Titanium Punch

by Yashin Blake (ECW Press) 171 pages, $19.95 paper

This headbanging novel is so hot I’d sold my own copy, before I’d even had a chance to look at it. Hearing the author read, I’d gone out of body, surfed an actual slamming mosh pit and been drawn into the pulsating world of the fictional Heavy Metal band: Titanium Punch. I mean it, “Heads flew. I put mine over and banged. Scared myself.” Expect a loud raunchy racket upon opening the covers of this first novel, by the music columnist for Lola magazine. The content is, apparently, too hendrixicated even for the estate of Jimmy Hendrix.

What you can also expect to hear is the strong clear voice of the main character, as an isolated instrument that drowns out the ‘other noise that makes it metal’. It is a graceful exposition of urban living, from BMX bikes to gang encounters. During a summer of significant personal development (including falling in love with “the most intense knock out punch of a chick”), Isaac “Iqbal” Khan speaks in the universal spirit of respect, truth and (no kidding) enthusiasm. Hearing heavy metal music the way Blake plays it is sort of a homecoming. Like the blues “a long dead brother sang through scratches and hiss, sang through time” readers can, like Iqbal, be there “reaching one of those understanding that is mostly a feeling. A way of feeling.” Take it from someone who actually enjoys the old stuff, the Beatles “and other nightmare crap like that.” Titanium Punch is a well sequenced, well crafted collection of moments from an author who bridges the cultural chasms of race, religion, time and even, musical preference.