Celebrating 50 years of the loudest music on earth, forthcoming book Half a Ton of Heavy Metal by Gareth Endean is a journey through the greatest, most influential and the heaviest
albums ever released.
Starting with Black Sabbath’s seminal 1970 debut and taking just one album from each subsequent year, the book tells the story of the vast, sprawling genre of heavy metal. From its humble beginnings in Birmingham, through the glorious excesses of the 70s and 80s, NWOBHM, the hair vs thrash wars, the twin threats of punk and grunge, the rise of extreme metal, the nu-metal explosion, the latter day dominance of metalcore and everything between and beyond this is the story of how the most derided and misunderstood of genres took over the world, and remains a thriving hub of creativity and boundary pushing ideas. Shown through the prism of its finest albums but restricting it to just one album per band,it is bound to get the die-hard fans of the genre arguing about the choices for every single year. And when we get right down to it, isn’t arguing about albums what being a metal fan is truly about?
The 22nd of July sees the launch of the book’s Kickstarter campaign. The campaign aims to raise the very metal sum of £666, to fund the release of a limited edition hardback version of the book. This edition will only be available through Kickstarter and each copy will be signed by the author. For those who want to spend a little more there is also an exclusive HaToHM t-shirt available and for the rich and foolhardy there is also the opportunity to choose which heavy metal mascot you’d like the author to get tattooed on his buttocks.
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Gareth Endean is the author of Terrible Lie, a crime thriller starring the metal loving scientist Christopher Hart, which has been likened to the work of Christopher Brookmyre and Colin Bateman. Half a Ton of Heavy Metal is his first non-fiction book. A lifelong metal fan, Gareth has written music-based articles for Down the Front Media and the Croydon Citizen as well as having work published on non-music websites such as Chortle and Soccerlens.
Half a Ton of Heavy Metal is available to pre order via Kickstarter now, and the book itself will be released in the Autumn. Team £666 now – we have!
