Category: Reviews – Books
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A History of Heavy Metal by Andrew O’Neill
I think we’re going to see a lot of books about heavy metal in the near future. Hell, I’d like to write one! But any prospective authors will do well to top Andrew O’Neill’s ‘A History of Heavy Metal’. Firstly, it is seriously funny. On the strength of this book, I imagine Andrew’s stand-up show is well…
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A Fast Ride Out of Here: Confessions of Rock’s Most Dangerous Man
By Pete Way with Paul Rees Published by Constable (Little Brown Book Group) Ozzy Osbourne says that he’s way out of his league when it comes to Pete Way; on the strength of this entertaining book I would say that most certainly is so. Musically, Pete is most famous for playing the bass in UFO, but…
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Metal Cats Coloring Book
By Alexandra Crockett Illustrations by Chuck Gonzales powerHouse Books, Brooklyn NY A few years ago, Hellbound reviewed Alexandra Crockett’s Metal Cats book, a photo showcase of metal dudes with their adorable heavy metal cats (Metal Cats book review by Matt Hinch). The book beautifully upsets at least two stereotypes, if not more: that only “ladies” are…
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So Let It Be Written: The Biography of Metallica’s James Hetfield
Authored by Mark Eglinton Foreword by Chuck Billy of Testament Published by Lesser Gods This book works better as a history of Metallica than it does as a biography of James Hetfield. The author has not been able to do the extensive interviews with Hetfield that would be needed to produce an in-depth biography. Thus,…
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Resonant Realms
Landscapes Inspired by Heavy Metal Music A Small Series by Rachel Kahn It’s always exciting to get goodies in the mail and this week my most inspiring delivery came from Portable City Illustration and Comics, the online store of independent creator Rachel Kahn. I’m a huge fan of Rachel’s By Crom! comics and her artwork…
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‘Beer Drinkers and Hell Raisers: The Rise of Motorhead’ by Martin Popoff
That title is a very fair description of Motorhead. They certainly were beer drinkers and hell raisers… especially in their golden years, the time of the Three Amigos line-up: Lemmy, Fast Eddie, and Philthy Phil! To put it in perspective, circa ‘No Sleep Till Hammersmith’ everyone knew who Motorhead was. They were even on programs…
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Damn The Machine – by David E. Gehlke
The Story of Noise Records Ah, this book really and truly is a thing of beauty and joy forever! It really does do what it promises, telling the fascinating tale of Noise Records in great—but always engrossing—detail. Noise’s artists are still relevant today. Whilst in the excellent Steamboat Music in Limerick recently, I noticed the Celtic…
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No Quarter: The Three Lives of Jimmy Page by Martin Power
The word legend is overused in our media-saturated age of undeserved hype. But Jimmy Page truly is a legend; the proof of the pudding being the amount of people who know little of rock music but have heard of Jimmy. The beauty of No Quarter is that Martin Power has not taken the well-trodden path…
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Glutton for Punishment – metal poetry by Christopher Doda
Heavy metal has been around long enough to inspire creativity well past its own borders. Or, perhaps, long enough to redefine many creative arts in metal terms. The newly published poetry collection from Christopher Doda, Glutton for Punishment, might be either or both – poetry inspired by metal / poetry forged as metal. The collection, as…
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Book reviews from Steve Earles: June edition
A Gentleman In Moscow By Amor Towles Published by Hutchinson In this humorous and beautifully written book we are introduced to a certain Count Rostov, an aristocrat who has survived the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution; and had spent the last four years in a suite in The Metropol, a magnificent hotel near the Kremlin (Suite 217 of…