Collectors Guide to Heavy Metal, Volume 3

Book excerpt: Book & CD. The long-awaited final instalment of the "Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal" trilogy has arrived! Volume 1: The '70s gave us 1162 reviews from that classic rock decade. Volume 2: The Eighties tacked on another 2528 reviews from the golden age of heavy metal at the top of the charts. Now we get Volume 3: The Nineties, weighing in at a mammoth 3,073 reviews, encompassing all of metal's many flavours as the genre exploded into death metal, grunge, alternative metal, power metal, progressive, stoner rock and doom, black metal and metalcore, with hair metal and thrash persisting into this strange, strange era for hard music. Popoff has indeed arrived full circle, finishing his massive task, creating the final piece of what has become a three volume guide to an astounding 6761 full-length albums from metal's inception to the dawn of the new millennium. He fills the pages full of reviews and recollections of hundreds upon hundreds of rarities and monster catalogues from '90s bands, as well as the continuing catalogues of bands discussed in the earlier books. Martin re-evaluates the classics and adds trivia titbits that make these records come to life. Come join his (often controversial!) look at metal's transitional decade and check out Martin's often fast 'n' loose opinions of hundreds of albums you won't see covered in any other rock compendium. Includes an exclusive CD sampler of Underground Metal Anthems provided by The Legendary Metal Blade Records.