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Product Description
"The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists" is a controversial and much-needed guide to the world of metal guitar, featuring the most accomplished performers from the vast legions of metal. As well as celebrating the classic metal musicians who have defined the scene since the 1970s, author Joel McIver delves deep into the modern thrash metal, death metal, black metal, doom metal, power metal and battle metal movements to unearth those players for whom no tremolo divebomb is too high and no tuning is too low. This book is no mere list for geeks, though. McIver's objective in writing this book is to recognise the incredible skills that these players possess.Moreover, although they're all masters of sweep picking, fretboard tapping and the other tricks of the modern shredder, these players are far from simple speed freaks. "The 100 Greatest"...makes a point of featuring players whose feel and instinct for the values of metal outweigh mere technical mastery. If you've ever wielded a tennis rack in anger in front of a bedroom mirror, or even if you're a metal musician yourself, you need this book - the world of the overdriven guitar will never look the same again.
About the Author
Joel McIver writes for Total Guitar, Metal Hammer and many other music magazines and is the author of 11 books to date. The best-known of these is Justice For All: The Truth About Metallica (2004), which has sold over 30,000 copies in eight languages.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
An interesting read,
By
This review is from: 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists (Paperback)
I would guess that when you attempt to write a book on the top 100 heavy metal guitarists, it's almost inevitabe that it ends up looking like "the guitarists from my top 100 favourite bands" - and this is what it looks like with this book. I may well be wrong. That aside, Mr McIver has done a good job in putting this book together.
I have been into metal since 1981 but there are many, many players in here I have never heard of, in bands I have never heard of. Maybe that's my age! The downside of that is that I don't really want to read about players I don't know - but the upside is that there may be one or two bands I need to go away and listen to! McIver himself acknowledges that any attempt to rank metal guitar players is going to be controversial - and he's right! Looking at, for example, the top ten he ranks, I agree with most of the entries but not in the order he places them. I don't want to spoil it for anyone, but his number one greatest heavy metal guitarist is indeed an interesting and controversial choice. A metal icon of recent times, yes, a writer of some great riffs and songs, yes- but the best ever? Hmmmm. At least there is recognition of James Hetfield, his awesome rhythm playing and his huge influence on metal (he played all the guitars on the first five Metallica albums other than most of the solos, therefore becoming one of the most influencial players of the 1980's and early 90's). In my view, Kirk Hammet is over-rated as a player. But most people do not share that view. What would have been useful is maybe a list of criteria that McIver used to decide on the ranking e.g. infuence, technical ability, riff writing, etc. At the same time, I'm confused over his categorisation of styles - e.g. Randy Rhodes does not appear at all in the top 100 because McIver classifies him as a 'shredder' (highly debatable in itself) and not a 'metal' player. But all the Iron Maiden guitarists make it in - so Ozzy is not metal but Maiden are? Also, in the list of shredders, Paul Gilbert is number 11! And Jason Becker even further behind! But that's ranking players for you - someone always disagrees........ There are one or two minor errors I have spotted in the book, but that is inevitable given the amount of research that goes into a book like this. But I would still recommend this book for entertainment value and for the joy of reading someone's work that (mostly) aligns with my views and opinions. I like the quotes from the players themselves on who they themselves rate and enjoy. Worth a read.
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
100 Greatest Metal Guitarists,
By
This review is from: 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists (Paperback)
Very good book, informative, interesting and very detailed. McIver goes into a lot of detail that is interesting to players as well as anyone who has never touched a guitar.
It's a well illustrated book, some great pictures in there and it's a decent sized read, far from anything like a mindless 'Kerrang top 100' list. No, this has been carefully ordered and backed up, often Miciver gives examples of what he is explaining and so you don't have to go just by his word all the time. Overall a worthwile purchase and nice edition to any music fan's collection.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.2 out of 5 stars (12 customer reviews) 11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Finally, a book just about metal guitarists,
By Chris Lund - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists (Paperback)
We've all seen the lists of 'Best Guitarists Ever,' or 'Best Heavy Metal Guitar Players' which included Jeff Beck and Jimi Hendrix. We've also said "huh?"
This book is the first real collection of the Top 100 Metal Guitarists ever. The book leaves some people out due to them being "shredders" or "hard rock" guitarists and I would have included them (think Randy Rhoads and Eddie Van Halen), but overall it's a great collection spanning many metal subgenres. The real gem of this book is why each person belongs on the list and where they do. The author gives compelling arguments for each person. I won't say who is where in the countdown, but with any list it does create the argument for and against. The most compelling on the list is who's #1. I totally agree with the authors choice, but many will not (hint: he's ultra-talented and carries a chip on his shoulder). The only con I have with the book, in each bio of the guitarist, I think the author spends too much time talking about the guitarists band and describing their style. I would have preferred more analysis of their playing style, not the band's place in (insert name here) style of metal. All in all though, it's a good book and one to read and debate with other metalheads! \M/ 3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Essential Reading for the Metalhead,
By Kev Rowland - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists (Paperback)
There will always be a problem with lists in that they are the view of a select group of people and others will not agree with them. In this case the list has been created by just one person, Joel McIver, so no-one else will agree with his placements. Also, here we have the problem of genre definition. It is quite easy to state that Children of Bodom or Cannibal Corpse belong in Metal, but when it gets closer to Hard Rock then the boundary gets blurred. I don't believe that The Scorpions are metal, and I won't be convinced otherwise, and I certainly don't think that Rudolf Schenker is a better guitarist than his brother, but as with all things listwise it is all down to personal taste. So from the statements it is fairly obvious that I don't like the book. Right? Wrong. While I may not agree with certain parts of this, there is no doubting Joel's love of metal, his technical knowledge of the music he is discussing and his extensive knowledge of the scene in general.
He discusses at depth why he is including each guitarist, his rationale behind the placing and music that can be played so that the reader can understand why he feels that the placing is correct. The result is a book that any metalhead will get a great deal from. Joel has understood that many people may not understand all of the technical reasons so he has tried to keep that to a minimum, but enough so that musicians would be able to take his rationale to the next level. At the end of the list (no I'm not going to say who is number 1 - and while I understand his reasoning I would have thought that based on his own criteria it should be Iommi who was a lowly sixth), there is some small analysis and an honourable mention of the next 50. He has looked at bands from the birth of metal to the current day, so newcomers such as Trivium are here, and the depth and knowledge of the subject matter is unquestionable. Required reading for all fans of the genre. 3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
amazing book,
By Glenn Halford - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists (Paperback)
Whether you are a guitarist or not, this book will have you spending hundreds of dollars buying the music described in this book. The author knows his heavy metal and knows guitar playing. Authoritative writing, witty, extensive familiarity with the discography of so many bands. What's more, this author really gets it, even if it is controversial, such as who the number one heavy metal guitarist is. I won't reveal it here, but this has been my opinion for years.
The author also gets it in ranking Jeff Waters near the top. Most people reading this review might think Jeff Who? Read about Annihilator, listen to the music from their first few albums (YouTube has some of the songs in their entirety) and you will understand. The author also gets it in his delineation between heavy metal and shred guitar. The only thing that the author gets wrong is his ranking of Michael Schenker. His selection of the "Genius Moment" recommendation for Schenker shows that he is not very familiar with Schenker's work. Schenker's riffs are admittedly non-metal, as is the Mad Axeman choice, but his solos are pure brilliance, in composition and in technique. If there had not been Schenker, there would have been no Metallica, no Megadeth, no Randy Rhoads, and of course no Arch Enemy. Listen to the MSG live recordings from 1981-1984. Any of the current guitarists is at best as fast as Schenker was then. But if you compare the musical content, the inspiration, the feeling, the best among today's metal elite sound like they are playing metronome practice mechanical excercises, not music that is worth hearing more than once or worth learning to play. Despite this mistake in rating Schenker, which is understandable given Schenker's decline over the years, this book is amazing. The book gets as close to a scholarly book as any book that I know on the subject of heavy rock. But be careful, as I said, buying this book will cost you tens of times more than the price of the book. |
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