Beyond Grammy winners and other morbid millionaires, there remained thousands of bands that seemingly existed solely for the sheer joys of extremist expression. Throughout the global metal diaspora, heavy metal outposts remained in constant contact via always-lively international channels. Metalheads of all kinds were banging on guitars, typing fanzine articles, and scribbling each other notes from every nook and cranny of the earth. Between map points flowed a never-ending stream of touring bands. If rap music in the 1990s was, as Chuck D once said, the CNN of black America, metal was an unflinching broadcast of international affairs.

Whether living in Ohio or Oslo, headbangers had a more accurate awareness of life in Third World countries than did the majority of Westerners. "I know not to believe what you see on TV, thatıs for fucking sure," snorts Napalm Deathıs singer, Barney Greenway. "The different levels of class around the world are quite noticeable, the way different societies treat their citizens. I find Americans so fucking strange. I find them very twee. Then, going to Russia, people walk with their heads down. Itıs like theyıre just walking in circles because theyıve never known anything different."...