Enter Night - by Mick Wall (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Sprung from the roots of 70s hard rock, Metallica defined the look and sound of 1980s heavy metal, just as Led Zeppelin had for hard rock and the Sex Pistols for punk before them. Inventors of thrash metal--Slayer, Anthrax and Megadeth followed--it was always Metallica who led the way, who pushed to another level, who became the last of the superstar rockers.

Though plagued by adversities, including the death of their bassist in a bus crash, infighting and substance abuse, they survived to became the biggest-selling band in the world. With 100 million records sold worldwide, their music has extended its reach beyond rock and metal, and into the pop mainstream, as they went from speed metal to MTV with their hit single "Enter Sandman". Until now there hasn't been a critical, authoritative, in-depth portrait of the band. Mick Wall's thoroughly researched, insightful work is enriched by his interviews with band members, record company execs, roadies, and fellow musicians. He tells the story of how a tennis-playing, music-loving Danish immigrant named Lars Ulrich created a band with singer James Hetfield and made his dreams a reality. Enter Night delves into the various incarnations of the band, and the personalities of all key members, past and present--especially Ulrich and Hetfield--to produce the definitive word on the biggest metal band on the planet

Review Quotes

"[Y]ou want this. You want Mick Wall's Enter Night. The Metallisaga is fascinating, almost an epic, and Wall is well up to the task of telling it." --Boston Phoenix

"They may be the greatest band of all time, but Metallica have been plagued by a load of artistic misfires and band-member squabbles. In this extensive biography by British rock journalist Mick Wall, no lowlight goes unnoticed...His narrative is straightforward and fast-paced - it's fun to see the band transform almost overnight from scruffy, Mötorhead-loving teenagers to hard-partying gods of thunder." --Rolling Stone (3 and 1/2 stars)

"Wall has a long history with Metallica...his deep archive of interviews give a sense of the story unfolding in real time." --New York Times Book Review

"Enter Night, Mick Wall's biography of Metallica confirms this grizzled veteran to be [an] engaged and waspishly authoritative chronicler of metal's most hirsute behemoths." --Independent on Sunday (UK)

"[A] flaming juggernaut of a heavy-metal biog... the author writes a deceptively casual-looking, sincere but half-amused prose." --Guardian (UK)

"'It takes a writer of Mick Walls' pedigree and calibre... to present the whole wild, wonderful and emotionally draining tale all over again and make it as consistently fascinating and momentous as Enter Night...this is the definitive account of heavy metal's biggest band of all." --Classic Rock

"Millions of words have been written on Metallica, but few journalists have been present at so many of the band's milestones... [Wall's] eye for detail through the early years makes the book truly enlightening in the way it captures the character of the major players." --Rock Sound

"A cinderblock of a bio, a worthy addition to the library of any self-respecting member of the Metal Militia...The writer clearly did his homework." --The Cleveland Sound

About the Author

MICK WALL is one of England's best known music journalists: his work has appeared in Classic Rock, Mojo, the London Times and a variety of other publications, and his books include eleven rock 'n' roll biographies. He has also served as a trusted on-camera source for a number of BBC-TV music documentaries. He lives in England.