Reviewed: September, 2020 Released: 2019, Decibel Books Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP Like many Metal-minded folks, I grew up physically swapping albums back and forth, lending and borrowing and just exploring music with friends, as one did before the advent of the information superhighway. One of my favourite memories of Paradise…
Library of Loudness (Book Reviews)
Mudrian, Albert (ed.) The Decibel Hall Of Fame Anthology Volume III (Book Review)
Reviewed: September, 2020 Released: 2019, Decibel Books Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP Here we go with Round Three of Decibels illustrious Hall of Fame anthologies. It is hard to believe that the first book in the trilogy, PRECIOUS METAL was published ten years ago. Volume III has the same design…
Hunt, C.V. (Ed.) Horrorama (Book Review)
Reviewed: September, 2020 Released: 2020, Grindhouse Press Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP When it comes to my choices in entertainment, I’m not really a mainstream pop culture person, I like the lesser known and the underground. However, with exception of Heavy Metal, I am a dabbler. I like a bit of…
Manowar-Blood Of The Kings Volume I (Book Review)
Reviewed: September, 2020 Released: 2020, Magic Circle Music Rating: 5/5 Reviewer: JP If there ever was a band that is overdue for a book it is mighty Manowar. The army of immortals have asked and the band has heeded the call and delivered…THE BLOOD OF THE KINGS VOL I. Long…
Franklin, Dan- Heavy: How Metal Changes The Way We See The World (Book Review)
Reviewed: September, 2020 Published: 2020, Constable Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP In my mind the three words that characterized this book and my perception of it are; subjective, objective and generation-gap. HEAVY is a new title authored by Dan Franklin and published by the good people at Constable/LittleBrown/Hachette. The book…
Halford, Rob-Confess (Book review)
Reviewed: September, 2020 Published: 2020, Hachette Books Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP CONFESS by Rob Halford is likely one of the most anticipated Metal autobiographies of 2020 and/or even recent memory. Rob Halford, The Metal God has come down off the mountain-top and has bestowed on us a detailed and explicit…
Curl, James -Into The Fire (Book Review)
Reviewed: August, 2020 Published: 2020, Indie Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP It’s about time someone wrote a book about Dokken! James Curl steps up to the plate again following his excellent and well-received Dio biography. I reviewed that one here in August of 2018 as well in case you are interested.…
Popoff, Martin-Empire Of The Clouds (Book Review)
Reviewed: August, 2020 Published: 2020, PowerChord Press Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP Most Iron Maiden observers will recognize the bands career has had roughly four distinct phases. These are the Di’ Anno years, the classic ‘height of power’ era, the dark Blaze years and the reformation. We can argue about deeper sub-phases…
Milazzo, Alex, Editor- Lucifero (Book review)
Reviewed: July, 2020 Published: 2019, Heavy Music Artwork Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP As a reviewer and fan of Metal, one of the little pleasures is watching other fans create something special and be successful. In this instance I’m referring to the hard work of Alex Milazzo and his organization Heavy…
Hoffin, Kevin- Trve: The Norwegian Black Metal Scene (Book Review)
Reviewed: July, 2020 Published: 2020, Independent Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: JP When is a book really a book? To elaborate on my question, what is the difference between an essay and a short book? I suppose it really doesn’t matter but this review is about a new piece of writing ‘TRVE”:…
Hilton, Christopher P, – The Spectacular Rise, Fall And Rebirth of Hair Metal (Book Review)
Reviewed: July, 2020 Published: 2020, Independent Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP I’m very pleased to see more and more books about Hair Metal being published. In my mind it helps reaffirm a sense of legitimacy of the style, and these books act as a counter balance to all the critics and…
Popoff, Martin-Anthem (Book Review)
Reviewed: June, 2020 Published: 2020, ECW Press Rating: 4.5/5 Reviewer: JP I must admit when I heard that Popoff was writing a fourth(!) book about Rush I rolled my eyes. I felt he was going back to the well a bit too often and doing another book about a band…
Spracklen, Kark Metal Music And The Re-Imagining Of Masculinity, Place, Race and Nation (Book Review)
Reviewed: June, 2020 Published: 2020, Emerald Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP The good people at Emerald Publishing continue to support the advancement of metal studies with another book in their series ‘Emerald Studies In Metal Music And Culture’. Metal Music And The Re-Imagining Of Masculinity, Place, Race and Nation is…
Popoff, Martin-Denim And Leather (Book Review)
Reviewed: June, 2020 Published: 2020, PowerChord Press Rating: 4/5 Reviewer: JP This book is long, long overdue. The band has been going 40 years now and finally someone took it upon themselves to write a book about them, and it is not much surprise that it is Canadian Metal, not-so-madman,…
De Leaumont, Don- SouthEast Of Heaven (Book Review)
Reviewed: June, 2020 Published: 2020, Indie Rating: 3.5/5 Reviewer: JP I’ve talked a lot of about Metalographies in my book reviews lately, these types of books are becoming more and more popular and seem to be coming fast and furious onto the market. SOUTHEAST OF HEAVEN is the latest one,…