Ian Christe

I LOVE books like this. Tons of history, great quotes, stories and in this case a lot insight and some great writing. I was really sad that it wasn't written more recently so I could hear the author's take on more modern metal and current situation. But really this was about nostalgia for the "glory days". This book reminded me about bands I had loved in the past and forgotten and got me listening to bands I either missed somehow or didn't really care for back in the day. It made me regret missing concerts from some of these bands and reminded me of some of the amazing shows I've been too.

Another cool thing about this book is that it covers the entire world and metal starting from Iommi's first power chord (and even before that somewhat) until around 2003 when the book was published. Hearing about how restrictive some countries are about visiting bands and even their citizens owning heavy metal albums was saddening and interesting, but also exciting to think of metalheads in other countries fighting the good fight to keep their artistic freedom.

It's been quite a ride, now I can't wait to pour over this book and look up all the bands he mentioned that I have never heard before or don't remember.… (meer)

I bought this for £1 in a charity shop at that price it was a bargain, nicely printed and well written Christe has a great knowledge on the subject. As a general history it is about the best i have seen and a great introduction for newcomers; however, given that heavy-metal is a very fractured subject with a myriad of sub-genres each with their own tangled and colourful histories. Inevitably certain areas suffer in trying to condense them into one tome and those well-versed may find it less revelatory.… (meer)