Original version (published in 2004 by Feral House; now out of print)
Choosing Death: The Improbable History of Death Metal & Grindcore is a book by Albert Mudrian, the founding editor-in-chief of Decibel, a monthly magazine devoted to heavy metal music.[2] The book was first published in 2004 by Feral House[3] and details the evolution of the death metal and grindcore musical genres, from its beginnings as a small subculture exchanging compact cassettes to a genre where some artists reach million-dollar sales.[4] A limited updated and expanded edition was published in hardcover in 2015 by Decibel Books. A further expanded and revised "death-luxe" edition was published in 2016 by Bazillion Points.[5]
The 2016 edition includes forewords by BBC Radio 1DJJohn Peel and Repulsion founder Scott Carlson. A reviewer for Terrorizer praised Choosing Death as "the most informed and comprehensive document on death metal and grind that you will ever see".[6]
The first Choosing Death Fest was held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on April 16, 2016.[7] The first part of the two-part festival was the Choosing Death Fest Grimposium,[8] which included panel discussions with a variety of death metal experts and enthusiasts, and featured an advance screening of the 2016 documentary Death by Metal. The second part, a concert at Union Transfer,[9] was headlined by Nails, and featured Misery Index, Deceased, Noisem, Horrendous, Derketa, and Taphos Nomos.
