Category: Reviews – Books
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Contract In Blood: A History of UK Thrash Metal (book review)
The hard part of reviewing a book as good, as well-written, unique and badly needed as Ian Glasper’s never-to-be surpassed Contract In Blood: A History of UK Thrash Metal is keeping the review to a respectable length (the temptation to write one as long as the book is immense). Anyone who writes about music appreciates…
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Myth and Magic in Heavy Metal Music
This book scores major kudos by having Cronos of the mighty and highly influential Venom on the cover. It’s a fine idea to explore the influences on the themes of heavy metal and Robert McParland does this with great aplomb. It’s nice to read such well-written work. It would have been nice if a well-known metal…
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Megaliths, dinosaurs and flying boats (book reviews by Steve Earles)
Spirits in Stone: The Secrets of Megalithic America Written by Glenn Kreisberg Forward by Graham Hancock We traditionally associate megalithic stone structures with places like Ireland (Newgrange). France (Carnac), and England (Stonehenge), yet there are in actuality hundreds of megalithic stone structures in North America. That they exist is in no doubt, but what is their…
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BOOK REVIEW: Contract in Blood by Ian Glasper
Contract in Blood: A History of UK Thrash Metal Written by Ian Glasper I’m starting this review of UK author/musician Ian Glasper’s latest book, Contract in Blood: A History of UK Thrash Metal, with a frank admission. I’m going to be repeating a few ideas I originally expressed elsewhere. That’s because the impending arrival of Contract…
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BOOK REVIEW: David Bowie in Darkness
A Study of 1. Outside and the Late Career Written by Nicholas P. Greco There are probably more books written about David Bowie covering the period from Space Oddity to Ashes to Ashes than the later stages of his career, as these were so long considered his ‘Golden Years’. Yet Bowie always created interesting music, none more…
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Peaceville Life – by Paul Hammy Henshaw
“Anything for a Peaceville Life” At the start (At The Gates!) of Hammy Henshaw’s excellent and valuable book, there are quotes about the book from various artists whose bands have been, or still are, signed to Peaceville Records, such as At The Gates, Anathema, Opeth, and Autopsy. I have to share the quote from Fenriz…
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Book reviews by Steve Earles: Rise Up, Women
Rise Up, Women: The Remarkable Lives of the Suffragettes Written by Diane Atkinson Published by Bloomsbury Recently I saw the excellent film Suffragette (which Diane Atkinson was a consultant on) starring Carey Mulligan and Meryl Streep. It’s not often you see a film that changes the way you view the world and its inequality and injustice,…
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BOOK REVIEW: Why We Sleep
Why We Sleep: The New Science of Sleep and Dreams Written by Matthew Walker Published by Allen Lane It was always thought that the three pillars of health were diet, exercise and sleep. But that was wrong: sleep should always come first – it is irrefutably the foundation the other two pillars are built on.…
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The History of Metal Blade Records
For the Sake of Heaviness: The History of Metal Blade Records By Brian Slagel with Mark Eglinton Foreword by Metallica’s Lars Ulrich Being an imaginative, restless, and generally unfuckwithable music nerd has its lonely moments. It doesn’t always matter – some of the most incredible experiences are those that make us feel separate from everything else…
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BOOK REVIEW: Aleister Crowley in America
Written by Tobias Churton Published by Inner Tradition Inner Traditions published a marvellously eclectic selection of books that make the reader think about the world in a different way. Aleister Crowley was one of the 20th century’s great thinkers. He saw the world in a very new fashion. Often misunderstood, Crowley’s life and work deserves…