In addition to music releases, 2008 was notable for two metal-related books. Both have received a good amount of press and interest from the scene, although for very different reasons.

The first is photographer Peter Beste’s True Norwegian Black Metal, a 208-page hardcover collection of Beste’s amazing photo series documenting Norway’s underground black metal scene. Beste’s work has generated much praise and interest from both fans of the genre and intrigued outsiders. The photos feature an honest and unfiltered look at the culture of black metal, and many prominent figures like Nattefrost, Samoth, Frost,, Maniac, Valfar and Fenriz. Some sample pages can be seen on PeterBeste.com, and right now Amazon is selling it for about 50% off, so now would be a great time to pick it up. Highly recommended.

The other interesting book released this year is artist Dan Nelson’s All Known Metal Bands. Basically, he grabbed all the metal band names in Encyclopaedia Metallum and printed them up in a book. It’s supposed to work on several levels - as an art project (the book is very nicely designed with black pages and an ornate cover), as a humorous collection of odd band names, and as a cultural homage to the genre.

Reactions seem to range from amusement and pride to anger at the perception that Nelson is just trying to make a buck off of a list that anybody could have put together. I can somewhat appreciate the book as a piece of art, but I think Nelson could have at least included countries of origin along with the band names to better illustrate the global nature of the metal genre. Everyone will have their own opinions, but Nelson deserves some credit for actually creating something to generate all this attention, I guess.