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Rating: One either loves or hates death metal, there's little room for compromise. It's too "everything" to evoke lukewarm reactions: too "fast," too aggressive, too "shouted." Among the countless subgenres of metal, it's perhaps the one that, along with black metal, also had its origins in the most unlikely places, suddenly transforming pleasant provincial towns into capitals of world rock. Well, more or less.
Born in the late Eighties from an extremization of thrash metal, combined also with a punk hardcore vein that never hurts, dear old death metal immediately stood out in two major branches: the American strain, with bands like Death, Deicide, and Cannibal Corpse, and the European one, with one country above all dictating the line, Sweden. Sweden, the cheerful block of ice of Northern Europe had, until that time, likely contributed most to world music with the smiling Abba, creators of countless beautiful melodies in the mid-Seventies, and, more recently, the radio-friendly rock of Europe. Okay, yes, there was also a certain Mr. Malmsteen, but he, fortunately or unfortunately, was never popular outside a strictly "medol" context. Well, Sweden would, in just a few years, become the undisputed incubator for some of the most renowned extreme metal bands ever, true pioneers of a genre that would truly set the tone. Some names? Bathory, Dismember, Entombed, Grave, Unleashed, At the Gates. In random order, just for taste. Obsessive rhythms, pounding drums, a wall of guitars with the unmistakable "buzzing" sound, a voice that couldn't be more guttural, and lyrics that on more than one occasion would have required explanations. How do you say, does it seem like stuff for bored teenagers? Absolutely, in fact, the average age of various musicians at the time of their demo and debut LPs often barely surpassed eighteen. Many kids armed with guitars and eager to make noise, fantastic. And among these kids at the time was also the author of the book, Daniel Ekeroth, naturally, a hardcore death-metaller, who spent his youth amidst demos, fanzines, vinyl, and guitars. What Ekeroth immediately makes clear is that a book like this does not in any way claim to be comprehensive. There are surely errors, many of the various characters interviewed don't remember certain events, and it's practically impossible to query specifics about events from twenty-five years ago.
What Ekeroth perfectly achieves, however, is recreating the atmosphere of an era, namely, from the mid-Eighties to the early Nineties, transforming the vicissitudes of sixteen-year-olds into an engaging collective novel, thus narrating what was his and many of his peers' adolescence. From the advent of thrash metal and punk hardcore, through the first extreme bands like Bathory and Venom, Ekeroth tries to reconstruct the happenings of a youth movement, the Swedish branch of death metal, which was both blessed by success and the result of practically artisanal work. Demos often recorded with incredibly meager means, fanzines crafted with glue and sweat, with illustrations, of course, all handmade, tape trading facilitated by the countless contacts that small groups of kids managed to gather at concerts or through magazines. Death metal, like metal in general and part of punk, was also about this during those years. Then the first demos recorded in professional studios and the first contracts with small independent labels that in a few years would become giants, see Nuclear Blast, Earache, and Century Media. But first, there was all this. And it's an odd sensation, considering how in our now ruined Italy, it's become impossible even to organize a festival worthy of the name, to think that seminal bands like Entombed and Dismember could often record their demos thanks to... state funds!! Oh yes, because the cheerful Swedish welfare state also thinks about this, with rehearsal rooms often provided at rock-bottom prices, because "if we have a new Hendrix in Stockholm, we're certainly not going to let him slip away."
In Italy, as previously mentioned, if you're lucky, they call the police because Springsteen exceeded by twenty minutes in his encores. But let's not go there. What also amazes about these nearly five hundred pages is how Ekeroth, despite the challenges in finding some information, has tried to offer his reader as complete a work as possible, all spiced with an (auto)ironic attitude that gives the book a certain lightness. Besides a purely historical-biographical section, there is also a long portion dedicated to various period fanzines, often written by the same kids who then played on the records, with a brief commentary for each. Given the subject matter, there is also a vast list of various death metal bands that Sweden has produced in the past twenty-five years, with biographical notes and discography. Naturally, to the delight of the eyes, there are countless period photos of concerts, covers, and posters, all strictly in evocative black and white. A monumental work, no doubt about it, which truly justifies the price of 22 euros, perhaps a bit high, but on the other hand, it must be acknowledged how Tsunami Edizioni has long become synonymous with absolute quality in rock literature. An engaging work, therefore, that can be interesting both for those who already appreciate the genre and for those who simply want to immerse themselves in an era when mp3s and webzines were pure science fiction and to buy a vinyl you often had to travel several dozen kilometers. A book that is the ultimate embodiment of this forty-year-old teenager's passion and dedication, still today devoted to "strumming" in bands like Tyrant and Insision and who has no intention of "settling down." A praise for the consistency and the desire to still believe in it. Certainly a great read.
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