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Rating: Has the long wait for the release of this book been rewarded? My answer is that it depends on the reader's expectations: if you'll enjoy the fragmentary style, rich with cultural interludes that never feel like filler but help to build a basic understanding of the elements surrounding the story narrated by the singer of Death SS, then you will probably like the book quite a bit. However, if you were expecting some extraordinary revelation, it's worth noting that at least 80% of the facts told were already known to anyone who has read a fair number of interviews and in-depth articles on the subject in the past; nevertheless, everything is set within a sufficiently described period setting that turns out to be one of the most interesting aspects of the book.
The volume has been elegantly printed, with pages rich in decorations, beautiful backgrounds, and many photos of the band (evocative, though not infrequently quite faded), some of which are unpublished.
However, I found the way the preface was organized to be quite useless: I don't see the point of writing four when one would have sufficed if done properly. Marco Manetti's is pompous, redundant, and as silly as it is superfluous. Nevertheless, at the beginning of the actual book, the story becomes increasingly interesting until diving into the heart (or death, if you will) of the birth of the epitome of the cursed band. A compelling tale of an era that is now distant and unrepeatable.
The style is candid and very simple, ensuring a very smooth read (you can comfortably finish it in a day or two without any sort of indigestion). Clearly, this is the biography of Steve Sylvester, a character who, as fascinating as he may be, might not appeal to everyone: if you like the vampire in question, you'll probably appreciate him even more after reading the book, while if he often turned you off, there's a risk that after reading, you'll find him utterly unbearable.
Personally, I find Steve Sylvester morally ambiguous, sometimes thinking in clichés (if we hadn't been Italian by now... yadda yadda yadda). Just to give an example, he says he's a convinced animalist and then continues to depict animal sacrifices in his shows (that is, in the product he sells), effectively expressing the exact opposite of what he claims to profess after repenting for all the poor creatures he killed in his youth.
Furthermore, Mr. SS is narcissistic to the core right from that horrendous cover like a castrated gay fakir: he takes such care to enhance his own image in a way that I sometimes find annoying, especially when he starts with certain vanity-ridden rhetorics filled with a deplorable self-glorification. Nonetheless, there are also various sincere confessions and I found his occasional digs at today's society and that of the past both sharp and fitting. Certainly, speaking of how punk died with the commercialization of its own devotees, one could say that the Death SS, as refounded by him, did the same exact thing, turning into a sideshow phenomenon that offers mere entertainment and thinks from a commercial perspective. Another point of disappointment is how the artistic importance of Paolo Catena was not highlighted in the slightest, but rather, was completely overlooked. Not even poor Sanctis Ghoram receives very respectful treatment, being insulted repeatedly and called nothing but a lousy usurper of Steve Sylvester's sacred throne.
The appendice interviews are quite boring and add practically nothing interesting to the narrative. The only ones worth mentioning are those with the good Andrea Vianelli and today's Paolo Catena; the latter interview, however strong a part of the book it may be, has been dissected and only partially reported, introduced in a sarcastic and disrespectful manner.
In conclusion, the biography in question will certainly make fans of the band and metalheads in general happy, even though I found it biased and lacking in self-critical sense, with some (probably) half-truths too many, especially regarding the author's personal goals, which I find quite petty, to be honest (a vampire in name and fact). I also critique an excessive spirit of self-praise that reveals the shallowness of his cheap philosophy, not free from contradictions.
A well-bound volume but not as unmissable as many say.
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