Alexi (w. Silas, Peter) Chaos, Control & Guitar (Book review)
Reviewed: February, 2021 Released: 2020, Johnny Kniga Publishing Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP In very early 2021 (Jan 4th) the world discovered that Alexi Laiho, guitarist and founder of Children Of Bodom had passed away. I personally was not shocked, very disappointed yes, but not shocked. I saw COB on the HEXED…
Metalhead Issue #1 (Magazine review)
Reviewed: February, 2021 Released: 2020, Indie Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP Periodically (pun fully intended) I’ll review a Metal magazine. As a rule of thumb if a new Metal magazine comes along I will review the first issue, as sort of a public service announcement to let fans know there…