It has been a while since Metal Insider scribe, Chip McCabe, had a byline on the site, but not without good cause. McCabe has just announced the publication of his new book, 666 Days of Metal, via Amazon. 666 Days of Metal is based off of a blog McCabe ran from 2012-2014 where he wrote about a different metal album every day for 666 consecutive days. (For those keeping score at home, yes, that’s almost two full years.) The book version of 666 Days of Metal also includes write-ups of what McCabe has deemed to be the “666 most essential metal albums of all-time” alongside a bunch of extras not found on the original site. The book also makes mention of another 100 albums worth your time released since 2013, after the original list was created. That’s a lot of music to explore.
With all of that said here’s our 6 reasons to dig into 666 Days of Metal:
1) Quantity – As mentioned above there are well over 700 metal albums crammed into 700 pages. You are bound to find something new (or lost to you) that you’ll love.
2) Diversity – McCabe does a nice job of incorporating pretty much every genre of metal you can think of. Death metal, black metal, doom, grind, thrash, speed metal, traditional metal, power metal, folk metal, stoner rock, crust/d-beat, and various types of hardcore are all represented, and then some.
3) Recommended Tracks – Every write-up for an album from the 666 in the main list contains a recommended track to start with. That’s the most epic Spotify playlist ever just waiting to happen.
4) The Extras – McCabe breaks down the list of 666 by decade, year, country, record label, and even gives the top 5-10 albums every year from 1980-2012. It’s a great quick-hit reference section.
5) What’s NOT in the Book – McCabe refused to allow record sales to dictate this project. While platinum selling acts like Ozzy, Maiden, Priest, and Metallica are all firmly entrenched, you won’t find the vast majority of (or any really) hair bands or nu metal. You also won’t find a lot of the classic rock acts that usually clutter up a project of this ilk.
6) The Future Dinner Conversations/Arguments – McCabe is quick to point out in the intro that music is the most subjective thing in the world. There’s going to be a lot for folks to cheer in these pages…and maybe just as much to argue about. No Slipknot? No Metallica post-Justice? There are some bold omissions, but that’s the beauty of a project like this one.
