Bazillion Points Books has revealed that legendary Swedish death metal vocalist Tomas “Goatspell” Lindberg (AT THE GATES, GROTESQUE, DISFEAR) has contributed a foreword to the upcoming 744-page hardcover book “Metalion: The Slayer Mag Diaries”, by Jon Kristiansen. Lindberg’s connection to Norway’s Slayer mag dates to the 1980s, when he and Kristiansen were part of a core group of Swedish and Norwegian headbangers during the wild early years of the Scandinavian extreme metal scene.

“Metalion and his Slayer mag are responsible for me (and a lot of other Swedes) getting into the death metal underground,” begins Lindberg. “I clearly remember how proud I was when GROTESQUE got a mention in the classic mag — this meant more to me than anything else at the time!”

Part anthology, part memoir, and years in the making, “Metalion“ includes over 600 reproduction pages from every issue of Slayer mag, spanning from the early 1980s through 2010. In addition, author Jon Kristiansen recounts his life’s story, from alienated outsider to central figure in Norwegian black metal to world-weary metal survivor. The book also features over 100 rare photographs, including two color sections and a portrait gallery of photographs taken by Kristiansen himself.

“The greatest heavy metal story ever told” will be available June 6, 2011, wherever books are sold, and is available for pre-order now with two bonus limited patches from Bazillion Points Books, “America’s smallest but heaviest book publisher.”

“From the start, I made Slayer mag as honestly and as well as I could,” says Kristiansen. “I never knew any other way. I hope that I have produced something that will stand the test of time.”

Source: Blabbermouth.net