Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore

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Summary: Death's Reply
Review: After reading this book I was slightly disappointed by Mr. Aldurian's first book. As a fan of this type of music, I give him credit for writing about a genre of music that hasn't really been looked at or even taken seriously or even respected (which it deserves a lot of). But the book is almost completely filled with this type of storyline/writing: "so-and-so" starts a band, later he leaves that band and forms a new band. Later on, one of the members of this band leaves and joins the original band that "so-and-so" started. You can just go on with names of people and bands and who joined who and then left and then rejoined...on and on and on....

In other words, it rambles on and doesn't really grab the reader or spark enthusiasm. You can save your time and money and just basically go on a website and look up one of these bands find out about the members (original, new, who came left and joined again) and what other bands sound like them or who they influenced or where influenced by, etc.

What would have made this book great was if there was more of a cohesion between good storytelling of interesting and amusing stories, setting and time details, more fan and outside reflections, etc. The author definitely needs to work on his writing skills (there were a few grammatical and spelling errors - maybe the editor's fault) but stay on this path of writing about interesting and underground subjects.


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Summary: This book is AMAZING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Review: As a teenager in the early 90's craving the most extreme metal sounds available, I was a huge fan of the death metal underground. Having just read Choosing Death, I can honestly say that there exists no substitute to capture the thrill and intensity that filled the minds of so many listeners in those days. This book transported me straight back to those golden years where so much excitement abounded within the death metal scene. Having just finished the book, I'm all fired up!! I'll be digging out all my old CD's from the attic tonight!! This isn't a fan-based death metal bio book...no...this is the story of the music from its earliest rumblings through to its international buzz told by the major players in the scene. The story is spun through the words of band members, label owners, record executives, artists, etc... Mudrian does a fantastic job at letting the band members, etc tell the story themselves. It's a perfectly balanced take of the death metal scene from all vantage points. Loaded with incredible photos. Tons amazing stories. I have been hoping someone would do this genre some justice and put out the definitive story. The wait is over!! The definitive story has arrived!!!

Rating:
Summary: Comprehensive overview of the genre
Review: Former Terrorizer editior Nick Terry states up front in his introduction that this book isn't intended to be a thorough cataloguing of all the second and third string death metal bands that have come about over the last 15 years, and "Choosing Death" is the better book for it. Every book that I've read thus far on the history of heavy metal (in general) gaffs when they get to the part about the extreme bands. For instance, in listing the seminal forebearers of the genre they'll commonly cite bands like Napalm Death, Carcass, Morbid Angel, etc. and then - just to appear they really know their stuff - they'll throw in a mention of some extremely minor band that I've never even heard of half the time, despite the fact that I've been listening to death metal voraciously since 1990, even reviewing the genre in various periodicals up until a few years ago. Which is not to say I've heard of every death metal band worth listening to, but if they were a huge influence on the genre there's no way they've escaped my notice all this time.

On the other hand, "Choosing Death" is the first overview of death metal, comprehensive or otherwise, that has trimmed the fat completely. Except for the final chapter which discusses various spin offs that were influenced by death metal (a guaranteed controversy if there ever was one) such as "nu-metal", there is no mention of any bands that weren't extremely important to the genre.

I do, however, have to knock off one star for the later chapters, which offer little insight into the decline of death metal in the mid-90s aside from the usual "market saturation" issues. And hey, there may be nothing more to it than that, although it's debatable, but nonetheless it makes for uninteresting reading to have so many sources repeating the same opinions just to fill an appropriate amount of space in the book. I'm sure the author didn't want to gloss over several years worth of death metal, but in his quest to avoid relying on third stringers to tell the story of death metal's history and evolution, he focuses too much on the Earache, Roadrunner, and Nuclear Blast bands and ignores the minor acts that were carrying the torch during the time period.

The loss of a star also carries over into the aforementioned source material, much of the quoting coming from either Earache head Digby Pearson or various ex-Earache acts. There is very little input from the heads of other labels, such as Roadrunner or Nuclear Blast, and though Earache is without a doubt the go-to label for the early history of death metal, Digby himself admits that he kind of lost sight of where the extreme metal frontier was in the mid-to-late 90s, favoring hardcore techno acts long past the point where the fans demurred (in fact, to this day Earache is far from having made a comeback, most of their current roster being filled by a variety of third-string non-sellers). Century Media has been the backbone of the metal scene for going on ten years now and the label's influence is shamefully neglected in the later chapters.

Nonetheless, four stars, if nothing else for the excellent history of the scene up to and including the Columbia/Earache licensing deal falling apart. Hopefully in a later edition the author can go back and further flesh out the aftermath of that event. In the current edition, the subsequent chapters just read like one long anti-climax.

Rating:
Summary: Absolutely addicting!!
Review: Having not caught the death metal bug until 1991, there was a lot of pre-90's groundwork that was being laid while I was in high school listening to Slayer, Megadeth, Testament, Anthrax, etc., thinking they were the heaviest bands on the planet. This book shows exactly what was going on under the radar during those formative years, which led to the death metal explosion in the early 90s. This book tells you exactly who made what happen and how some of my now favorite bands came to be, and how they first got their exposure. It details how the major label feeding frenzy of 93-95, combined with other factors, almost destroyed death metal, and who kept the genre going after the dust had settled. It documents how the genre was reborn in the late 90s and covers some of the key players who now carry the torch into the new millenium. Tons of interviews with bands, label execs, producers, and others involved in the scene and lot of never-before seen photos to add to the visual component. I read it all in one sitting, couldn't put it down. Get it.

Rating:
Summary: Finally! A really good book on the subject!!!
Review: I'll make this quick. If you are a major OR minor fan of this type of extreme music or if you have an interest in becoming a fan, I would say this book could be the instruction manual! From NAPALM DEATH's 'SCUM' to the current scene, this book fills in the blanks and then some. BE WARNED: you may not be able to put the book down until you finish it!!! ARAUUGGHHHH!!!!!!

Rating:
Summary: Amazingly researched and written book on death metal
Review: My copy of CHOOSING DEATH arrived in the mailbox last Tuesday. I cannot recommend this book enough to both fans of death/grindcore and people who are not as familiar with this type of metal. I have been an avid fan of death and grind now for over 5 years and I still learned a lot about this book. For instance, I had no idea how important Napalm Death really are/were to death metal. After reading this book I have a better idea just how important Napalm Death are. The author also does a great job in covering bands from the late 1990s to the present day who are pushing the envelope in every sense of the word by combining other influences (Opeth, Nile, Slipknot, In Flames) and bands who continue to push the envelopes of speed and brutality, (i.e. Krisiun and Hate Eternal). Over 2 years of collected interviews make this book something special. Plus, at the end of the book the author provides a list of essential death metal albums throughout the years. To conclude this review, CHOOSING DEATH is essential reading. You will not be disappointed.