HOLGER SCHMENK / CHRISTIAN KRUMM · Kumpels In Kutten 1 | BOOK

302 pages, German language

More about the book 'Kumpels In Kutten 1'

Some stories can only be born in the shadow of smoking factory chimneys, between pit settlements, currywurst stands and corner kiosks. That is exactly where "Kumpels in Kutten" lives, a book by Holger Schmenk and Christian Krumm that digs into the heavy metal scene of the Ruhr region the way an old tape trader digs through crates — with dirt under the fingernails and a grin on the face. Built on a mountain of interviews, it hands the microphone to the people who were actually there: Mille Petrozza of Kreator, Tom Angelripper of Sodom, Chris Boltendahl of Grave Digger, guitarist Waldemar Sorychta, Rock Hard editor Götz Kühnemund, Drakkar label boss Boggi Kopec and producer Harris Johns, plus plenty of insiders whose names never made the big headlines.

What makes this thing so appealing is that it refuses to be an encyclopedia. Instead of dry dates and discographies, it paints a portrait of a scene that grew out of rehearsal rooms, pubs, allotment gardens and crumbling industrial barracks. Why did metal take root so stubbornly here, of all places? Who are the people behind the riffs? Why do so many bands keep coming back to this corner of Germany? The answers are loud, funny, stubborn and occasionally touching, and they make a strong case that heavy metal belongs to culture just as much as anything hanging in a museum. Sorychta puts it beautifully: Beethoven is cultural heritage today, but two hundred years ago he and his crowd were hardly saints either, wandering the streets with a bottle of wine and singing their songs.

Spread across 302 pages in German, this is a book to keep next to the stereo, to read with a record spinning and a cold drink within reach. It is history told by the folks who lived it, and it smells of sweat, diesel and cheap beer in the best possible way.

For fans of: Kreator, Sodom, Grave Digger, Rock Hard magazine, German heavy metal history

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