Customer Reviews

New Wave of American Heavy Metal

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

I've got a few of these Rockdetector books and I have always been very impressed. I'm glad they have tackled the new, cutting edge bands this time around. The cover picture, of Dime, OF COURSE, is just perfect.
"New wave of American heavy metal" What does that mean? The scope of bands included here is very wide - you get melodic Death Metal, straight forward Thrash, Emocore, Metalcore, Gothcore, Hardcore, pretty much anything new. As well as the new bands included are the old school Hardcore, such as Agnostic front, Madball, etc, which is valid because these bands are where it all started really. The book mainly concentrayes on bands like Shadows fall, Killswitch, Trivium, Hatebreed, Avenged sevenfold, Mastodon and all that stuff. The book also includes Pantera, Machine Head and Biohazard too. There are more than 600 bands here.
The good thing about Rockdetector books (and the website) is the detail. The band histories are mostly very in depth, much more so than AMG, etc. Every band has a discography of singles and albums, which they have changed the layout of a bit. I think I prefer it now running in date order. Lots of photos too although they should have included a newer Fear Factory one. (Old line up)
Not much opinion - A GOOD THING - just lots of facts. I learned a lot with each page.
A great, high quality book for checking up on albums and band data.

I've got the Rock Detector Thrash metal book, so took a chance on this one. Ok, a lot of these newer bands I'm not into at all but buying it for the more METAL styled bands I have to say Im impressed. The band entries are great. I love reading about all the history, when they formed, their inspiration, who was in, who was out. Revealing is that a lot of these bands you thought were new date back further than you think.
Hard to find fault really. It's a thick book with a ton of bands. Im sure there could be more but what other book out there is there? None. Great job Rock Detector.

The cover is awesome.

There is little information contained in this book that couldn't be found on any of the individual band's Wikipedia pages, record label websites or MySpace pages. There's is absolutely no narrative nor separation between bands of greater and lesser importance in terms of the amount of content. Picking up the book and casually reading a few of my favorite bands I noticed several typos and misinformation across the board: artist's names, album titles, record labels, etc.

This is a definite pass. I wish there was another book that detailed the story of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal that I could recommend. In the meantime consider buying "Choosing Death" by Albert Mudrian and John Peel or Burning Fight by Brian Peterson.

The first thing to take stock of with this book is that it does not include all the bands you really don't want to read about again. When the title says "New wave" it means it and thankfully you will not find the likes of Korn, the disturbed, Orgy,... The book concentrates on the Metalcore generation, also covering Emocore and the newer hardcore bands.
I found the content very readable and objective. Each band is given a line up of names and the instruments they play plus their location too. They all have a history. Sometimes, for smaller start up bands, this is brief but for established bands the history can be very lengthy and informative.
What the writer does not do is engage in hyperbole, which I'm very thankful for. It's just facts about the records, who joined the band, who left, who they toured with... I really like this approach. I hate books that treat you like someone to be sold to. I know what music I like and I just want the facts so I can be informed about buying new music.
There are a few bands from MO I know personally so it was cool to see friends name checked, even on some of the smaller bands. Where the writer got all this detail from is a mystery because there is a lot of detail in here you won't find anywhere else!
I especially like all the detail on the hardcore godfathers as its bands like these that get overlooked too often.
This is a great book, packed with facts and data. If you're into any kind of core Metal this really is a bible. Hope an updated book comes out next year.

Having read sections of the book online, I have to see that this is one of the most inaccurate books I've ever had the displeasure of reading. Histories of bands and their members are so off track and you'd be better off reading their Wikipedia entries for more accurate information. Stay away from this one no matter what price it's offered at. I wouldn't waste shelf space with this piece of junk!

Todd here :) I played on the "Splinters of Change demo" mentioned in this tome with a band called "GNOSTIC". I wanted to thank the author for mentioning the band and myself. I did notice that the band was said to be from Sarasota. The truth is, the band was based in Atlanta, Georgia where all of the members, including myself, lived at the time. Sarasota is however, linked to the scene and the bands drummer, Steve Flynn. It's a very slight mistake, but worthy of mention. Thanks again for taking the time to mention myself and Gnostic.


Todd

I'll state my bias upfront. I work for Rockdetector as the Canadian staff member. I have been working on a number of projects for the organization but I did not have a hand in the creation of this new title, NWOAHM. In addition, most of the artists detailed in this title are not to my immediate, personal musical taste so I feel justified in adding my unbiased opinion. Accordingly, I feel it is appropriate to submit my review on this latest title in the ever-expanding Rockdetector bibliography.

Published in late 2005, this is the latest in a long-line of respected publications from Rockdetector. Clocking in at a massive 366 pages, on good quality paper, the book covers hundreds of bands in extensive detail. The font is large and readable and there are dozens of excellent black & white photos scattered throughout the work. The book also includes a short but very insightful essay of the historical roots of the NWOAHM movement as well as the usual table of contents, index and so on.

The book is laid out alphabetically and covers predominantly bands from North America from the 1990's until 2005. Don't let the title fool you, the NWOAHM is not a genre or sound in itself, but a musical movement and as such includes bands from many countries who meet the very broad and oft-debated criteria for inclusion. Such sub-genres covered are Metalcore, Alternative Metal, Math Metal and many more. Interestingly enough some of the larger, more commercial bands (Korn, Coal Chamber) did not make the cut but perhaps that was not a great loss as many more younger, lesser known (and even perhaps more worthy) independent bands did get a chance to see themselves in print, probably for the first time.

The discography sections are where the collectors will be most interested with extensive release info, record labels, release dates, track-listings, catalogue numbers and more. The incredibly detailed biographies, mostly drawn from first hand interviews with the band members, will have fans marveling at the mountains of interesting facts and trivia about their favorite bands.

The NWOAHM tome stands out for many reasons but specifically because this is the first academic documentation of this burgeoning movement in metal evolution. There have been many excellent publications on various other genres over the years, but until now this whole NWOAHM phenomena has gone unexplored.

For new young fans discovering metal and wishing to see where this movement came from (Pantera, Biohazard and Pro-Pain) and for older fans wishing to trace the continued and constant evolution of our beloved genre, the NWOAHM is the definitive text. Again despite the fact many of these bands are not my preferred styles for a fan of this style NWOAHM is the single authoritarian source and a welcome addition to any metal library.

Having previously bought a couple of the Rockdetector books I thought this one would be good to add to my collection.
The NWOAHM book does not include all bands, it does however provide a blurb on the reasoning for inclusion, and covers all bands from the well known Pantera right through to the lesser known Coq Roq. Where do they find these bands!
Each band is covered with detail and thoroughness making it a great resource when hearing about new bands in that field of metal.
Web address' are included this time which also adds to the information, you now have the chance to check out bands websites for yourself.
I enjoyed this book, I found it very informative.

Kool collection of national acts along with some independent bands that deserve to be recognized. Nicely done.

My boyfriend's band is listed briefly in this book and all of the information on them is completely innacurate. The author didn't even bother to check the facts before publishing this thing. He has member line up's and such completely screwed up and even left out the name of the lead singer who has been in the band since it's conception. I don't recommend this book if you want facts. I am sure Year of Desolation isn't the only band he completely destroyed fact wise.