What do you think?
Rate this book
Tornado Of Souls: Thrash's Titanic Clash
In the final installment of his thrash trilogy, Martin Popoff looks at the ramp-up from the years 1987, 1988 and 1989, into the momentous pinnacle of the thrash saga, swirled around three key events: the Clash of the Titans tour, the release of Metallica’s self-titled “black album” and the rise of grunge, symbolized by the release of Nirvana’s Nevermind.
In detail and from many angles and many more speakers, Tornado of Souls makes the case that thrash had to reach a peak and then get replaced, because, as our cast explains, it had found itself “painted into a corner.”
It’s all explained by an army of thrashers, label executives and thrashing journalists, who take us through all the great records of the era from the likes of the big four and beyond, up until the fateful fall of 1991, and the fall of thrash as the year winds down. Tornado of Souls therein becomes the culmination of 750 pages of fast an’ loose timeline and quotes coverage, the necessary exclamation mark put upon previous volumes, Hit the Lights: The Birth of Thrash and Caught in a Mosh: The Golden Era of Thrash.
Utilizing his celebrated oral history method—rich with detailed chronological entries to frame the story—Popoff moshes through to 1991, hammering closed this massive undertaking.
Come join Martin, along with dozens of his old school headbanging buddies (including multiple members from thrash’s big four and beyond), as they together tell the tale of thrash’s blow-up years. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Overkill, Testament, Sodom, Kreator, Destruction, Celtic Frost, Pantera, Sacrifice, Razor, Exciter (along with Zazula and Slagel of course!)… they’re all here talking about their own thrash classics and those of their buddies too.
In detail and from many angles and many more speakers, Tornado of Souls makes the case that thrash had to reach a peak and then get replaced, because, as our cast explains, it had found itself “painted into a corner.”
It’s all explained by an army of thrashers, label executives and thrashing journalists, who take us through all the great records of the era from the likes of the big four and beyond, up until the fateful fall of 1991, and the fall of thrash as the year winds down. Tornado of Souls therein becomes the culmination of 750 pages of fast an’ loose timeline and quotes coverage, the necessary exclamation mark put upon previous volumes, Hit the Lights: The Birth of Thrash and Caught in a Mosh: The Golden Era of Thrash.
Utilizing his celebrated oral history method—rich with detailed chronological entries to frame the story—Popoff moshes through to 1991, hammering closed this massive undertaking.
Come join Martin, along with dozens of his old school headbanging buddies (including multiple members from thrash’s big four and beyond), as they together tell the tale of thrash’s blow-up years. Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer, Anthrax, Overkill, Testament, Sodom, Kreator, Destruction, Celtic Frost, Pantera, Sacrifice, Razor, Exciter (along with Zazula and Slagel of course!)… they’re all here talking about their own thrash classics and those of their buddies too.
- GenresMusic
304 pages, Paperback
Published September 1, 2017
18 people want to read
About the author
Martin Popoff
224 books247 followersAt approximately 7900 (with over 7000 appearing in his books), Martin has unofficially written more record reviews than anybody in the history of music writing across all genres. Additionally, Martin has penned approximately 85 books on hard rock, heavy metal, classic rock and record collecting. He was Editor-In-Chief of the now retired Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Canada’s foremost metal publication for 14 years, and has also contributed to Revolver, Guitar World, Goldmine, Record Collector, bravewords.com, lollipop.com and hardradio.com, with many record label band bios and liner notes to his credit as well. Additionally, Martin has been a regular contractor to Banger Films, having worked for two years as researcher on the award-winning documentary Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, on the writing and research team for the 11-episode Metal Evolution and on the ten-episode Rock Icons, both for VH1 Classic. Additionally, Martin is the writer of the original metal genre chart used in Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey and throughout the Metal Evolution episodes. Martin currently resides in Toronto and can be reached through martinp@inforamp.net or www.martinpopoff.com.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 23, 2020
A fantastic finale to Popoff's thrash trilogy of books, ending after the release of Metallica's self titled black album in 1991. I love the timeline style for this series, and the running commentary from those within the scene at the time. All of my favorite bands are covered, including the more underground classics. Very well done, although I wouldn't mind seeing a fourth book here to cover those lean 90's years when bands like Slayer, Testament, Overkill, and Anthrax were still releasing albums regularly and dealing with the changing musical environment playing smaller clubs.
August 26, 2019
Popoff finishes his trilogy with the strongest book of the three. I still have a few complaints - too much time spent on talking about Pantera, too many quotes reacting to Metallica's black album. He puts in the same quote twice from Jeff Waters of Annihilator talking about when he stopped listening to certain bands. Popoff quotes drummer Paul Bostaph at least twice and Bostaph is also mentioned in Waters' quote about when he stopped listening to Slayer, and then when Popoff goes to the well to quote him again, he identifies him as drummer for Forbidden, Exodus and Slayer. Why wouldn't he do this the first time he includes quotes from Bostaph?
He has a paragraph where he talks about a show, listing the bands on the bill and mentions that it was recorded for release as a live album. A couple of pages later, he lists the same bands when reporting the release of the live album. Does this have to be there twice? He has two different quotes with Dave Mustaine talking about how he feels towards past members of the band. Who cares? Once would have been superfluous, twice is ridiculous.
Overall, though, I found the book did a fairly good job of reporting the thrash metal through the latter part of the '80s. I didn't think he really made a case as is promised on the blurb on the back of the book that thrash had painted itself in a corner and had to be replaced. I also don't think that including quotes from various individuals claiming that thrash had outlasted hair metal because it's purer and non-commercial proves the point considering that there is no other evidence forthcoming.
As I read the book, I started to wonder "what is thrash?" Slayer slowed down for their second album. Are they still thrash? As more and more interviewees talk about bands being thrash even thought they no longer play fast, one starts to question whether thrash is as cut and dry a genre as Popoff tries to present.
A worthwhile exploration, with not enough content to spin over three books. Popoff's usual technique of letting his interviewees do the talking comes up short as the books seem to lack clarity and context. A stronger thesis and guiding hand would have improved the whole thing, and perhaps splitting it in two volumes instead of three.
He has a paragraph where he talks about a show, listing the bands on the bill and mentions that it was recorded for release as a live album. A couple of pages later, he lists the same bands when reporting the release of the live album. Does this have to be there twice? He has two different quotes with Dave Mustaine talking about how he feels towards past members of the band. Who cares? Once would have been superfluous, twice is ridiculous.
Overall, though, I found the book did a fairly good job of reporting the thrash metal through the latter part of the '80s. I didn't think he really made a case as is promised on the blurb on the back of the book that thrash had painted itself in a corner and had to be replaced. I also don't think that including quotes from various individuals claiming that thrash had outlasted hair metal because it's purer and non-commercial proves the point considering that there is no other evidence forthcoming.
As I read the book, I started to wonder "what is thrash?" Slayer slowed down for their second album. Are they still thrash? As more and more interviewees talk about bands being thrash even thought they no longer play fast, one starts to question whether thrash is as cut and dry a genre as Popoff tries to present.
A worthwhile exploration, with not enough content to spin over three books. Popoff's usual technique of letting his interviewees do the talking comes up short as the books seem to lack clarity and context. A stronger thesis and guiding hand would have improved the whole thing, and perhaps splitting it in two volumes instead of three.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews