Like, Metal Down Under. This book captures the past, present and future of the Australian metal scene and condenses it into 400 pages riveting, essential reading.
The Encyclopedia of Australian Heavy Metal is an attempt to chronicle the history of heavy music in Australia.
From the heady psychedelic early days of Buffalo and bruising boogie of AC/DC and Rose Tattoo to the technical death metal of Psycroptic and muscular metalcore of Parkway Drive. Like Nick Calpakdjian’s forthcoming film documentary Metal Down Under, the encyclopedia is a study of musical forms and subcultures that continue to remain under-exposed and misunderstood, but this book attempts to go even further than Nick’s film. Every band, every release, every musician, no matter how apparently inconsequential – the Encyclopedia of Australian Heavy Metal will try to capture it all, permanently, and present it to readers in a 400-page hardcover volume as staunch and sturdy as the music itself.
The Encyclopedia of Australian Heavy Metal is be the culmination of a project that editor Brian Giffin began with a website called The Australian Metal Guide in 2000. The first, incomplete version of the encyclopedia was published as The Australian Metal Guide by German publisher Iron Pages in 2005. This latest version hopes to update, revise and finalise Brian’s research into this subject that he has undertaken with help from writers, reviewers, fans and artists across Australia since the late 1990s. This is why he is billing himself as the editor, not the author, because the contributions he has compiled come from a wide variety of sources – first-hand accounts, magazine articles, press releases, personal emails from band members, websites and personal contributions from friends and colleagues.
The book will include full membership details and discographies for every entry, album art, photos and a full colour cover for which Brian has commissioned Canberra-based visual artist Roy Torkington, former guitarist with the legendary progressive death metal band Alchemist. Brian is also hoping to produce a limited-edition CD of Australian metal music, containing up to 17 tracks, for up to 300 subscribers. Bands including Dungeon, Allegiance and Tzun Tzu have already been confirmed to be on the CD.
A Pozible campaign has now been launched to help bring this project to life. This campaign has already attracted more than $2500 worth of pledges, as well as support from Melbourne metal veterans Blood Duster, who are donating 100 copies of their self-titled album as part of two reward bundles, and Nick Calpakdjian, who has given the project 50 copies of his forthcoming DVD to be bundled with the book as part of another reward.
ABOUT BRIAN:
Brian is a writer and radio broadcaster living in Katoomba, in the Blue Mountains, NSW. He has cultivated a deep love of rock and metal since the early 1980s and has been a huge fan of Australian-bred heavy metal since first hearing Mortal Sin’s Mayhemic Destruction in 1987. Brian’s writing has appeared in numerous publications over the years including On the Street, Rebel Razor, In Your Face, Loudmouth and Hysteria as well as his own fanzine LOUD! that ran from 1996 until 2009. He is now the managing editor and co-owner of Loud Online and presents The Annex radio show from Radio Blue Mountains 89.1fm each Wednesday night. Brian was once the manager of Sydney groove metal band Psi.Kore and was interviewed for the upcoming documentary Metal Down Under. He has been collecting CDs, vinyl and demos of Australian metal bands for over 20 years and absorbs information about them like a sponge.
EOAHM will be released in the very near future!
