After penning a pretty thorough, illustrated history on the inventors of heavy metal five years ago, entitled Doom Let Loose, famed rock scribe Martin Popoff returns to tie up some loose ends and bring the band's history up to date with his second Black Sabbath tome, which has just been published as part of Backbeat Books' FAQ series.

Subtitled 'All That's Left To Know On The First Name In Metal' may come across as being a tad presumptuous, that is had the book been written by any other author, because if you've happened to come across any of his other thirty-odd books, you know that Popoff always does his homework and rarely leaves any stone unturned, regardless of who he's writing about this week.

So what do you get here that wasn't covered in his first Sabbath bio? Well for starters this book is completely fresh, in that it contains all new interviews, tidbits and quotes, all culled from the author's chats with the band members and people from their inner circle. Some in depth digging produced interviews with the founder of Vertigo Records, the band's first manager Jim Simpson and early concert booker and one time IMA management partner with guitarist Tony Iommi, Norman Hood. They dish on the bands early, jazz and blues roots and how they sowed the seeds for what eventually became known as heavy metal. Martin unveils a revealing interview with former manager Sandy Perlman, who expounds on the controversial Black and Blue tour in 1980 with Blue Oyster Cult, who Perlman was also managing at the time. His album by album (live and studio) assessment, as well as the sound and production quality of each disc in the bands storied catalogue, might be cause for some fueled debate amongst the diehards (myself included), but it's out there nonetheless. Throw in a detailed recounting of the band's much talked about 1978 tour with then up and coming American hotshots Van Halen, an in depth look at the infamous Sabbath Bloody Sabbath cover art, as well as where they recorded their albums, sales figures, collectible records, early demos etc... and you have yourself a pretty all encompassing book for people who simply want to know everything about Black Sabbath. Martin brings the story up to date and closes things out by covering the 00's reunion of the Heaven and Hell era Sabbath, which contains some final words of wisdom from the late Ronnie James Dio, to whom Martin has dedicated the book.

Despite there being a few sections dedicated to bands that either came up at the same time as Sabbath, or bands that have simply been influenced or paid tribute to the mighty purveyors of metal, there's a veritable treasure trove of information for the reader to pore over here. The average Sabb fan can probably afford to take a pass on this book and instead opt for the aforementioned Doom Let Loose bio. However, if you're a diehard fan, you're definitely going to appreciate the more obscure factoids that this book has to offer.