Rating: 
Summary: Best Album Guide Ever
Review: Although I'm not the world's biggest metal fan, at the same time I'm insanely jealous of Martin Popoff's skills as a writer as well as all of the spare time he must have to listen to so many albums. Besides showing an undying and singularly-minded devotion to his subject and a savant-like, encyclopedic knowledge of the music and the rivetheads who create it, Popoff pulls off the impossible - write 3,700 album reviews and make each and every one an informative, mini work-of-art. How does he do it? Although the lines are sort of blurred as to what Popoff rates as metal, his knack for turning a phrase is so acute that if he said Dave Matthews was black metal, I'd be the first to say "Amen, brother." Speaking from personal experience, the only problem with a guide like this is the collector mentality it inspires and the frustration that results from trying to track down a lot of these albums, many of which are long out of print. There should be a picture of this book in the dictionary next to the words "brilliant" and "perfect." Hey Martin, wanna trade CD-R's?
Rating:
Summary: An entertaining, informational read....
Review: I bought Collector's Guide sometime around Christmas of '97. Almost 6 years on, I have to say there's hardly a day that goes by where I don't pick it up. It become something of a religious doctrine to me. Possibly sad, but true nonetheless. Anyway, I digress... in much the same way Martin more than occasionally does, and hopefully this makes my review half as interesting as any one of his.
You may not always agree with Mr. Popoff, and it seems his personal views about an artist or how he was feeling at the time he first heard the music often comes into play. So, deal with it, we are all guilty in these areas. Music plays to our sense of nostaligia, euphoria or dispair, hatred or lust. That said, he does understand a solid song structure, instrumentation, production values, and mix amongst others. Thus, even though many of his reviews are peppered with strong opinions, there are usually, if not always, enough facts sited to legitimatly support his views.
His quirky sense of humor and unbridled enthusiasm for the genre are definitely what sets this, pratically Sacred scribe, part from the typical humdrum that exists on the subjects. His over-the-top vigor when discussing such bands as Thin Lizzy, UFO, and Trouble has given me the spark to purchase some of their works, and become a huge fan in the process. He has without a doubt been a major influence on my passion for metal, and for that I owe him many thanks (if not at least a case of LaBatts). Just a couple of headscratchers (I feel obligated to throw in):
Ozzy's No Rest for the Wicked rated above Bizzard of Ozz?
Rainbow's Down to Earth over Rising? (surely you jest!)
Purple's Battle Rages On over Burn? (drinks a shot of Wild Turkey)
A/C D/C's Flick of the Switch over High Voltage? (Bon rolls over) OK, nuff said. Agreeing to disagree ain't a bad thing!
Rating: 
Summary: TONS of Info and ZERO insight into the music.
Review: I buy and read almost every book available about rock music and I consider myself a fan of heavy metal so I picked this book up and read through it thoroughly. Unfortunately, I found myself disgusted by most of what I was reading.
There is a lot of useful reference information here. You won't find this many albums from this genre of music documented anywhere else. Even the most obscure record that you can think of is probably listed in this book if it qualifies as heavy metal.
Unfortunately, the reviews are consistently terrible. The author uses a scale of 1-10 to tell us that Led Zeppelin IV and Black Sabbath's Paranoid are both worthy of an 8. Meanwhile, Max Webster, Uriah Heep, and UFO have recorded several 10s. Everyone knows that IV and Paranoid are probably the two most influential and important metal records ever. These other bands are strictly minor leaguers who recorded footnote music.
This is just the tip of the iceberg though. Many of the reviews are tainted by childhood memories rather than objective analysis. There are lots of big words being thrown around and lots of hyberbole but very little description of what each record sounds like.
Witness this excerpt from a review of Trouble's "Run to the Light": "...Trouble is above any sort of dissection and denigration, above the law, sent with The Law to infiltrate and cast out; a brain terrain over which to bridge time, space and the beaming shield of divinity." Huh!!?!?? I just want to know what the record sounds like. How does it compare with their others? Are they doing anything different on this one? What is good or bad about the record?
The book is full of this sort of nonsensical prattle and inexplicable rankings that don't seem to have been thought out very well.
If you want some good reading, I would recommend Chuck Eddy's Stairway to Hell. Eddy doesn't take the music so seriously and defines metal much differently than most, but he can WRITE and he knows his rock music.
Rating: 
Summary: GOOD BOOK - HORRIBLE CRITIC
Review: I have been a fan of heavy metal for 16 years and i feel i am very knowledgable on the subject. Martin has created a good REFERENCE guide to many bands that you should check out. Unfortunately he ignores many European POWER Metal bands like Stratovarius and Nightwish who are the world's leaders in Metal music. Martin has no business writing actual "reviews" of each album. His words are pompous and his taste in music is AWFUL. This guy gives Steelheart , Def Leppard and Triumph O's and then gives bands like Nirvana , Pearl Jam and Smashing Pumpkins 10 out of 10. Obviously he is clueless about talent and genres (grunge has NO business in a METAL book). If Martin would have stuck to the SOUND of a band and listed their releases i would have given the book 5 out of 5 stars....but because he feels he has to throw his 2 cents of ignorance into each review , it spoils the whole essence of the book. If you want to check out REAL METAL bands then i suggest the RockDetector's Guide to Power Metal or Thrash Metal. But if you can pick this book up cheap then it makes an interesting read (be prepared to get annoyed by Martin's self-indulgent rhetoric though). REMEMBER FOLKS , THE MAJORITY OF TRUE METAL COMES FROM EUROPE!!
Rating:
Summary: Ehh....
Review: I obviously respect this guy for the time and effort he has put into writing 3,700 reviews for this book, but let's be honest here -- most of these reviews ain't that informative. Half the time I can't even understand what he's trying to get across when using these nonsense words -- it often gets him nowhere. Don't get me wrong, I do agree with him on a whole lot of reviews -- as for most of the Faith No More and King's X catalog I'd say he's right on, but the guy is such a smartass in some of these reviews and he often comes off as incredibly arrogant and closed-minded. Such statements as, "I'll hand out another 7 if anybody cares. On second thought, make that a 6 for being geeks" DO NOT win my respect. I also find it hilarious that the first three reviews in this book are zeros, which I find hard to believe as I have heard around 350 albums and not one of them have I heard less than 2 songs I don't think are at least decent (and bear in mind not all of them are to my taste). I'm not questioning his opinions or ratings, but his comments could have been just a little more respectful.
Rating: 
Summary: Obsessively Thorough
Review: I've had this book for five or six years and it's been a valuable resource for researching heavy music. The book covers bands of all the genres whether it be hair/grunge/industrial/speed/traditional, what have you. He turned me on to great albums from Love/Hate(Wasted in America), Riot(Fire Down Under), Corrosion of Conformity(Deliverance), Trouble(Plastic Green Head), and Michael Schenker(Built to Destroy). His writing style does loose me sometimes. However, I'm basically blown away by the depth of this book. There's just so many freakin reviews. How in the hell did this guy listen to all of these records? I like his appreciation of Queen and Thin Lizzy- two of the greatest rock bands ever. If you're serious about your hard rock music, check this book out.
Rating:
Summary: The greatest toilet reader ever penned
Review: I've spent countless hours in the throne room enthralled with this book. At first I paged through it and was about to put it back on the rack, but I stumbled into the Angel City section. I was thrilled to find that Martin Popoff and I agreed heartily on all of the Angel City albums. That led to UFO, and Judas Priest, and AC/DC, and I was hooked. Pick this one up if you ever get the chance. It's a keeper.
Rating:
Summary: Where my $ goes...
Review: If you are a fan of metal, you need to buy this book. I have discovered upwards of 250 great bands because of this book!!
Rating:
Summary: After Much Deliberating...
Review: Maybe nobody else has quite realized it yet, but this book isn't really about Martin Popoff's taste in heavy metal. It's meant to allow the Reader to engage in formulating their own taste--you're supposed to engage in a running dialogue with Popoff's opinions, and this forces you to think deeply and clearly about how Metal affects you, why it gets under your skin and why (when the day is over) it's important to you. Along the way, Popoff (who has a copious amount of knowledge about all things hard and heavy) acts sometimes as your ally, sometimes as your enemy, and sometimes as a Court Jester. Fact is, genuine metal obssesives are a microscopic minority subculture. I'm glad I bought Martin's book, because I finally have someone to talk to.
Rating:
Summary: Insightful and entertaining, worth every penny!
Review: This book contains well over 3,000 reviews of metal recordings all the way back to 1970. I found the book extremely entertaining and insightful. I read some of the other comments on how this is not a complete "encyclopedia" type guide, and that some information is missing, but I say, so what. Whether you agree or disagree with Martin's reviews, he gives enough information that you can generally find a CD and check it out for yourself. Think about the amount of time Popoff had to put in to write this many reviews, with a full time job and a family! The man loves metal, and that fact shines through all the reviews, both good and bad. I would much rather read a review by a devout metal fan, than some hack writer who wants to impress us all with prose, rather than a real knowledge of the genre. I've read some reviews by the so-called "experts", where it is obvious they have never even listened to the CD they are reviewing. I have used the book to explore new areas of metal that I would never have thought about before his book. In fact, sometimes if he really trashes a band or a CD, I may check it out just to see if it is as bad as he says. So, even if the book is just a series of reviews, it can certainly open your eyes to new bands or areas of metal you may not have explored, and best of all, Popoff's sense of humor will keep you in stitches throughout.
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