This book explores the ways in which the art has helped to define each of the crucial subgenres that make up the multifaceted, and colourful centipede that is metal. Let's face it, without the larger-than-life character and imagination of the art that complements it, metal just wouldn't have had the same impact. From the colourful, outlandish, yet sophisticated use of visuals for album artwork and posters, to the immediately recognisable logos of such bands as Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Motoerhead, Metallica, Slayer, and a host of others across many subgenres, there's a close-knit relationship between the riffs that thunder from the guitar and the images that have come to represent the songs, anthems, and sheer nature of the beast. Does any other form of music immediately conjure up such evocative and distinctive images as the mere mention of the term "heavy metal" does? The answer is simple: no! From its inception in the 1960s through to today's giants, the art has been closely connected to the music. Every classic album brings to mind a readily identifiable album cover. Each great band has an immediately identifiable logo. All of the landmark gigs have a poster that quintessentially depicts the time, place, and passion of the event. It's all developed so far along the road that, today, the art that has been used to illustrate the music now stands on its own. There are exhibitions of the finest examples created by the truly outstanding artists. These works are collectible in their own right. What might have begun as a way of packaging metal has taken on a life of its own-moreover, it's even possible to trace the way the genre itself has evolved, and changed, by looking at its art. This book explores the ways in which the art has helped define each of the crucial subgenres that make up the multifaceted and colourful centipede that is metal. AUTHORS: Martin Popoff is the author of over 50 rock books and is a 20-year veteran writer for the likes of Goldmine, Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles, Guitar World, CMJ,and bravewords.com. Additionally, he has served as consultant and researcher for Banger Films on feature films as well as the TV series Metal Evolution and Rock Icons and speaks at conferences on metal history. Malcolm Dome started writing about music, and metal in particular, for Record Mirror in 1979. He was part of the Kerrang! team in the 1980s, cofounded RAW magazine in 1988, and now writes for the UK magazines Metal Hammer, Prog, and Classic Rock, among others. Dome has also authored a number of books, including Encyclopedia Metallica (from which a certain band got its name), an official book on Bon Jovi, and histories of Van Halen, Aerosmith, and AC/DC. He has presented radio shows for Total Rock and has appeared in a number of documentaries. SELLING POINTS: . Showcases some 400 of the finest examples of metal poster and cover art-this is the first book ever to concentrate specifically on the amazing (and amazingly varied) work created by artists working in this genre of music . Spans the entire 50-year history of metal, from the earliest proto-metal bands of the 1960s to the most-recent releases . Every genre is represented, including traditional metal, NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal), thrash, black, prog, nu, big hair, doom, and stoner 430 colour and b/w photographs