The British scribe has been around in the music biz for many years. Wall’s resumé includes Kerrang!, Mojo, Classic Rock and numerous biographies including Led Zeppelin’s When Giants Walked the Earth, Iron Maiden’s Run to the Hills: the Authorized Biography of Iron Maiden and Guns N’ Roses: the Most Dangerous Band in the World.
With Enter Night, an unauthorized biography of Metallica, Wall whacks one out of the park. The content within is humorous, entertaining, insightful, and there are a few tidbits that even the die-hard Metallica fan might not have known before. The 480 pages are bound by a nice hard cover book with a glossy cover fold which resembles the simplicity of Metallica’s Black album.
Wall tells it like it is: Lars' often loud-mouthed, rich European, spoiled brat attitude; Hetfield’s homophobic, beer drinking, gun toting tendencies; Newsted’s honorable demeanor while constantly hazed and ridiculed during his tenure with the band; Mustaine’s temper and love of alcohol and drugs. It’s all here. Wall’s unbiased approach allows him to aptly praise the band when they deserve it, as well as being critical when it is needed. Wall didn’t write his book with a fanboy perspective, instead, he concentrated on delivering a great literary biography.
With an “unauthorized” biography, a reader is usually suspect of the data and facts that the author has gathered. Taken from his own Metallica interview archives, Wall’s account is pretty factual, honest and riveting. He even notified the band to get their consent before he wrote it. Lars was for it, James was against it. Wall didn’t want the band members to have their say in as to what made it or not, and he didn’t want to alter or capitulate any of the manuscript.
There are several books out on Metallica, but nothing this complete or literary as the work Wall has pulled off with Enter Night. Wall knows Metallica. He has hung out with Lars and interviewed the band many times in the past. He was even in the studio as the band recorded their brilliant Master of Puppets album in Copenhagen.
I’ve read an interview recently where Wall states that he spoke with Lars and the drummer was very complimentary of the book. It’s a good read and was hard to put down. This book has it all.
(published 2011 by St. Martin's Press)
