Rockdetector: A-Z of Black Metal [Paperback]

Garry Sharpe-Young (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 5, 2004 | Series: Rockdetector

Throughout the history of rock no other genre has pushed the boundaries of aural extremity and social rebellion quite like Black Metal. Many of the bands in this book operate way beyond the parameters of the established rock scene, carving their own path in the darkest depths of true underground music. For the first time this ultimate authority documents detailed biographies, line-ups, and full discographies with track listings of more than 2,000 bands. Included are in-depth details of the major artist such as Cradle Of Filth, Dimmu Borgir, Emperor Mayhem, Immortal, and Marduk as well as every other band, however small, or distant geographically. Each strain of musical brutality is examined in detail including the Black ambient scene, Viking Metal, Grindcore, Noisecore, and even the ultimate irony of Christian Black Metal. Despite its unceasing growth and increasing legions of fans, the phenomenon of Extreme Metal has never been fully documented until now.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Garry Sharpe-Young is an author, artist, and heavy metal journalist. The founder of Rockdetector, his titles include A to Z of 80s Rock, A to Z of Death Metal, A to Z of Thrash Metal, Black Sabbath: Never Say Die!, Metal: The Definitive Guide, and Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback: 400 pages
• Publisher: Cherry Red (April 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1901447111
• ISBN-13: 978-1901447118
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,330,319 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars an outstanding guide, March 18, 2006

By 

Amanda Nelson - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A-Z of Black Metal (Rockdetector) (Paperback)

I have just recently became obsessed with black metal for some unknown reason. I have listened to death, thrash, and speed metal on top of grindcore for the past 18 years and read the death and thrash metal guides 2 years ago. This book has really helped me discover a great deal of information about black metal and just straight up kicks ass. If you love black metal than this is the book for you.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars might be ok if you're new to bm, July 29, 2008

By 

Amy "circleofdestruction.net" (outer space) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A-Z of Black Metal (Rockdetector) (Paperback)

I hate to be too anal but with a book title like this, you expect it to not only have an encyclopedia-like format, but also better-researched information. Just skimming over a few bands here and there I picked out a massive amount of errors (examples: Gaahl's name is misspelled in the Trelldom and Gorgoroth entries, but not the Gaahlskagg entry, but the Gaahlskagg entry leaves Skagg out of the lineup entirely; the Carpathian Forest entry suggests that Nattefrost and Vrangsinn are the same person; there are numerous misspellings of band names, people names, album titles and so on).

The introduction is vaguely interesting and details what the author sees as the roots of Black Metal. The author undoubtedly tried to include a representative selection of bands, but it comes off as choppy and not very interesting. Some bands have several pages of information about them, some have none at all. Books like this are probably rendered obsolete by the internet; even the much-maligned Wikipedia has better and more complete information on most of these bands these days. There are some black and white photos reproduced here and there, and some of the blurbs are interesting (despite misinformation), and it's possible that improvements were made in the more-recent version (I have the one with the Gorgoroth cover), but overall I can't see this as very informative unless you're new to BM. It's not that I disliked it, but I didn't learn all that much either that I couldn't have found elsewhere.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Only as a reference......., March 10, 2006

By 

Mitchell R. King "lord-infernus" (FLORIDA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A-Z of Black Metal (Rockdetector) (Paperback)

I hate to see that the price on this book is so low now! I bought this on import many years ago when it first came out. In fact, my version has a picture of Gorgoroth on the cover instead of the picture of the now-departed Astennu of Dimmu Borgir on the cover. I paid like $60.00 back then, only because I was in a black metal frenzy at the time!! I can only reccomend this as a reference guide, if you need to know what songs are on what album. That's what it primarily gives, the little information it gives about the artists is usually mispelled and incorrect! Now that most people have the internet at thier disposal this book is really rendered obsolete. Although, there are a few choice live pictures courtesy of Martin Wickler. Caveat Emptor!!