Joel McIver

Let's be blunt: Slayer's fans won't learn anything new here and, when it comes to history, most of the content can be gleaned from merely reading a Wikipedia entry anyway. Having said that, it still is a very pleasant read. First, because going over Slayer's journey is always a pleasure. Then, because the writing style of the author (at times very fluid; at times breaking suddenly to leave others take over -when offering quotes etc.-) makes it even more enthralling, no matter how meagre the show more content otherwise. Of course, it has its flaws too!

First, as with most musical biography the author tends to be quite strongly opiniated. It's not a bad thing, but I found myself disagreeing more than I wished I had with a lot of his judgements. For example, I find it highly constricting to judge their whole career in light of 'Reign in Blood' (what he seems to do); I certainly don't find 'South of Heaven' being a step down when it comes to heaviness; 'Undisputed Attitude' is certainly not 'tedious' to me but, on the contrary, put hardcore punk to shame for its sheer energy (fun fact: I was one thinking that these were actually Slayer's songs when it came out! And I don't even like punk that much!); and I believe 'Diabolus in Musica' to be a very good album, where they managed to re-invent themselves without compromising (honestly, I don't get the beef with that one -it's not nu-metal for Pete's sake!).

Then, he took the parti-pris of analysing songs' contents for each album. That's something that I personally found both unnecessary and patronising (e.g. I can read lyrics -thank you!- and I can understand them too -it's bloody Slayer, not deep philosophy!). It also makes for a book ending up being longer than it should, with this type of content feeling like mere fillers.

Last but not least, he has this view that Slayer's work can be split into 'fast Slayer' and 'slow Slayer', and I tend to find this split a tat unfair and ridiculous. Slayer never compromised, and one surely can love 'Reign in Blood' and 'South of Heaven' without both being necessarily antinomic. I understand that he prefers 'fast Slayer' as embodied by 'Reign in Blood'. That's fair, since it's one of the (if not THE) best thrash metal album and extreme album ever released. Thing is, I am one believing that Slayer playing 'Reign in Blood' for 30 years would have been utterly boring, and so I am glad that they tried and inject their music with fresh blood at times (again, 'South of Heaven', 'Diabolus in Musica'...). In fact, as far as I am concerned, when they did try to re-do 'Reign in Blood' is when they got to their worse (e.g. 'Divine Intervention', which he loves but that I find meh -it goes back to differing personal tastes...).

All in all, and despite my negative points raised above, this is certainly not a bad book and I highly recommend it for the fans. It is, again, a very pleasant journey to reminisce about the band that truly embodied thrash metal in its most brutal form. The content might be weak at time, or, at least, not as deep as I would have expected. Nevertheless, the style of the author is engaging enough for me to have added some of his books in my 'to-read' list. And with that, I am off to my CD collection! SLAYER! SLAYER! SLAYER! show less

This memoir by David Bowie's drummer during his Ziggy phase is friendly and very readable. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that he had a rich career after his days with Bowie and that he is well-regarded as a drummer by his peers in the rock world. The main portion of the book is of course about his Spiders From Mars career, but the remainder of the book is also interesting, with many insights into how tour and recording projects are put together in the music industry. There are a few show more technical passages about drumming, mostly concerning the Bowie albums, and a few rather muted tales of rock-'n-roll excess, again almost entirely during the Ziggy tours. The author is a generous man who is quick to praise virtually every musician he encounters, and it was intriguing to follow the way his career developed and the people he met along the way. show less

Nice coffee table book with everything you might want to know about the band in its many iterations, as well as the continuing story of the Ozzman. Lots of info and great photos. Pretty much exactly what you want in this kind of book, though some purists might wish that the book focused 98% on things up to Heaven and Hell.

Michael Woodmanssey was the drummer who worked and played with David Bowie for four years in The Spiders from Mars band. The memoir begin with boys playing kick the ball in a field. Who would have thought that a ball kicked out of bounds would have such a profound impact on a young boy from Driffield in Yorkshire, England. In chasing the ball, “Woody” stumbled across band rehearsal that awoke his desire to become a musician. This is not an in-depth dissection of writing songs, putting a show more band together, or getting record contracts. Nor is it an expose of alcohol and drug abuse and wild sexual experiences, although he mentions some incidents. His is a life full of insecurities, risks, and a lot of hard work. His journey drives home the point that being different takes its toll on personal and professional relationships but can result in rock and roll history. “Woody” is an apt nickname for a man who spent a majority of his career using drumsticks. The book is an easy reading long drum solo that carries the reader along. A select discography, acknowledgements, and index are included. show less