As I was investigating 'Running With The Devil: Power, Gender and Madness in Heavy Metal Music' (Henceforth 'Running With The Devil'), I quickly came to realise that it wasn't so much written for a audience specifically comprised of metalheads but for a broader market of general readers - those with an interest in the history, culture and social aspects of Metal, not just fans. I was quite intrigued at the thought of reading something written by a Professor or Musicology, who, by and large wasn't particularly an avid listener of the genre, yet had an impressive arsenal of academic firepower and the ability to bring an unbiased and external perspective to the table. 'Running With The Devil' was a book I just had to read - if for no reason other than purely out of curiosity.

Walser has undertaken a huge amount of research during the process of writing 'Running With The Devil', from awkwardly attending his first few real metal gigs, to surveys of fans, various cultural studies, devouring a number of other texts written on similar topics and a lot more. The books explores the Who, What, When, Where an Why or a genre (and its fans) so easily dismissed by the masses as an adolescent phase of rebellion, and one which will inevitably be outgrown. It shows the oft-overlooked merit in the music we love, explores and in most cases, shoots down stereotypes and provides an comprehensive and insightful look at it a very broad range of topics.

Being a musician himself, Professor Walser is able to get deeply analytical and explanatory with some of the technical aspects of Metal (and music in general), from power chords and distortion to playing techniques, melody, lyrics, composition and meaning. You will find many pages with snippets of sheet music, with opposing pages containing very technical explanations, attempting to give further meaning and provide explanation to the music being discussed. Clearly, a decent portion of the book will go over the head of those with no musical background, but the bulk of the text (if a little wordy) is accessible to and recommended for anyone with even the subtlest interest in the subject matter.

Walser's academic background ensures thoroughly researched information, presented in a very concise and informative manner. Songs are picked apart compositionally and lyrically. Meaning is extracted from all manner of things, many pages are dedicated to the history of Metal, topics of gender, censorship. guitar virtuosos, metal video clips, the progression of the genre as so much more. A surprisingly broad range of subject matter is discussed in the mere 171 pages (discounting appendages and introductions) yet all of it seems to be covered far beyond satisfactorily. I could go into further specifics (such as the portions dedicated to Ozzy Osbourne, Randy Rhodes, the androgynous performers of the 1980...) but I'll leave those up to you to discover and enjoy.

The beauty of 'Running With The Devil' is simply that it's not targeted at anyone in particular and is sure to be enjoyed by all who show even the slightest glimmer of interest in learning more about the cultural, social and musical aspects of Heavy Metal. Myself a metalhead with only minimal background in musical performance, I still found it an engaging, entertaining and informative read. Since this is www.PyroMusic.net 99% of you are sure to be fans of Metal yourselves and as such, 'Running With The Devil' comes as highly recommended reading for anyone who isn't put off too much by the scholarly nature of the book.

- Pyro

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