Metal guitar expert Joel McIver selects the most accomplished guitarists from four generations of metal and places them in order according to their technical proficiency and pioneering ideas.

Joel McIver is the author of thirty-four books and writes for several publications as a journalist. He is also the editor of Bass Player magazine. He has written for Rolling Stone, The Guardian, Metal Hammer, Classic Rock, and he is the occasional guest on BBC. Classic Rock magazine has called him "by some distance Britain's most prolific hard rock/metal author." He wrote the official biography of the world's biggest death metal band, Cannibal Corpse and co-wrote Megadeath's bio from bass player David Ellefson.