Artist: Ian Christe
Publisher: Harper Collins
Release Date: 4/1/03
Rating: 5 Skulls
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Title: Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal Artist: Ian Christe Publisher: Harper Collins Release Date: 4/1/03
Rating: 5 Skulls |
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Reviewed by Requiem:
When perusing through the local bookstore, the diehard metal fanatic will often find themselves digging deep for something that touches upon the music we live for. But in all truthfulness, there really haven't been many writers brave enough to cover the music that spews forth loud guitars and itscontroversial subject matter. Granted, Lords of Chaos touched upon the black metal bedlam taking place around the world. Martin Popoff released a couple of books jammed with thousands of reviews. A couple of metal discography reference books have been done in the past. But nobody has had the guts and the inspiration to step up to the plate and give us the whole goddamn history of it all. Who started heavy metal and when did it start? Who were the heavy hitters of the genre? What were the subgenres and how did they come about? Ian Christe answers all this and more with the first metal history book that I know of thus far, entitled Sound of the Beast: The Complete Headbanging History of Heavy Metal. As a first of its kind, it really sums it all up in its 362 pages and serves as an intriguing read those who live for the music, and possibly even for those who don't.Of course, the mandatory content inside is subjective from person to person, but if you think you can do better, write the book yourself. Ian dedicates a chapter to almost every genre including glam, black, death, NWOBHM, thrash, hardcore, punk and most everything you could imagine. Plus he covers the censorship battles of the 80's, black metal's crime circuit and the court battles against heavy metal's criminal lyricists. The book spends a good portion with Sabbath and Metallica, who really brought heavy metal into the spotlight, and most importantly, into the hands of the masses. Each section also has a list of influential albums, for those curious ones who may wish to broaden their horizons. You may be wondering, why isn't band X or album X on the list? Well, because Ian probably went through different metal times than you, so his list will be different to yours. But all in all, the lists make a good deal of sense to a well-rounded metal listener. And Ian seems to have experienced more metal than most of us so it is only right that he writes a book of this nature.
Also included is a nifty timeline in the beginning of the book, detailing the major happenings in the metal world from 1970 to 2002. The middle of the book contains a full color photo section of everyone from Motörhead to Immortal to Exodus to Napalm Death. There are many B&W photos throughout the book also illustrating the relevant topics. There's Ian's top 25 metal albums of all time to get an idea of what the man's tastes are and an in depth cover illustration depicting demons and hellfire and all the fun stuff that is associated with metal. So if you are a collector of all things metal, and you enjoy reading the books that actual make it to the commercial market, this is the book for you. Finally a book has arrived that recognizes metal from all walks of life, and tells the story in a chronologically readable format. And once it is read, it can be used as a useful reference book as well. Ian Christe has made his mark of the beast by telling the fascinating story of the devil's music, and you should make yours by reading it.
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