Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal and Grindcore [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

Mudrian details two of the more esoteric subgenres of heavy metal in appropriate fashion, that is, with photos of the bands, but not definitions of and distinctions between, say, death metal and black metal, abounding. By and large, Mudrian treats grindcore and death metal as interrelated approaches to the verbally gloomy, power-chording world of heavy metal that are leavened by a stiff dose of the punk do-it-yourself ethos and created by musicians who "grew up on traditional heavy metal, thrash and speed metal, punk, industrial and hardcore." Taxonomic considerations aside, Mudrian provides conversational histories of such bands as Cannibal Corpse, Darkthrone, and Sepultra and highlights of interviews with leading subgenre movers and shakers. Altogether, the book is similar to the three Decline of Western Civilization documentaries of outsider music, minus those films' endearing footage of substance abuse and other suicidal behaviors. An excellent shelf mate to Moynihan and Soderlind's Lords of Chaos: The Bloody Rise of the Satanic Metal Underground (1998)--not as scary for fans' parents but just as insightful and comprehensive. Mike Tribby
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In 1986, it was unimaginable that death metal and grindcore would ever impact popular culture. Yet this shockingly fast and barbaric amalgam of hardcore punk and heavy metal would define the musical threshold of extremity for years to come. Initially circulated through an underground tape-trading network by scraggly, angry young boys, death metal and grindcore spread faster than a plague of undead zombies as bands rose from every corner of the globe. By 1992, the genre's first legitimate label, Earache Records, had sold well over a million death metal and grindcore albums in the United States alone. Choosing Death, featuring an introduction by John Peel, conquers the lofty task of telling the two-decade-long history of this underground art form through the eyes and ringing ears of the artists, producers, and label owners - past and present - who propelled the movements.

The book covers the scene in every dark detail, from its late '70s beginnings in the UK's anarcho-punk scene, to the early 80s American version that featured unplayable - and to some, unlistenable - riffs, to legendary groups like Napalm Death and Godflesh, to the genre's alleged death and resurrection in the late 1990s.