Finally giving fans all access: to themselves, their feelings, and other people like them. This book is partially autobiographical and partially a survey of honest opinions, from heavy metal fans expressing what created their passion for heavy metal music and what makes them keep the faith despite a fast-changing world. Because heavy metal goes far beyond the music itself: it encompasses social aspects of integration and self-realization, religious themes of death and the occult, aesthetic canons of belonging. In 'Why We Choose Heavy Metal' fans will finally see themselves portrayed among the over 30 metal-heads featured in the book, and will therefore understand that there is nothing wrong with being different from the mainstream clones of the modern-day disposable generation. Michelle is a mother, engineer, photographer and heavy-metal journalist that has lived on the concert scene for several years, usually interviewing the bands, but this time asking people on the ground, in the mud and on the grass, to tell her about their life beyond the concert, their values and beliefs, and everything that heavy metal music means to them.