Mick Wall writes the most detailed and interesting rock biographies around. I’ve read his previous ones on Iron Maiden and Led Zeppelin and couldn’t wait to pick up a copy of his latest book on Metallica.
Enter Night is written in two main parts, the first being Born to Die about the early years and up until the Master of Puppets album and the tragic death of bass player Cliff Burton. The second part, The Art of Darkness, covering the reinvention of the beast known as ‘tallica from the ...And Justice For All album onwards.
Wall’s research into the history of Metallica is extensive, covering the humble beginnings with McGovern through the Napster incident to their last album, Death Magnetic. At only just only 460 pages, there is a lot of information that the reader is given in a fantastic style of writing Wall has become known for from his previous biographies and articles with Kerrang.
While there are 24 pages of colour photos, there was the lack of album covers and t-shirt art that are synonymous with Metallica and is the only part of the book that disappointed me. The photos of the teenage lads are hilarious, especially the one of a young Kirk with a nerdy hair cut and glasses. If you saw these photos back in the day, there is no way you would have pictured these guys becoming such a driving force in the Metal Music industry.
The section on the early years of Metallica were very interesting and will probably be a real eye opener to some of the younger fans who only started listening from the Load album onwards. Wall’s commentary on the evolution of the bands style and direction is fantastic. I also found the pages about Kirk Hammett to be the best ones I’ve read. Everyone has heard enough from James and Lars over the years and it was great to see more about the silent guitarist who has inspired thousands of teenagers to pick up a six string and hammer out some riffs.
This is definitely worth reading.