Neil Daniels – Metallica: The Early Rise of Metal (book)
Independent Music Press
www.neildaniels.com

Rating: B-

Before going any further in this review I will let the cat out of the bag, there is a major typo. Jason Newsted is refereed to, throughout the book, as James Newsted. It was an unfortunate mistake and will be corrected in future printings. Now that we have dealt with that, we can get to the rest of the book review as the typo does not take away from the overall reading experience.

Daniels is a music bio vet who has a unique way making any story interesting. This time he looks in-depth at the first four classic Metallica albums and talks to many of the people who were there. While there are plenty of quotes from the band members from other past publications, sometimes the way to the real story is to find the people who were on the fringe, or insiders who were not musicians.

Daniels does a fine job of telling the tale of four of the most groundbreaking albums in the Thrash genre. This is a fine read from beginning to end.

By Jeb Wright