The definitive oral history of heavy metal, Louder Than Hell by renowned music journalists Jon Wiederhorn and Katherine Turman includes hundreds of interviews with the giants of the movement, conducted over the past 25 years.
Unlike many forms of popular music, metalheads tend to embrace their favorite bands and follow them over decades. Metal is not only a pastime for the true aficionados; it’s a lifestyle and obsession that permeates every aspect of their being. Louder Than Hell is an examination of that cultural phenomenon and the much-maligned genre of music that has stood the test of time.
Louder than Hell features more than 250 interviews with some of the biggest bands in metal, including Black Sabbath, Metallica, Megadeth, Anthrax, Slayer, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Spinal Tap, Pantera, White Zombie, Slipknot, and Twisted Sister; insights from industry insiders, family members, friends, scenesters, groupies, and journalists; and 48 pages of full-color photographs.

Louder Than Hell: The Definitive Oral History of Metal

Arts & Photography

Wiederhorn, Jon

Turman, Katherine

Music

It Books

Humor & Entertainment

From the author of the celebrated classic Louder Than Hell comes an oral history of the badass Heavy Metal lifestyle―the debauchery, demolition, and headbanging dedication―featuring metalhead musicians from Black Sabbath and Judas Priest to Twisted Sister and Quiet Riot to Disturbed, Megadeth, Throwdown and more. In his song “You Can’t Kill Rock and Roll” Ozzy Osbourne sings, “Rock and roll is my religion and my law.” This is the mantra of the metal legends who populate Raising Hell―artists from Black Sabbath, Judas Priest, Slipknot, Slayer, and Lamb of God to Twisted Sister, Quiet Riot, Disturbed, Megadeth, and many more! It’s also the guiding principle for underground voices like Misery Index, Gorgoroth, Municipal Waste, and Throwdown. Through the decades, the metal scene has been populated by colorful individuals who have thwarted convention and lived by their own rules. For many, vice has been virtue, and the opportunity to record albums and tour has been an invitation to push boundaries and blow the lid off a Pandora’s box of riotous experiences: thievery, vandalism, hedonism, the occult, stage mishaps, mosh pit atrocities, and general insanity. To the figures in this book, metal is a means of banding together to stick a big middle finger to a society that had already decided they didn’t belong. Whether they were oddballs who didn’t fit in or angry kids from troubled backgrounds, metal gave them a sense of identity. Drawing from 150-plus first-hand interviews with vocalists, guitarists, bassists, keyboardists, and drummers, music journalist Jon Wiederhorn offers this collection of wild shenanigans from metal’s heaviest and most iconic acts―the parties, the tours, the mosh pits, the rage, the joy, the sex, the drugs . . . the heavy metal life! Horns up!

Raising Hell: Backstage Tales from the Lives of Metal Legends

Biographies & Memoirs

Arts & Literature

Diversion Books

“Miret’s captivating and harrowing, no-holds-barred account of a life lived in the trenches . . . You don’t have to be a major Agnostic Front fan to get maximum enjoyment out of this book. . . . A compelling read.” —Classic Rock Revisited "Miret’s memorable, affecting stories capture an important time in the hardcore music scene. . . . Equal parts music memoir and gritty coming-of-age story, it’s an eminently readable and fast-paced look at life during hardcore’s heyday. . . . Not just for music fans, My Riot is a valuable snapshot of an important time." —Foreword Reviews “My Riot is a powerful and riveting read. A brutal look into the life of a man that did what he had to do to survive.” —Scott Ian, Anthrax Born in Cuba, Roger Miret fled with his family to the US to escape the Castro regime. Through vivid language and graphic details, he recounts growing up in a strange new land with a tyrannical stepfather and the roles that poverty and violence played in shaping the grit that became critical to his survival. In his teen years, he finds himself squatting in abandoned buildings with unforgettably eccentric runaways and victims of similar childhood trauma. With like-minded misfits he helps pioneer a new musical genre, but with money scarce and commercial success impossible, he turns to running drugs to support his family and winds up in prison. It’s the ultimate test of his toughness and perseverance that eventually sets him on a path towards redemption. My Riot is both an unflinching portrait of downtown New York in the 1980s and a testament to the perils of growing up too fast. “It's a great read, tracing the roots of New York Hardcore via lots of crazy stories about potentially deadly situations. . . . Pick up this book and take a walk back in time through the Lower East Side when it was still a hair-raising adventure.” —D. Randall Blythe, Lamb of God

My Riot: Agnostic Front, Grit, Guts & Glory

Miret, Roger

Post Hill Press

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