Growing Up Metal is published and needs readers and reviewers. And I’ve got an offer, fellow metalheads and fellow readers (and fellow metalhead readers):

A free signed copy to anyone who promises to leave a review on a personal website, blog, active social media page, or Amazon/Goodreads.

If you’ve already bought a copy of Growing Up Metal and want to write a review I’d be happy to offer something else for your time. A signed copy of Flame and Crimson. A book I’ve got a duplicate of, The Letters of J.R.R. Tolkien or an S&S paperback.

An old concert t-shirt so used you could roll it up, smoke it, and get high. My eternal gratitude (the list goes on).

How do you do this? Just drop me an email at brian@thesilverkey.net. I’ll send you the signed book or other item of your choice, you read it and leave a review. Honor system.

Growing Up Metal is on Amazon and Goodreads and I would love your star ratings on those platforms too. They help people find the book and lower the bar to purchase. Give it 5 stars if you enjoyed it.

Rock on.

Three metal updates

What is the most metal way possible to launch a book? With a party and a heavy metal band. So, that’s what I’m doing.

Murph’s Metal Party aka., The Retirement Sucks Tour rolls into town this Saturday, Sept. 19. Featuring the talents of Wildside.

I’ve thrown eight prior heavy metal parties with the last in 2018. This particular reunion tour will be the biggest and loudest yet. Wildside is The Best 80's Hair Rock Tribute Band in New England! per its website and you’ll get no arguments from me. I’ve seen them a couple times and they rocked.

Wildside plays clubs and festivals every weekend in the summer but this weekend they’ll be playing my living room.

I’m sure I’ll share a few pics of the nonsense with Arcane Arts readers.

Accident of Birth remaster

As heavy metal languished in the 1990s Bruce Dickinson stayed the course with a couple of great solo efforts including 1997’s Accident of Birth. I remember when this came out and Bruce was reunited with Adrian Smith. It was a bit of light in a dark time.

As evidence, I present to you, "Man of Sorrows."

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The album is receiving a remastered release including slick new packaging and drops Oct. 23. You can read the announcement here.

A few words by Bruce himself:

“’Accident Of Birth’ was a really important album for me at the time and I think contains some of my very best work. It lit a fire under me once more, especially as a songwriter, and was a great chance to work with Adrian [Smith] again. I'm so proud of this record, and these new mixes sound fantastic.”

I might have to pick this one up.

Iron Maiden redux

I covered my experience seeing Iron Maiden in New Jersey in last week’s Arcane Arts; I got to see these gods of metal again a week ago in Boston. They were just as good, the set list the same as I knew it would be. If you get a chance to see Maiden on this tour, take it. They’ve never sounded better. Dave Mustaine sounded better in Boston than Jersey and it was nice hearing “Trust,” a new addition to Megadeth's setlist.

Missives from The Silver Key

From the “in case you missed it” files, two short essays fired off on The Silver Key this past week:

• ​The Real Message of Fahrenheit 451 (just finished the audiobook, a few thoughts)
• ​Silence Your Inner Critic, Enter the Unknown Deeps (battling your worst critic, i.e., you)

Weird Studies covers The Two Towers

One of my favorite podcasts discussing one of my favorite books = instant listen. This episode, “A Mighty Matter of Legend,” did not disappoint. You can listen here.​

Some great insights from the hosts, a few of which included:

We are currently engaged in a war against Saruman aka., big tech. Per the hosts, “Saruman has embraced a kind of fully digital view of the world where everything is precisely what it is and therefore can be moved around modularly in a spirit of absolute domination and control… whereas what the people of Rohan and Gondor have to do is give up control.” This is literally true in Denethor’s case, he must cede the throne to Aragorn, the rightful king of Gondor, a figure out of legend. But more broadly speaking we must surrender, give up control of the rational and embrace the mythic. Acknowledge that the way out of our current technological malaise is the hard road Tolkien presented: Not to wield the power of the ring, and use its ability to control and dominate, but to give it up. Embrace the world of the green earth rather than the industrial wasteland of Mordor.

Other material covered on the podcast:

• The long literary and artistic tradition of breaking the 4^th wall and how LOTR carries on that tradition.
• The problem of Elves, which present a difficult challenge the artist: trying to portray faerie and its ethereal beauty and strangeness beyond that which we can conceive or apprehend with our eyes.
• The ambiguity and complexity of evil in Tolkien’s universe (it is the absence of good. It is choices, it is hardly black-and-white when both good and evil exist in Gollum, etc).
• The possibility of finding enchantment in our disenchanted lives. “All of us are capable of straying into Lothlorien.” A lovely thought.

Rogues in the House redux

And finally, speaking of podcasts, I’m currently lining up another appearance on Rogues in the House. The topic is TBD… but very likely two of my favorite topics, sword-and-sorcery and heavy metal.

I believe I’ve guested on as many as five episodes. You can find links to those and more about my guest appearances here.​

As they say in the podcast business, stay tuned.

Interested in Growing Up Metal? Contact Brian here.