3 out of 5

A fun go at some metal-infused mythology, hampered in its final chapter by something of a lack of focus and consequences.

Oh, and I should note: I haven’t read books one and two.  Ain’t I a stinker?  The series was absolutely of interest after I read Rick Spears’ The Auteur – though that book also had an underwhelming ending – but then it absolutely wasn’t of as much interest after the second Auteur series.  Black Metal book 3 popped up on a sales rack, so here we are.

Thus: I’m presumably missing the two-book setup here, that would pair off warring factions of heaven and Hell and build up some archangel’s quest to deposit the antichrist as a puppet leader of the underworld, as well as introductions to some metal kids who get mixed up in all this.  And despite my flippant summary, that whole background is pretty fun.  We’re set in either one ethereal plane or the other for almost all of part 3, so Chuck BB’s art – while energetic – has to dance around the sameness of clouds or rubble for background, but Spears keeps the story absolutely throttling along, as our two metalheads (apparently killed off last volume) go all dark-power imbued and rise from their graves, throw down with death, then insert themselves in the middle of this heaven and hell war.

Unfortunately, this pacing robs us of any sort of character payoff.  Granted, I’m joining the story after things have been established, but this is the point in the game where the hero gets the final spell or sword and heads off to battle, and once we’re there, as there’s been no clear limit set on their powers, or a pause to appreciate their momentum (it’s just resurrection and fights) that ultimate clash has zero emotional connection for the reader.

I do dig that Black Metal takes its music worship and world-building semi-seriously, and its general energy definitely takes it a long way.  But, like The Auteur, the lack of a satisfying follow through to the ending doesn’t really mark it as something to reread.