METALLICA - Kompletna ilustrowana historia - MARTIN POPOFF

Here is another of Martin Popoff's more than 40 books – one of the most prolific music journalists in the broadly understood Rock world. A richly illustrated history of the world's best-known metal band (presented in a nutshell, without needless gossip and deliberation about the private lives of the band members, with really few exceptions), containing nothing but hard facts about releases, concerts, the making of the recordings and over 300 unique photographs (from various periods of the band, concert posters, tickets, passes and T-shirts), published in a large format, in full colour, on coated paper. The history described begins shortly before the formation of Metallica, where, under the influence of a fascination with the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal and resistance to the then dominant trend of Glam Rock, the idea of starting a band is born, and then Metallica's first line-up and first tracks come into being, which set off an avalanche of many later events, bringing the band to the very peak of popularity that lasts to this day. The content of the book usually revolves around the events connected with each album released, presenting descriptions of each release, short analyses of individual tracks with passing information about the lyrical and graphic side. The information contained in the book is supported by direct statements, thoughts and reflections of the musicians (current and former) as well as managers or producers. Of course, apart from presenting the band's road to the very peak of fame, there is no lack of recollections concerning the commotion around the band's status and the difficult period in Metallica's history, from the release of the controversial album "Load" to the appearance of the album "St. Anger" and the presentation of the motives and decisions taken at that time concerning the further image, as well as the musical style adopted. Since the band's story went on, the last pages of this book bring us further provocative events (such as the latest line-up changes – the replacement of Jason Newsted with Robert Trujillo and the realisation of the "Lulu" project with Lou Reed) and the triumphant return to roots with the album "Death Magnetic". Unfortunately every publication has its end, and a good ending to the book is the musicians' statements about a possible end of their career, and moreover variety is provided by interesting reviews of the band's studio albums (written by well-known music journalists) and a full, detailed discography, descriptions of selected singles, live material and videography. Today we already know that after this unofficial publication was written the band released another great album "Hardwired…To Self-Destruct" and is still in great form, and so this is not the end of the story. 192 pages, large format, richly illustrated, full colour, hardback.