Featuring more than 250 interviews with members of Black Sabbath, Megadeth, Pantera, Korn and many others over the past 25 years, this examination of the cultural phenomenon provides an expert analysis of the heavy metal scene from the '60s to the present

Foreword: In my world / by Scott Ian -- Prologue: Heavy metal thunder -- Kick out the jams : proto metal, 1964-1970 -- Masters of reality : Sabbath, Priest, and beyond, 1970-1979 -- British steel : new wave of British heavy metal shapes the future, 1980-present -- Youth gone wild : metal goes mainstream, 1978-1992 -- Caught in a mosh : thrash metal, 1981-1991 -- Age of Quarrel : crossover/hardcore, 1977-1992 -- Far beyond driven : thrash revisted and revised, 1987-2004 -- High-tech hate : industrial, 1980-1997 -- All for the nookie : nu metal, 1989-2002 -- Hammer smashed face : death metal, 1983-1993 -- In the nightside eclipse : black metal, 1982-present -- When darkness falls : metalcore, 1992-2006 -- New American gospel : millennial metal, 1992-present -- Conclusion: the end complete -- Afterword: Defender of the faith / by Rob Halford