A revised and updated edition of Joel McIver’s To Live Is To Die - The Life And Death Of Metallica’s Cliff Burton will be published on September 6th via Jawbone Press. The 312-page paperback will include an 8-page photo insert. It features a foreword by Kirk Hammett, and a afterword from Anthrax’s Frank Bello.

Today, Metallica are consummate musicians, but it wasn’t always that way. Their early career is marked by a gradual evolution from garage thrash to sophisticated, progressive heights – an evolution driven by their bass player, Cliff Burton, who pushed the band to new heights with his songwriting ability and phenomenal bass skills across three albums: Kill ’Em All, Ride The Lightning, and their undisputed masterpiece, Master Of Puppets.

Cliff’s life was short but influential; his death at the age of 24 in a tour bus crash on a Swedish mountain road was sudden and shocking. Following his passing, Metallica went on to huge global success, but by their own admission they never pushed the creative envelope as radically as they had done during the first four years of their career.

The cult of Burton grows year on year, with many bassists (even those outside of heavy metal) acknowledging his influence. This revised and updated edition of To Live Is To Die, published to mark the 30th anniversary of his passing, adds a new appreciation of his influence and an afterword by Anthrax bassist Frank Bello.

“When we toured with Metallica in 2008–09, I read Joel McIver’s then-just-released Cliff Burton biography. If you haven’t, do yourself a favour, and pick up one of the best biographies you’ll ever read.” - Robb Flynn, Machine Head