Blood, Fire, Death - (Extreme Metal) by Ika Johannesson & Jon Jefferson Klingberg (Paperback)

About the Book

The emergence of death metal in the beginning of the 90's changed the metal scene forever. Many of the seminal bands came from Sweden. Why did this small mild-mannered country become the hotbed for such aggressive and extreme music? Blood, Fire, Death explores the bands, individuals and phenomena which have propelled the scene forward and still does to this day. The book investigates the politics, economy and gender structures of the scene, and tells the spectacular stories of Bathory, Entombed, Pelle Dead, Dissection and many other major players in the scene.

Book Synopsis

In the early 1990s, Swedish death metal revolutionized the international music scene. Suddenly, the mild-mannered Scandinavian country found itself at the forefront of a new movement with worldwide impact thanks to bands such as Entombed, Dismember, and At the Gates. The birth of black metal drove the culture to even greater extremes, featuring a rawer, darker sound and non-ironic death-worship. Soon churches in both Norway and Sweden were aflame, and be- fore long Satanism emerged as more than just an image. But how did it all start? Why did Sweden become a hotbed for such aggressive, nihilistic music? And who are the people and bands that brought it all about?
Blood, Fire, Death: A Swedish Metal Story recounts the evolution of the genre from the massive amplifier walls of 1970s rock, through the church-burning Satanic 1990s, to the diverse and paradoxical manifestations of the scene today. This book focuses on the phenomena that have propelled the scene forward in an evolution that has not only been musical, but aesthetic and ideological as well. This is a story about grotesque logos and icons that invoke death and darkness, but also a story of dedication, friendship, community, and a profound love for music.

Review Quotes

Blood Fire Death: The Swedish Metal Story is not simply one of the best books ever written on extreme metal, it's among the finest, most captivating, stirring, disquieting, intimate, heartening, entertaining rock n' roll tomes period. Seriously. It's smart, nuanced, unpredictable, and teeming with amazing, fully realized character studies which instill a real, grounded humanity in these vessels that brought such otherworldly heaviness into the world." Decibel Magazine