Books: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath. 2 comments

Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.

Title: Sabbath Bloody Sabbath.
Authors: Joel McIver.
Publisher: Omnibus Press. - 2011
Additional Information: Paperback, 402 Pages, RM 8.00, Big Bad Wolf Bookfest.

1. This is the book detailing the history, the highs and lows of the worldly recognized grand daddy of heavy metal, the grand daddy of them all, Black Sabbath. Whether you are fan or you are not a fan of the band, if you consider yourself a metal fan, you must know this name, Black Sabbath. If you dont, then you should jump off a bridge and die a metal sinner.

2. Well, metal sinner or not, I have to admit that I am not really a big fan of the band. I understood and acknowledge their massive contribution to metal, they pioneered the damn music, how much more big of a contribution you need? But again, the same as my relation with KISS, being a newer generation of metal fans, with sets of ideas on how my metal should sound like, the sludgy and doomy type of proto-metal of the early Sabbath were really not my cup of tea.

3. Having said that, I am still in the midst of slowly introducing myself to the sound of Black Sabbath and what a better way to assist my journey then with a copy of this biography, authored by my favorite metal biographer and archivist of all time, Mr. Joel McIver. To be honest, I picked up this book specifically because it was written by McIver. If it was by another author, I would just leave it there, untouched, uninterested.

4. At the first instance I knew it was written by McIver, I picked it up straight away. Well, I was at a bookfest at 2.00 AM in the morning and the book was only for a measly RM8.00, it was a bloody no brainer. Well, despite its being dirt cheap and all, I still stress that the main factor I bought this book was McIver. 

5. Whats all this fuss about McIver? Well, first of all I have already bought 3 of his other books namely the Metallica autobio (which I just found out that I have yet to write about), the Slayer autobio and the Cliff Burton autobio, so I basically knew what am I getting myself into. One other thing, I once received an email from the guy thanking me about the reviews, so I got no other choice but to give high praise about the guy. He personally emailed me, godammit!

6. This book is 402 page thick, which were divided into 3 parts. These parts, each one for a different era of the band was further divided into 31 chapters in the typical McIver fashion, according to the years and phase of the band. The details were extremely grim and your head will explode due to over excess of information, which is why I like and appreciate McIver's work so much. If I were to write a book about the history of Cromok (Malaysian Thrash Metal legend, whether you like it or not, yes you, I am looking at you, Mr.You know who you are), it shall be in this exact style.

7. The book touched on the early formative years of the band with the infamous Ozzy Osbourne, the inevitable split between the two, the Dio years as well as other singers trying hard to fill the unfillable (if there is such a word) shoes of Ozzy and Dio, rotating number of drummers and bass players, the entering and outing of Bill Ward, the release of "other" Black Sabbath albums, up to the year 2011.

8. It turns out that this review was really about McIver then Black Sabbath, is it not? Well, if you are a fan of the band, the you must pick this one up since it is a very good read with a lot of information about the greatest metal band of all time, Black fuckin Sabbath.