Black Sabbath: Doom Let Loose – An Illustrated History
by Martin Popoff

Rarities photos make up for dull rehash of the Sab story

It’s not Martin Popoff’s fault this book isn’t that good. He’s written it with a North American audience in mind and, at times, this leads the UK reader to feel like he’s being bashed over the head with the bleeding obvious. Although this features interviews with all the main players (all of the original line up, as well as Ronnie, JD, Tony Martin, Ian Gillan and Glenn Hughes) conducted over the last 10 years, the line of questioning is that of a fan, rather than a journalist, and doesn’t turn up anything new or amazing (odd, given how well established Popoff is; he’s the author of the excellent Top 500 Heavy Metal Albums Of All Time).

Another problem is that any book that gives equal weight to all of the different albums that Sabbath have released is missing a really important point: they spent a good 15 years being utterly awful. What saves this, though, is its hundreds of photographs of rarities. Eighttracks, tour posters, albums and singles from every country you care to name, ticket stubs, coloured vinyls, laminates and picture discs. This is almost like porn for the metal collector. That said, anyone wanting the definitive story should look elsewhere.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

ISBN 1550227319

Reviewed by John Doran
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