Martin Popoff (born April 28, 1963) is a Canadian music journalist , critic and author. He is mainly known for writing about heavy metal music . The senior editor and co-founder of Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles , he has written over twenty books that both critically evaluate heavy metal and document its history. He has been called "heavy metal's most widely recognized journalist" by his publisher.
56-545: Born in Castlegar, British Columbia , Popoff's interest in heavy metal began as a youth in Trail, British Columbia , in the early 1970s, when bands such as Led Zeppelin and Iron Butterfly were in the collections of the older brothers and cousins of Popoff and his friends. Black Sabbath played even heavier music, and became the group his circle of friends thought of as "our band, not the domain of our elders". Other heavy rock albums of
112-728: A BA in English from the University of Victoria in 1984 and an MBA in marketing at McMaster University in 1987, working for Xerox before co-owning a print brokering company. For a while in the 1980s, he also played drums in a bar band called Torque. In 1993, he released his first book, the independently published Riff Kills Man!: 25 Years of Recorded Hard Rock and Heavy Metal , a collection of 1,942 critical reviews of heavy metal records. Shortly after its publication, he co-founded Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles , which released its first issue in 1994. He soon returned to his reviews book, releasing
168-614: A box set, entitled the Tournado Box Set , for limited purchase. The set includes the Killing the Dragon CD, Evil or Divine DVD ( PAL format only), DVD bonus material, interviews, photo gallery, never-before-seen behind the scenes footage, promo video for the Killing the Dragon track "Push", exclusive Dio cards, and the bonus CD single " Electra " (which is the last song the band recorded), from
224-622: A change of 3.7% from its 2016 population of 8,039. With a land area of 19.87 km (7.67 sq mi), it had a population density of 419.6/km (1,086.8/sq mi) in 2021. According to the 2021 census , religious groups in Castlegar included: Castlegar has a humid continental climate ( Köppen Dfb ) or an inland oceanic climate ( Cfb ), bordering an inland warm-summer mediterranean climate ( Köppen Csb ). Summers are warm and sunny, with late summer being quite dry, while winters are cool and frequently unsettled. Precipitation peaks in
280-702: A ferry near Brilliant on the Kootenay River in 1910, and the Christian Community of Universal Brotherhood (CCUB) applied to CPR for a railway station and siding to that point. Brilliant was the centre of the CCUB commercial enterprises, including the Brilliant Jam Factory, a grain elevator, and a flax mill. In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada , Castlegar had a population of 8,338 living in 3,549 of its 3,702 total private dwellings,
336-520: A further population of about 8,000 people. On 5 September 1811, David Thompson arrived in the area of present-day Castlegar, and camped near the mouth of the Kootenay River. A plaque dedicated to him is on the east bank of the Columbia River overlooking the town. The area's first settlement was West Waterloo, now known as South Castlegar. With widespread provincial interest in gold prospecting in
392-490: A gigantic Murray staring at them from the far horizon. Murray is not featured on Dio's third studio album, Sacred Heart , but is, for the last time in his original form, featured on the cover of Dream Evil . He is shown in the window of a bedroom with a child sleeping in a bed, while being haunted by several different spooky creatures. Murray's story is printed in the Dream Evil Tour book. The cover art of Dream Evil
448-424: A lump at the back of your throat". On March 18, it was announced that the surviving members of the final line-up of Dio would embark on a project with former Judas Priest front man Tim "Ripper" Owens under the moniker DIO Disciples. The project has been touring extensively since 2011. In May 2012, former Dio guitarist Vivian Campbell , despite his long established feud with Dio, announced his intent to reunite
504-533: A month after the band’s formation, Lee was replaced by Vivian Campbell . The following May, the band released their debut album, Holy Diver , which featured two hit singles – " Rainbow in the Dark " and " Holy Diver " – that gained popularity, in part from MTV . Dio and Bain played keyboards in the studio, but keyboardist Claude Schnell was recruited for live shows in 1983 prior to the Holy Diver tour. Schnell played to
560-556: A particularly scathing review of Def Leppard 's worldwide smash hit glam metal album Hysteria , to which he awarded a score of zero out of ten. Popoff continues to defend his opinion of it years later, citing "just awful production, lyrics, singing, clichés of every musical and lyrical sort." A number of Popoff's other books are biographies of notable metal bands, including Black Sabbath in Doom Let Loose and Dio in Light Beyond
616-513: A quintet with Schnell on keyboards, the band released their second studio album, The Last in Line , on July 2, 1984. It was followed by their third album, Sacred Heart , which was released on August 13, 1985. In 1985, Dio, Campbell and Bain also wrote the song "Stars" for the Hear 'n Aid project, with many other heavy metal luminaries of the time contributing. Campbell became unhappy working with Dio, and
SECTION 10
#1732913656473672-600: A revised and expanded version in 1997 titled The Collector's Guide to Heavy Metal , which almost doubled the original book's number of reviews to 3,650. In the book, he identifies three major stages in the early development of heavy metal. The first stage, "invention", took place in 1970 with the release of Deep Purple in Rock coinciding with debut albums from Black Sabbath and Uriah Heep . Stage two, "re-invention", occurred in 1976 with Judas Priest 's Sad Wings of Destiny . The third stage, "re-intensification", happened in 1984 with
728-757: A total of 6,763 albums spanning three decades of heavy metal. Volume 3: The Nineties was published in 2007. Volume 4: The '00s , published in 2011, was co-written between Popoff and fellow Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles writer David Perri. Popoff has stated that he considers the greatest record of all time to be Led Zeppelin's Physical Graffiti , followed by Black Sabbath's Sabotage . He has also named Queen's self-titled debut as his personal favourite record of all time, and often regards Max Webster as his all-time favourite band. Newer groups that Popoff has spoken highly of include Mastodon , Opeth , Lamb of God and Dark Tranquillity . His Collector's Guide became rather notorious in some circles of rock fans for
784-583: Is Trail Airport , 40 km (25 mi) to the south. Castlegar is part of School District 20 Kootenay-Columbia . There are four elementary schools in the town: There is one high school, Stanley Humphries Secondary School . Selkirk College 's main campus is also in Castlegar. Dozens of walking trails in and near Castlegar are maintained by the Castlegar Parks and Trails Society. The area attracts retirees and tourists for its summer and winter sports. The Columbia River flows through Castlegar. Along
840-485: Is 43.9 °C (111.0 °F) on 30 June 2021, which exceeded the previous mark of 41.1 °C (106.0 °F), recorded on 2 July 1924 and 11 July 1926. The coldest temperature ever recorded was −30.6 °C (−23.1 °F) on 30 December 1968. The West Kootenay Regional Airport is owned and operated by the City of Castlegar, and provides regular service to Vancouver International Airport . The other nearest airport
896-626: Is a community in the West Kootenay region of British Columbia , Canada. In the Selkirk Mountains , at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia Rivers , it is a regional trade and transportation centre, with a local economy based on forestry, mining and tourism. Castlegar is home to Selkirk College , a regional airport, a pulp mill, and several sawmills. Its population of 8,338 includes many Doukhobors , who were largely responsible for much of
952-480: Is a reference to one of the tracks on the album, "Faces in the Window" (the entire album's concept is fears and superstitions about the night and darkness ). Comedy rock duo Tenacious D released a song on their first album entitled "Dio", written as a tribute to Dio, which mocked him somewhat for being too old and stated that Tenacious D were going to take over his position as masters of heavy metal. Before playing
1008-449: Is made using a t-shirt from Ronnie James Dio's personal estate. The show’s costume designer, Amy Parris, in a Q&A posted on the Netflix website said, “He's (Munson) a fan of wizard metal, he's a fan of Dio. He's a fan of Metallica. Actually, Dio was a popular band in the '80s, and we reached out to the estate. His wife is in charge of his estate and offered to send us vintage T-shirts, which
1064-505: The Black . While the biographies are usually not officially authorized, a large amount of research consists of interviews between Popoff and members of each band. Popoff has said of his relationship with his subjects: "I censor myself because I don't want to write something to hurt people. You write a book on Sabbath and you don’t want to write something to hurt (their) families - I love those guys." A Judas Priest biography, Heavy Metal Painkillers ,
1120-465: The European tour was cancelled due to Dio's hospitalization. He had been diagnosed with stomach cancer, and was undergoing treatment. His manager and wife Wendy Dio thanked well-wishers and said "After he kills this dragon, Ronnie will be back on stage, where he belongs, doing what he loves best, performing for his fans." On February 19, 2010, it was announced on Dio's official website that he would release
1176-551: The Kootenai arrived several hundred years ago from central Canada . Kp'itl'els was an Indigenous settlement on the north side of the Kootenay River, just above the junction with the Columbia River. Implements such as arrowheads and pestles have been found along the nearby Arrow Lakes . A reconstructed kekuli dwelling was discovered on Zuckerberg Island , at the confluence of the Kootenay and Columbia rivers. The Doukhobors operated
SECTION 20
#17329136564731232-810: The Kootenay Jiu Jitsu Academy. There are local lacrosse, golf, curling, tennis, volleyball and basketball programs. Many other fitness programs (including yoga) are offered at the Castlegar Community Complex. Castlegar's main business street, Columbia Avenue, runs the length of the city. It becomes Highway 22 at its south end, and the Robson Bridge at its north end. Most of Castlegar's local businesses are located there. There are several neighbourhoods in Castlegar, including Downtown, Southridge, Oglow Subdivision, Woodland Park, Grosvenor, Kinnaird , and Blueberry Creek. The city's outskirts include
1288-618: The Moon on August 30, 2004 in Europe through SPV Records and on September 7, 2004 in the United States through Sanctuary Records . The album features multi-instrumentalist Jeff Pilson (formerly of Dokken ) on bass duties; however, because of prior obligations with Foreigner , he was only available for the recording sessions, and so was replaced by Rudy Sarzo (formerly of Ozzy Osbourne , Quiet Riot , Whitesnake , Blue Öyster Cult among others) on
1344-558: The UK, Dio guitarist Craig Goldy stated "We were working on tracks for a new Dio album just before Ronnie died in May. And we did almost finish one song. Wendy [Dio, Ronnie's widow/manager] has been talking about reissuing [DIO's] 'Magica' album (originally released in 2000) with bonus tracks, including this one." Goldy goes on to say of the lyrics, that they were written by Dio when he was fighting cancer, and are "very emotional" and "hard to listen to without
1400-454: The age of 67. R. J. Dio has sold over 50 million records worldwide. In 1982, disagreements originating over the mixing of Black Sabbath's Live Evil album resulted in the departure of Ronnie James Dio and Vinny Appice from the band. Wanting to continue together as a band, the two formed Dio in October 1982 in the United States with guitarist Jake E. Lee and bassist Jimmy Bain . About
1456-506: The album Lock Up the Wolves in the spring of 1990. During the tour, Dio had a chance meeting with former Black Sabbath bandmate Geezer Butler which led to that band's short-lived reunion, producing one album, Dehumanizer . After this, Dio reassembled Dio once again, retaining only Appice on the drums. By early 1993, guitarist Tracy G , keyboardist Scott Warren of Warrant and bassist Jeff Pilson of Dokken had all joined. During this era,
1512-520: The band abandoned fantasy themed songs and focused on modern issues. As a result, some fans regard the albums made during this period—1993's Strange Highways , 1996's Angry Machines and the live album Inferno: Last in Live —as the worst in Dio's catalogue, while others view them positively as a step away from the outdated sound of the 1980s. With disappointing record sales for Angry Machines , management wanted
1568-455: The band to go back to their earlier style prompting the departure of Tracy G to be replaced by the returning Craig Goldy. In addition, Appice left Dio once again. Craig Goldy's return facilitated the release of Dio's eighth studio album in 2000, Magica , which was regarded by many as the band's "comeback album" and reached No. 13 on the Billboard independent charts. It featured not only
1624-607: The city's boundary was extended to include the Blueberry Creek Irrigation District. Castlegar is in the border area between the Sinixt ( Interior Salish ) and Ktunaxa Indian bands. Experts cannot agree where one band's range ended and the other's began, as there was much overlapping of cultural and territorial activity between them. Most recent information suggests that the Sinixt were the area's original people, and that
1680-528: The era, such as Nazareth 's Razamanaz and Kiss' Hotter than Hell , further shaped his emerging musical tastes. Angel City and April Wine were among Popoff's favourite bands as a teenager. Of popular music magazines around at the time, Popoff recalls being a regular reader of Circus , Hit Parader , and later, " Kerrang! blew our minds." He does not identify any specific writers as being particularly influential on his own writing style, saying "it never registered who wrote what." Popoff received
1736-451: The following tour, however, tensions rose between Goldy on the one hand and Bain and Dio on the other, as Goldy was dealing with family obligations. Goldy left the band in January 2002 and was replaced with Doug Aldrich , who Bain had met while recording a tribute album for Metallica . Because of his late arrival, Aldrich did not contribute much to Dio's ninth work, Killing the Dragon , which
Martin Popoff - Misplaced Pages Continue
1792-595: The late 19th century, by 1895 there were 40 houses in Waterloo. The town boomed until the end of the century when interest in the local mines declined. Castlegar takes its name from Castlegar Estate, the ancestral home of townsite founder Edward Mahon , near Ahascragh in County Galway , Ireland. Castlegar, BC was planned in 1897. Around 1902, the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) built the bridge there and laid
1848-402: The neighbourhoods of Robson , Robson West, Brilliant, Raspberry, Pass Creek, Ootischenia, Tarrys, Thrums and Genelle. Castlegar is a transportation hub for its region. In addition to its airport (above), it is at the junction of highways 3A, 3 and 22. Highway 22, known locally as Columbia Avenue, runs the length of the city. At its north end, Columbia meets the Robson Bridge, carrying traffic to
1904-426: The north, Highway 3A heads to Nelson. To the south, Highway 22 leads to Trail . To its east, Highway 3 leads to Salmo , and to Grand Forks to its west. Sister cites are: Dio (band) Dio was an American heavy metal band formed in 1982 and led by vocalist Ronnie James Dio . Dio left Black Sabbath with intentions to form a new band with fellow former Black Sabbath drummer Vinny Appice . The name Dio
1960-578: The original Dio band for a potential series of shows. This would include himself, drummer Vinny Appice, bassist Jimmy Bain, and keyboardist Claude Schnell. This announced line-up would feature former Lynch Mob vocalist and The Offspring touring member Andrew Freeman stepping in for Dio. and would perform under the name Last in Line . Murray is the demonic -looking mascot of Dio who appears on several of Dio's album covers , including Holy Diver , The Last in Line and Dream Evil , as well as on some of their singles and compilation albums . He
2016-464: The release of Metallica 's Ride the Lightning . The 1997 Collector's Guide received positive reviews from critics, with Johnny Walker of Addicted to Noise dubbing the book "the definitive guide to hard rock / heavy metal and its many related sub-genres". In the 2000s Popoff revised and expanded his Collector's Guide one more time, splitting it up by decade into three separate volumes comprising
2072-415: The return of Goldy but also of Simon Wright and Jimmy Bain, although on the European leg of the tour Chuck Garric played bass. Scott Warren remained in the band and performed live, although Dio and Bain handled all of the keyboard and synth on Magica . A concept album, Magica featured a return to the band's older, more successful sound, while increased use of keyboards gave it a more modern feel. During
2128-657: The rift between them culminated in Campbell being fired from Dio's band. Campbell was subsequently invited to join Whitesnake in 1987. Several songs were recorded live during the Sacred Heart tour for the 1986 Intermission EP with Campbell still on guitar, however the EP also contained the studio track "Time To Burn", which served to introduce fans to Craig Goldy as the new guitarist. On July 21, 1987, their fourth album Dream Evil
2184-861: The river to the west are Scotties Marina and Syringa Provincial Park , with boating and camping amenities. The city's collegiate hockey team is the Selkirk College Saints of the BCIHL, who, as of 2016, are four-time defending league champions. The Castlegar Rebels of the KIJHL are the city's Junior "B" level hockey team. Other local sport activities include Castlegar Baseball Association, Castlegar Skating Club, Dancing at Turning Pointe Dance Studio and Scottie School of Highland Dance, Castlegar Aquanauts, Castlegar Minor Soccer Association, Selkirk Challengers Gymnastics Club, Castlegar Minor Hockey, West Kootenay Minor Football Association, Castlegar Sentinels Football Club, and
2240-580: The rural suburb of Robson, accessed via Broadwater Road. There is a small highway interchange where the Robson Access Road meets Highway 3A towards Nelson . Highway 3 bisects Castlegar, providing the main access to the Grovesnor area, and crossing the Columbia River at the Kinnaird Bridge, to Ootischenia. Highway 3 and 3A provide routes through Ootischenia, and Highway 22 also connects to Blueberry. To
2296-447: The side of the stage on the first two tours before coming out front in 1985. Dio had this to say of the band's origins: It was a good time to be in that band. It was perfect for us. Everything just fell into place. The ethic in rehearsal was amazing. The effort in the recording was just as good. Everybody wanted it to be great. We really believed in what we were doing and couldn't wait to get that product out and have people hear it. Now
Martin Popoff - Misplaced Pages Continue
2352-523: The song live, Jack Black would typically speak about how Dio's tenure in Black Sabbath served as his inspiration to get into heavy metal. The duo appeared in the music video for Dio's song "Push", and he in turn appeared and sang in Tenacious D's comedy movie The Pick of Destiny . The Dio patch on the denim jacket worn by Eddie Munson (played by Joe Quinn) in a season of the Netflix show Stranger Things
2408-456: The tour. 2005 saw the release of the Dio live album Evil or Divine – Live in New York City , which featured the same show that was released on DVD in 2003. Dio toured South America , Japan , Europe , and Russia in 2005. Their autumn tour was titled "An Evening With Dio" and featured a regular set, and then a second set of the band playing Holy Diver in its entirety. A DVD of the tour
2464-453: The town's early development and growth. The area which became Castlegar was an important centre for the Sinixt (Lakes) Peoples. Outside the city limits are the small surrounding communities of Ootischenia , Brilliant, Robson , Robson West, Raspberry , Tarrys, Thrums, Glade, Shoreacres, Fairview, Genelle, Pass Creek and Krestova, and the much smaller communities of Deer Park, Renata, and Syringa on Lower Arrow Lake. These outlying areas have
2520-709: The unfinished albums Magica II & Magica III . Dio died on May 16, 2010, of stomach cancer at the Texas Medical Center in Houston , Texas, at the age of 67. On November 9, 2010, a posthumous live album was released. Titled Dio at Donington UK: Live 1983 & 1987 , it features Dio's 1983 and 1987 appearances at the Monsters of Rock festival and showcases several songs from the Dio era of both Rainbow and Black Sabbath , in addition to songs from Dio's own catalogue. When being interviewed by Classic Rock Magazine from
2576-525: The wide-gauge railway tracks to Trail . They built a boxcar station at the old Waterloo Trail crossing and named it Kinnaird Station in honour of Lord Kinnaird , a CPR shareholder. There was little in Castlegar until after the completion of the CPR bridge. A Mr. Farmer built the first store, housing both the post office and town hall. William Gage built the Castlegar Hotel in 1908, which stood until 1982 when it
2632-588: The winter months when the Aleutian Low is strongest, and a range of precipitation is experienced, sometimes in short time periods. Castlegar is wetter than most places in the Southern Interior of BC, and the city receives around 400 mm more precipitation than nearby Kelowna , Penticton and Kamloops (which are in the drier Okanagan region of British Columbia, while Castlegar is in the Kootenay region). The highest temperature ever recorded in Castlegar
2688-475: Was also featured in the sets for live shows. Dio's first studio album , Holy Diver , from 1983, was the first to feature Murray on its cover. Murray appears to be a demon torturing a cleric , but Ronnie James Dio said that it is not necessarily clear which one is the monster and which one is the priest. Murray is also featured on Dio's second studio album, The Last in Line . On this cover, resurrected souls emerge from their graves on Judgment Day to find
2744-699: Was briefly interrupted for a 10 concert European mini-tour in May/June 2008, and was scheduled to be interrupted again in November/December 2009 with 22 concerts starting in the UK and ending in Germany. Doug Aldrich was to have filled in for Craig Goldy on guitar on these dates, who had other obligations. Dio intended to release a new single, entitled "Electra", to coincide with the tour. This would have been their first studio material in 5 years. The band also intended to record an album or two in 2010. On November 18, 2009,
2800-465: Was chosen because it made sense from a commercial standpoint, as the name was already well known at that time. The band released ten studio albums and had numerous lineup changes over the years, with Dio himself being the only constant member. Guitarists included Vivian Campbell , Craig Goldy , Doug Aldrich , Warren DeMartini , Tracy G , Jake E. Lee and Rowan Robertson . The band dissolved in 2010 when Ronnie James Dio died of stomach cancer at
2856-405: Was destroyed by fire. Also in 1908, the first schoolhouse was built by a few local residents. A dance pavilion, garage, tourist cabins and a slaughterhouse were established by 1925. On 30 October 1946, Castlegar was incorporated into a village; and in 1966, became a town. It amalgamated with neighbouring Kinnaird into a city on 1 January 1974, effectively doubling its population. On 20 May 2004,
SECTION 50
#17329136564732912-540: Was filmed in London. The audio of this performance, a double CD named Holy Diver – Live was released in April 2006. In 2007, it was announced that Black Sabbath would reunite with Dio and go under the name Heaven & Hell . The band released The Devil You Know in 2009. Dio's involvement with Heaven & Hell delayed the recording of what was to be the follow-up to Master of the Moon , Magica II . The three-year hiatus
2968-637: Was published in 2007. In 2014, Popoff stated that he is working on a new book, entitled Who Invented Heavy Metal? In March 2015, Popoff told Metal Shock Finland's chief editor Mohsen Fayyazi that he had finished writing the book and it will be published in approximately a month's time. Popoff is a reviewer for BangerTV and also appears frequently on the many shows featured on the YouTube channel of music publication Sea of Tranquility. Popoff lives in Toronto , Ontario. Castlegar, British Columbia Castlegar
3024-410: Was released. After Dream Evil , Goldy, wanting to pursue solo projects, left the band. In June 1989, 18-year-old Rowan Robertson was announced as Goldy's successor but further changes were to follow, with Schnell, Bain and Appice leaving the band. Schnell, Bain, and Appice were replaced, respectively, with Jens Johansson , Teddy Cook, and former AC/DC drummer Simon Wright . The new band released
3080-412: Was such a dream." The 1989 Nintendo Entertainment System video game Holy Diver was named after the band's song of the same title and incorporates the members of the band as its protagonists, despite not being licensed from the band. The character Dio Brando , the main antagonist of the manga series JoJo's Bizarre Adventure is named after the band. This has two meanings, as both a reference to
3136-474: Was written primarily by Dio and Bain. Killing The Dragon was released in 2002 through Spitfire Records and was well received in the metal community, making the Billboard top 200 . Aldrich would stay in the band until April of the following year, when he, like Campbell before him, joined Whitesnake , prompting Goldy's return. Soon afterward, Bain left the band. Dio released their tenth studio album, Master of
#472527