And so year 38 rolls to an end, topped off by some killer news. The autobiography of ex-Deep Purple bassist Glenn Hughes (left), which he and I have been co-writing since 2006, is finally ready for publication. It's called The Life, Near Death And Rebirth of A Rock Star: Deep Purple And Beyond and will be published in two luxury editions. So luxurious, in fact, that I don't have the space to describe them fully here. See the publisher Foruli for details.

November was taken up with interviews with Bob Daisley (ex-Ozzy) and Kelly Garni (ex-Quiet Riot) -- sharp-eyed readers will spot an obvious link between the two -- plus chats with the drummers out of Creed, Stone Sour and Five Finger Death Punch. I was interviewed for a documentary on Dave Mustaine and went to the launch of The Gospel Of Filth, the frankly gobsmacking Cradle Of Filth autobiography and all-round guide to life's pale and fascinating underbelly.

Talking of which, have a debauched Christmas and New Year and I'll see you on the other side. If you bought one of my books this year, I thank you from the bottom of my heart; if you didn't, well, there are plenty more on the way...

The workload keeps rising, but who's complaining? Here's how it stacks up: book 15, which I might as well reveal right now is the first ever biography of Kings Of Leon, is almost done and will be on the shelves in the spring. Book 16, Glenn Hughes' autobiography -- which I've been co-writing since 2006 -- will be out at about the same time, with a major surprise for Glenn's fans accompanying it. Book 17, a biog of a certain much-missed rock legend, will be out towards the end of 2010 -- and then, book 18, my long-awaited (by me, anyway) sci-fi novel, will be out after that, by hook or by crook or by me selling my soul.

A quick catch-up to where I am magazine-wise, which ebbs and flows. Currently I contribute interviews and reviews to every issue of Metal Hammer, Record Collector, Bass Guitar, Acoustic and DVD & Blu-ray Review. I write for most issues of Rhythm and occasionally for Classic Rock and Performing Musician, and then there are mags that I've written for just once or twice like Rolling Stone and Modern Drummer. I also compile and write liner notes for albums for a bunch of major and indie record companies. That'll do me. In fact it's tough to fit all this stuff in alongside family life and some moderate weekend debauchery, but like I said, no complaints.

This month I had the pleasure of interviewing the great Dave Holland, who played bass with Miles Davis and other jazz luminaries, as well as members of Papa Roach, Devildriver and Oceansize and Speech Debelle's guitarist Dreadkey.

And the new Metal Hammer (above left) has my Slayer cover feature, in which Tom Araya and Kerry King go into areas that they genuinely haven't been before, in my experience. Pick it up at any newsagent or here.

Justice For All:
The Truth About Metallica (Updated Edition), out soon. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Cool things that happened this month included the Italian launch of the Cliff Burton biography and a London event at the Crobar. Both events were packed to the rafters -- thanks to everyone who came along.

Reviews are on the way for the updated Metallica book (left) and books 15 to 17 are at varying stages. Talking of books, check out Neil Daniels' new All Pens Blazing anthology, a compendium of interviews with rock journos old, young and middling. I'm in it and so is just about everyone else who does this strange job in the UK.

Interviews this month: Joe Bonamassa, the Nazareth chaps again, Steven Wilson of Porcupine Tree, the great Kris Kristofferson, Rosanne 'Daughter of Johnny' Cash, bass guru Alexis Cuadrado, blues grizzard Seasick Steve, the mighty Bill Ward again, the one and only Ian Brown, ex-Living Colour bass-spanker Muzz Skillings (his first interview in years), Robert Westerholt of Within Temptation and singer-songwriter Jon Gomm. Transcribing all this stuff was tedious but worth it, as they all had something interesting to say, most of all Ian Brown, whose words you can read here.

I had a curry with Steve Rothery of Marillion too. A very decent chap.

Listen to this!

Justice For All:
The Truth About Metallica (Updated Edition), out soon. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Hey! Come and see me read from my Cliff Burton book:

CLIFF BURTON AT THE CROBAR, LONDON
Friday 2 October

There will be a band, Mentallica, playing all your favourite Tallica songs; me reading from the book between songs; people falling over; mass drunkenness; and the opportunity to ask me questions, insult me, buy me drinks and, oh yes, buy signed copies. Info: www.crobar.co.uk.

And...

CLIFF BURTON NIGHT, MILAN
Saturday 26 September

Yes it's in Italy, that's no excuse. Come over and witness the launch of the Italian edition of the Cliff book in a massive club, the Alcatraz, where Megadeth played not long ago, Slayer are playing later this year and, er, I am 'playing' this month by reading from the book and playing bass with the Metallica tribute band Orion.

And in other news...

The updated edition of my 2004 book Justice For All: The Truth About Metallica is out shortly: click here to buy it from Amazon UK or here if you're in the USA. It has a new chapter which mainly focuses on last year's Death Magnetic album and the Quietus saga. The latter, for those who don't know, is the tale of an early review of DM which I wrote under the pen name Bob Mulhouse (see here) which Metallica's management attempted to suppress along with other reviews written by the major rock magazines. To their credit, Metallica overturned that decision (for Lars Ulrich's explanation of the debacle, see here). A year later, it's gratifying to realise that while most of those other reviewers trumpeted the album as superb, I said at the time that it was average at best, a conclusion which most sane people would support now.

Three more books are at various stages for publication in 2010, so no chance of early retirement for me yet. I'm still doing press for the Cliff Burton book and will be in Milan for a few days this month to support the launch of the Italian version of that book by Tsunami Edizioni. If you happen to be there on Saturday 26, the launch is at this club, where I will be reading from the Italian book (with an accent that will no doubt have the headbangers in stitches) and playing bass with a Metallica tribute band called Orion. There's a promotional film about the event here.

Interviews executed this month: folkie Dave Pegg, singer-songwriter Lou Brown, the two members of Turin Brakes, the indie band Fancy Toys, Nick Drake's estate manager, the bass player out of Papa Roach, bass legend Danny Thompson and acoustic head-waggler David Gray. I went to Sonisphere and thought it was mostly tedious, appeared on two radio shows (one Mancunian, one Canadian) and visited Akercocke's Goat Of Mendes studio for a refreshing blast of progressive death metal. Just what was needed after all the mellow folk stuff.

Here's a point that needs clearing up. The Blabbermouth news portal erroneously refers here to a 2004 interview which I did with Phil Anselmo, now of Down and then recently of Pantera. The reference is mistaken: in the story, Anselmo is talking about a completely different interview conducted by a different writer -- which is important, because the reference is made during an interview in which he complains about being misquoted by the media. Get your facts straight, Phil...

On a happier note, here's Dave Mustaine of Megadeth talking to my esteemed colleague Dave Ling at Classic Rock mag about being at No. 1 in my recent book, The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists.

How did it feel to be No. 1 in The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists?

It was especially sweet when I found out that Joel has written books on Metallica. I looked at my copy of the book — I wasn't on the cover or the back. I figured I'd be somewhere like No. 69. So I thumbed through it; it's a really comprehensive, good book. I got to No. 50 and I thought, "Am I in here?" I'd been told that I was, but not which position. So I got No. 16 and I saw Hetfield. I thought, "Wow," because I respect James. I'm a better lead player than he is, but he's one of the three best rhythm players in the world.

The other two being?

Malcolm Young [of AC/DC] and myself. Malcolm kept it basic but brought a whole new style of rhythm playing to the world. So I got to the Top 10… I still wasn't in there. Every page I turned, I became more excited. I get to No. 5 and it's Kirk [Hammett], and I thought, "Thank you, God." At that point it didn't matter [which position I was]. To be better than both of them [Hetfield and Hammett] meant so much — it's been one of the pet peeves of my career and I've never known how to deal with it. I didn't realize that it has had so much bearing upon my life. Then I got to No. 2 and it was John Petrucci [of Dream Theater] and I froze. I was No. 1. What made it better still is that the guy wrote: "This isn't about Dave as a person because he's been a cock" — [interjects with a bray of laughter] — "These four pages are about his guitar playing, which is the best. There are people who are better at one thing that Mustaine does, and others that are better than another, but no-one who's as good at everything." All I thought was… I win!

In a way did it represent closure?

That's it exactly. I'm not addicted [to anything] anymore. And I'm no longer struggling with past demons from another band [Metallica]. That game has ended. Lars [Ulrich] called me up and offered the chance to come to the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame thing and not be inducted, to sit in the audience [instead]. "It's only for people who've been on the records" is what I was told. That would have been awkward. So I didn't go. There are obviously some unresolved issues on Lars' part. But you know what? If God wants me in the Hall Of Fame, I will be there.

Note that Kirk Hammett is actually at No. 15 and James Hetfield is No. 8 in the book, but you get the picture. This story has gone everywhere, including here, where the user comments are priceless.

To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton, out now. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Thanks to the headbangers of the UK and US, my Cliff Burton biography (left) has sold out its first print run in less than two months on sale in those countries, and Jawbone are reprinting as we speak. It looks like the book will be a bestseller in some European countries, too. Cheers to you if you bought one, or are considering buying one.

Book no. 15 is underway (details tba soon) and no. 16 is at negotiation stage. Both concern rock more than metal for a change and will be out next year, that is if my typing fingers (all two of them) don't fall off first. Also, the TV series that I've been drivelling on about for months IS going to happen... but not immediately.

Interviews this month: the mighty Jeff Berlin, the equally mighty Steve Vai, two members of the very fine Porcupine Tree, the legendary Geezer Butler, the very affable Steve Rothery of Marillion and the very talented Martin Harley. I was interviewed myself by Kerrang Radio (400,000 listeners, it says here). Not a bad month, as they go...

To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton, out now. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Unleashed: The Story Of Tool, out now. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Summing up a whole month in these little entries feels a bit weird, but it doesn't half focus the mind. Also, my life isn't interesting enough to merit a daily blog. Not to you, anyway.

High points in June included a) finding out that Metallica are selling my Cliff Burton book (see left) at this page on their website, a first for an unofficial book, and b) going to Metal Hammer's Golden Gods awards where I had a chat with some of my heroes, Frank Bello of Anthrax and Ihsahn of Emperor among them.

I squeezed a bunch of interviews in too -- a very disparate bunch. Metalwise it was a quiet month, namely the singer out of Christian metalcore juveniles The Devil Wears Prada and the bassist from reformed bad boys Steadlur. It seemed that June was more about SSSS (sensitive singer-songwriter syndrome), with interviews from Wallis Bird, two unrelated Thompsons (Richard and Steve), the Proclaimers, Jason Mraz and Isaac's Aircraft. A couple of master musicians followed -- Yngwie Malmsteen and David Pastorius (the nephew of the late, ineffably great Jaco) -- and finally... finally... Sir Patrick Moore. What a great man SPM is, I was humbled. Read the interview here, it's the best thing I've done for a while.

And I recorded a six-hour special for the July 4 broadcast of The Classic Metal Show. You have to listen to it. Really, you do.

What else? Loads of book writing, loads of sleevenotes for a forthcoming range of Nazareth reissues courtesy of my chums at Union Square, loads of sun and booze. No complaints from me: this line of work beats picking watermelons in Queensland in 1993, my worst job ever... you really don't want to know.

To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton, out in June. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Unleashed: The Story Of Tool, out in April. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Tons of cool reviews on the Books page, woo hoo! The proper press for the Cliff book (readings, overseas launches, all that jazz) is happening soon, I'll post details here as and when.

Another exciting month in the world of the hack de la musique, with me interviewing John Thomson (Cold Feet/Fast Show actor), the splendidly-named Zoltan Bathory of Five Finger Death Punch, Aussie singer-songwriter and philanthropist John Butler, Mark Wilson of similarly Antipodean rockers Jet, Jon Lawhon of Black Stone Cherry, Mike Kroeger of Nickelback, Kerry King of Slayer, Jamey Jasta of Hatebreed and Pete Agnew of Nazareth. Just the usual hard rock/extreme metal/winsome songwriter/Manc TV comedian bunch. I wrote a chunk about Cliff for Bass Player magazine in the USA too.

I also appeared on various radio shows, Star Radio, Total Rock and a Shockwaves Skull Session or two among them. A Classic Metal Show slot is coming up, which is always great fun as the hosts and I basically attack each other on air. There's a show I did last year here, you'll see what I mean.

And I wrote books and that too. It's all go, let me tell you.

Read this!

To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton, out in June. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Unleashed: The Story Of Tool, out in April. Click here to order it from Amazon.

I spoke too soon -- most of the reviews of my two new books, To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton and Unleashed: The Story Of Tool are still on their way. Watch this space. However, Classic Rock's reviewer loved the latter, which is an encouraging start: see the Books page.

I've just spent two days with the Sisters Of Mercy in Budapest, having persuaded singer Andrew Eldritch to give his first interview in 12 (!) years. The feature is for a certain very large music mag, I'll reveal all just before it runs. This month I've also interviewed Mark 'E' Everett of the Eels, the renowned fashion designer John Varvatos (who told me that he'd enjoyed my Metallica book, to my surprise), Dan Haigh of Fightstar, Carey Willetts of Athlete and the world's hardest man, Jean-Jacques Burnel of the Stranglers. The usual album, book and film reviews have been taking up my time too.

To tie in with the Cliff Burton book, I've written a piece on him for Goldmine magazine, who interviewed me here. Revolver magazine and a Spanish mag called This Is Rock are running excerpts, as Metal Hammer did earlier this year. There's loads of radio coming up with my burbling, on Total Rock, Shockwaves, Star Radio and elsewhere. It's all rather gripping...

I've also signed a deal for a biog of a major American rock act, the most mainstream subject I've tackled in years. Details in early 2010 (ie don't hold your breath).

Read this!

To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton, out in June. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Unleashed: The Story Of Tool, out in April. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Life as a rock biographer and journo is ace, but it's always nice when a fork in the road approaches and you branch out. In my case I've been asked to write some fiction -- a first for me -- and finally to present the TV series that I've been wittering about for some time. I'll reveal details in due course. Exciting times.

It's been equally gripping in rock-hack land, with a gazillion interviews for various mags executed this month(deep breath): Swedish 'very metal' nutters Wolf for Metal Hammer; sensitive singer-songwriter types Benji Kirkpatrick, Jason Norris and Ben Taylor (James' son) for Acoustic; Mark 'Bedders' Bedford of Madness, Les Claypool of Primus and Eddie Duffy of Simple Minds for Bass Guitar; the truly great Bill Ward of Black Sabbath plus the Madina Lake and Killswitch Engage drummers for Rhythm; and Pete Atkin and Clive James (yes, that one -- the garrulous Aussie TV presenter) for Record Collector. Most gratifyingly, Angie Bowie (David's ex), David Coverdale of Whitesnake and Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich stepped up to contribute to Glenn Hughes' autobiography, which regular visitors to this page will recall that I've been co-writing with the great man for over three years now.

Next month: the reception to the two books on the left, out shortly. As NWA said, the muthaf**kin' saga continues...

The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists, out now. Click here to order it from Amazon.

The Cliff Burton and Tool books are generating plenty of excitement among the internet warriors, which is very gratifying, but it's even nicer to see that The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists is still pulling in reviews a month or two after its publication. I'd hoped that this book would strike a chord with a few people, and apparently it has. Many of the guitarists in it have requested a copy and publicised it on their websites, too, which is useful.

Having written two 100,000-word books in six months, my brain is pretty spongified, so I'm enjoying not thinking about books for a little while. It won't be a long break, though, as there are five proposals approaching contract stage for 2009 at this point, some or (gulp) all of which may get the green light. No complaints, though -- this is the best job in the world.

Magazine stuff in the last month has included interviews with Peter Iwers of In Flames, singer-songwriter Natasha Panas, Fredrik Andersson of Amon Amarth, Troy Sanders of Mastodon, Max Cavalera of Soulfly, Clem Burke of Blondie, Alexi Laiho of Children Of Bodom, three-fifths of Cannibal Corpse, Paul Weller's bass player (and Kevin Rowland's producer) Andy Lewis and finally Soundgarden/Audioslave singer Chris Cornell. A completely mixed bunch as usual, which keeps it interesting.

For Glenn Hughes' autobiography, which I'm currently co-writing, I interview a few different people each month: a recent chat was with Glenn's friend Jerry Trimble, who starred in Heat with Al Pacino and Robert De Niro and who was a world champion kickboxer in his day. A nice guy, but you really wouldn't spill his pint.

Read my words of wisdom on the subject of heavy metal here.

To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton, out in June. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Unleashed: The Story Of Tool, out in April. Click here to order it from Amazon.

I've been a bit slow announcing the next two books, given that they've been endlessly discussed online for a couple of months now and are also available on Amazon (see links on the left), but book 13 (Unleashed: The Story Of Tool) and 14 (To Live Is To Die: The Life And Death Of Metallica's Cliff Burton) are out in April and June respectively. It's the first time that I've had more than one book coming out at any one time: looks like 2009 is going to be another nutty year.

The writing ofthe Tool book was a real eye-opener for me. In pretty much all of the music biographies I've written so far, the band or artist in question wrote amazing music at the beginning of their careers before hitting a decline of some kind or other. This applies to recent books I've done on Slayer and Black Sabbath just as much as Metallica and Queens Of The Stone Age, and goes back as far as the Ice Cube and Slipknot books I wrote several years ago. I love all those artists, but Tool are the only subjects so far whose music has become deeper and more compelling as the years have passed -- despite frontman Maynard James Keenan's assertion that most bands only have three good albums in them.

The Cliff Burton biog is a completely different beast. He's the first posthumous subject that I've written about and, because of that sad fact and because I wanted to serve his memory as he deserves, it was an emotional experience. Speaking to his close friends, many of whom broke down in tears when they recalled Cliff's death at the age of only 24, I realised that the writer of any book dedicated to him has a serious job to do. OK, it sounds pretentious, but I really felt that if I didn't deliver a first-class analysis of his short life and immense talent that I'd be letting a lot of people down. I hope I've matched up to his own high standards. There's a full press release here.

I was delighted that Kirk Hammett of Metallica stepped forward to provide the foreword to this book. This is, as far as I know, the first time that a member of Metallica has involved himself in a book from outside their own organisation -- a compliment that I won't forget in a hurry. I owe Ross Halfin several hundred pints for passing on my interview request to Kirk.

After these two books there will be more on the way, including Glenn Hughes' autobiography (which I'm co-writing with him) and who knows, maybe the novel that I've been working on since about 1922.

January has been pretty hectic, with all this stuff going on and all the press for The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists, which has had killer reviews (see here). Unusually, I don't think I've seen a bad review -- although I've been called some amusing names at this guitar forum. I wrote a feature about that book here, and The Classic Metal Show interviewed me again.

On top of that, I squeezed in interviews with John Campbell of Lamb Of God and the singer-songwriter James Morrison, plus reviews for the usual mags (Metal Hammer, DVD Review, Total Guitar, Record Collector) and I also caught the mighty Kreator live in London. They were awe-inspiring, as always: in a just world they'd be as big as Slayer.

Oh yes, and I got five stitches in my hand from pushing a bottle into an overflowing bottle bank. That's the price you pay for being green...

The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists, out now. Click here to order it from Amazon.

Here's a couple of excerpts from The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists, out now...

78) KIRK WINDSTEIN
Down, Crowbar

The supergroup du jour, Down, is made up of talents which make it far more than the sum of its parts. Singer Philip Anselmo and bassist Rex Brown come from Pantera, the biggest metal band of the 1990s apart from Metallica and Iron Maiden. Guitarists Kirk Windstein and Pepper Keenan served time in Crowbar and Corrosion Of Conformity. Drummer Jimmy Bower was also in Crowbar, as well as the legendary New Orleans band Eyehategod. The combined sounds of all these bands make up Down, who play slow, super-heavy, stoner/sludge/doom metal of serious riff weight.

The combination of Windstein and Keenan is a major element of Down's memorable sound. The former is a lead guitarist influenced by Robin Trower and Frank Marino, with a background in an underground thrash metal band which used to support Anselmo's pre-Pantera band Razor White. His rhythm playing is highly evolved, too: after honing a picking precision which served him well in his later career and also developing a slow, measured approach with the doom metal band Crowbar, Windstein now has an all-round ability which is exercised to the fullest with Down. On the other hand, Keenan's punk/country/stoner-metal background with COC makes for a completely different guitar style, which acts as a kind of counterpoint to the blues-rock influences of Windstein.

Moment Of Guitar Genius
The entire Over The Under album, Down's third and most successful, was a guitar marathon from both players, but ‘I Scream' – the most evidently commercial song – contains a riff and solo that reveal the full extent of Windstein's ability.

10) CHUCK SCHULDINER
Death, Control Denied

Death metal was an American invention, unlike its British-born antecedent, thrash metal. The origins of the genre's name are disputed, with rival claims to its invention coming from the late Tomas ‘Quorthon' Forsberg of Bathory as well as the staff of the German Noise label who issued the Death Metal compilation LP in 1984. However, most experts credit Jeff Becerra of the San Francisco band Possessed with coming up with the ‘death metal' tag and making it the title of one of the songs on his band's debut album, Seven Churches, released in early 1985.

Possessed may have been the first death metal band out of the blocks, but it was a close thing. As they rose to prominence, a younger, more isolated act called Mantas were doing something rather similar at demo level. This Florida band had been formed by the then 16-year-old Charles ‘Chuck' Schuldiner in 1983, recording a demo that year called Death By Metal. Raw, fast and utterly unsophisticated, Schuldiner's songwriting bore little hint of the complexity to come. He had started learning the guitar at nine years old after losing his older brother in a car accident: his parents bought him the instrument in an attempt to help him with his grief. After some initial reluctance he took avidly to the instrument, practising for entire weekends at a time.

Forming Mantas with his schoolmates Barney ‘Kam' Lee (vocals/drums) and second guitarist Rick Rozz, Chuck continued to record more demos after Death By Metal, including Reign Of Terror and an in-concert recording (naively titled Live At Ruby's Pub) – both of which appeared the following year, after a name change to Death. By this point the band, although still without a bass player, were making a name for themselves on the Florida live scene, bolstered by 1985's Infernal Death, Rigor Mortis, Back From The Dead and Infernal Live tapes.

In 1986 Chuck parted ways with Lee and Rozz, having negotiated a deal with the Combat label for a full album. Crucially, he had met another like-minded musician, Chris Reifert, a drummer, vocalist and guitarist whose taste for horror-movie-style slasher lyrics matched his own. The pair recorded a demo, Mutilation, in spring 1986 – after Chuck had endured a brief and unsatisfactory stint in the Canadian thrash metal act Slaughter – before embarking on songwriting sessions for the first Death LP, Scream Bloody Gore, released in 1987.

Scream Bloody Gore was a turning-point in extreme metal. Influential though Possessed's Seven Churches album had been two years previously, more than a few metalheads regarded that LP as merely thrash metal with harsh vocals. Scream… extended and elevated the concept a little further, with Schuldiner's throaty roar and the dark, doomy production taking another step towards extremity. The solos were understated and delivered uncertainly, with Chuck clearly searching for a musical identity; he played all the guitar and bass tracks in fast unison, uninterested at this stage in attempting anything other than a speedy, bloodsoaked rampage. In 1988 Death recorded Leprosy, a smarter, cleaner and more thoughtful album, with leads a more prominent feature of the overall sound. Reifert had departed to found the even more extreme death/gore metal band Autopsy, leaving Chuck to recruit his old Mantas sparring partner Rick Rozz along with bassist Terry Butler and drummer Bill Andrews.

By 1990, Schuldiner had reached the ripe old age of 23, and with maturity came a newfound desire to expand his musical and lyrical creativity. Replacing Rozz with the renowned session guitarist James Murphy (see previous entry), he composed the groundbreaking Spiritual Healing, another extreme metal milestone. At this point, a whole death metal scene had arisen in Florida, with Morbid Angel and Deicide exceeding the speed and violence of Death's output by utisiling blastbeats, a fast drumming technique with the snare drum playing sixteenths. This device, borrowed from the hardcore punk scene and the new grindcore movement pioneered in the UK by Napalm Death and Carcass, lent the music much more intensity, and Schuldiner must have noticed that his rival bands on the Florida scene were using it: however, to his enormous credit, he persevered with his own vision. Spiritual Healing, with an iconic cover designed by Megadeth sleeve artist Ed Repka (whose art had also adorned the previous Death albums), was the first step towards a progressive death metal approach, with complex writing such as the riff immediately before the long, melodic solo in ‘Defensive Personalities'.

At this point, Chuck stepped out of the safety zone and really stretched his abilities to the fullest, recording the Human album with a band of extraordinarily gifted musicians including bassist Steve DiGiorgio, Paul Masvidal (also in this book) on guitar and Sean Reinert on drums. Questioning social ills such as suicide and the mysteries of the cosmos, Chuck wrote songs that were a universe away from the gore themes of Scream… and the quasi-political commentary of Spiritual Healing, overlaying the fiercely complex music with opaque lyrics. Human was one of the first albums to combine extreme metal with progressive elements, an approach that continued and expanded on the remaining Death albums, Individual Thought Patterns (1993), Symbolic (1995) and The Sound Of Perseverance in 1998.

What these latter albums have in common is a constantly restless songwriting style, in which riffs are interchanged and juxtaposed in a complex, asymmetrical sequence. Chuck's melodic, fast alternate picking was a constant feature of his solos, delivered on his instantly recognisable BC Rich Stealth, as were his frequent returns to tremolo-picked death metal passages from the old days. His strength lay in the many types of guitar-playing which he had mastered, manifesting themselves in a high-profile supergroup called Voodoocult in 1994 in which he temporarily played alongside ex-Slayer drummer Dave Lombardo and Kreator guitarist Mille Petrozza (who has a separate entry).

In fact, such were Schuldiner's skills that – like Alex Skolnick of Testament before him – he embarked in a direction which took him away from extreme metal when Death went on hiatus in 1998. His new band, Control Denied, played a combination of straight heavy metal with progressive elements, a mixture that attracted much praise for their sole album, 1999's The Fragile Art Of Existence. Aided by DiGiorgio again as well as drummer Richard Christy (another Death alumnus), singer Tim Aymar and guitarist Shannon Hamm, Chuck seemed to be well on track to building a succesful second band.

However, Schuldiner was diagnosed with cancer of the brain stem in May 1999, making the title of Control Denied's then-current release somewhat prescient. As is so often the case, radiotherapy reduced the tumour and surgery removed the remaining material, but the cancer returned two years later. Although Chuck had continued to write and record with Control Denied in the interim, problems meeting his medical bills and the gradual erosion of his health meant that much of his time was spent away from the studio, and the new music remained unfinished. Although many of his fellow musicians (Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters, Kid Rock, Korn and the Red Hot Chili Peppers among others) donated time and money towards a fundraising campaign, Chuck died on December 13, 2001 after a severe bout of pneumonia. His death at the age of only 34 was a tremendous blow to Death's fans, who might reasonably have expected another three decades of virtuoso music from him. What made the tragedy even worse was that over his short musical career (a mere 14 years) Chuck had followed a steep curve of evolution, both as a musician and songwriter. If he had moved from raw death metal to prog-metal to melodic heavy metal in that short time, what might he have accomplished if he'd been granted a full lifespan? We will never know, and for many thousands of his fans, that fact still hurts bitterly.

Seven years have passed since then, and it has been a source of comfort for many Death and Control Denied fans that Chuck has not been falsely deified in the way of so many fallen icons. He is known today, just as he was known in his lifetime, as a driven character who could be difficult to work with, as his standards were so high. Chuck demanded, and received, the best possible performances from his fellow musicians, using only the most talented and committed people on his records. This led to a degree of quality control that meant there is very little inessential material on any post-1990 Death album, and not much before that point either.

Chuck's legacy has not been without its controversies. His mother, Jane Schuldiner, who administers his estate and music, has been involved in a legal struggle for some time over the remaining Control Denied recordings, some of which were issued by a European label in the mid-Noughties as part of the Zero Tolerance compilation. The feeling among fans seems to be that the recordings deserve to be finished and issued in a manner appropriate to Chuck's last recorded work, although the compilation itself sold well. Death's entire catalogue was reissued by Century Media at the turn of the century, and the 1995 album Symbolic received a luxury reissue by Roadrunner in 2008. Hopefully more of these albums – each of them proof of Schuldiner's phenomenal musical skills and presence – will be reissued soon. BC Rich recently announced that a version of the Stealth which he used on so many great songs will go into production shortly, with fans' reaction to the news varying between delight and cynicism (the latter probably due to the huge revenues and publicity accrued by Dean from their Razorback model, released after the untimely death of ‘Dimebag' Darrell Abbott – see below).

Schuldiner's name remains one to conjure with in metal circles. As a guitarist, as a songwriter and as an innovator, he was one of a select elite whose vision has shaped the music we listen to today. He is much missed.

Moment Of Guitar Genius
‘The Philosopher' features a tapped intro and perfectly precise alternate picking throughout, as well as a picking-hand precision that has been rarely equalled, but any and all of Death's albums display Chuck's maverick genius.

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Kerry King with the Italian translation of The Bloody Reign Of Slayer. Click for a larger pic.

Happy New Year. Here's to another 12 months of global insanity.

The 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists is out and getting killer reviews, although it won't be long before a flood of hate mail comes in saying things like "You are a Wanker & A stupid green-toothed Limey, why isn't Slash in there??//??//??" I'll post the best rants here.

Books 13 and 14 are done and will be published in April and June. A clue: one is about a prog-metal band and the other is the first ever book about a certain dead member of a certain band.

December seems like ages ago. I was interviewed by the marvellous Patrizia Mazzuocolo for her Tinitus radio show, a Canadian network called 680 News and the great Classic Metal Show for the 100 Greatest Metal Guitarists book. In turn, I interviewed Pat O'Brien of Cannibal Corpse, Andreas Kisser of Sepultura and Ginger of The Wildhearts.

Apart from big old features on Captain Sensible, Victor Wooten and Stanley Clarke, and a bit of Rhythm's 100 Greatest Drummers feature -- plus the usual stack of reviews for the usual stack of magazines -- the month was more about writing books than journalism. And drinking. As January will be. Cheers!