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as “gesturing towards escape, empowerment or transgression.” The use that the editors
make of the concept of volume, as triggering a primal, visceral feeling that characterizes
the genre of heavy metal, is as well a tad puzzling, for they do not take into account the
scientifically well-documented effects that excessive decibels have upon the synaptic
flow, not mentioning the very serious hearing damage that they cause; an overly loud
sound has the capacity to paralyze some neuronal functions, and this goes a long way in
explaining the trance-like state an excessive loud heavy metal concert might provoke in
the spectator—not unlike that of a football Stadium—in term of primal, visceral
communion. Furthermore, most populär music is played today at very high volume, be it
techno or hip hop; excessive decibels are hence not the trademark of heavy metal music.
Similarly, Weinstein’s notion that “extreme metal is a key music of the global Proletariat”
(16), referred to—perhaps a tad pompously—as the “Weinstein hypothesis” throughout
the introduction , is questionable, for the very concept of “global Proletariat” remains
quite undefined; in the case of the United States, we should then deduce that African
Americans, who favor funk or hip-hop over metal, or Hispanics, who tend to prefer Latin
rhythms, cannot be part of “the global Proletariat.” The same could be said regarding the
strong Arab minority in France, who choose hip hop and R&B over metal, or about the
Gypsy community in Spain, who is still loyal to the harmonic principles of flamenco
music—both tend to be economically under-privileged groups who might not deserve to
be automatically excluded from the “global Proletariat” category simply because they do
not consume heavy metal music. The “Weinstein hypothesis,” which is contradicted in
the last essay of the book that deals with the metal scene from Easter Island, appears
hence musically and culturally too ethnocentric to be scientifically viable.
In spite of its few shortcomings, mostly confined to its theoretical ambitions,
Metal Rules the Globe remains a very instructive read that directly addresses the quickly
changing landscape of Cultural Studies, and answers a very real and current need in
Populär Music studies.
Daniel Ferreras Savoye, West Virginia University
Sied Run
Ross Talaroco
New York: Bordighera Press, 2012
The novel Sied Run by Ross Talarico is a coming-of-age story set in Rochester, New
York during the late 1950’s, 1959 to be exact. The novel teils the story of an ItalianAmerican boy of working-class background whose life revolves around family,
neighborhood friends, and his own sense of destiny. The novel, which is
autobiographical, chronicles the struggles of Rosey, the protagonist, with allegiance, selfesteem, and young love.
Rosey, later called Ross, is a sensitive teenager who is attracted to the flash and
cash of the young neighborhood Mafiosi. Early on in the novel, we leam of Ross’s group
of friends, Cosmo, Danny, Billy, and others with whom he attempts exploits of