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Playing with the Devil: The True Story of a Rock Band's Terrifying Encounters with the Dark Side
Can you literally sell your soul for rock 'n' roll? In the summer of 1982, the five young musicians of the rock band Entropy came close to finding out when an otherworldly entity beyond their understanding contacted them. This dangerous, terrifying being brought Entropy to the edge of fame, but ultimately tore them apart.
Join Marcus F. Griffin as he reveals the true, first-hand story of his band's encounters with the Gray Man--a dark entity so powerful it could punch a hole between worlds and materialize at will. This demonic creature takes them on one of the greatest paranormal journeys anyone has ever experienced. For the members of Entropy, these real-life adventures with the Devil have never truly ended.
Join Marcus F. Griffin as he reveals the true, first-hand story of his band's encounters with the Gray Man--a dark entity so powerful it could punch a hole between worlds and materialize at will. This demonic creature takes them on one of the greatest paranormal journeys anyone has ever experienced. For the members of Entropy, these real-life adventures with the Devil have never truly ended.
- GenresParanormal
216 pages, Paperback
First published September 1, 2013
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
August 21, 2014
ARC kindly provided by netgalley
5 Heart Pounding, Demonic Stars
Paranormal Activity meets Rock N Roll
"Show others not your darker side for then you must stay here." —THE GRAY MAN
From the very first page to the last, I devoured this book. The events in this book start some 30 years ago and span between the years of 1977 - 1982.
The story begins with the author introducing us to his band members recounting how they meet.
After that, the account of events that happen to these 5 young men is something unimaginable. For Marcus and the band members of Entropy it was a reality.
"Over the next ten days, I was awakened every night at exactly 3:33 in the morning by the sound of the horn blasting in my ear."
Marcus paints a very vivid picture of his experiences with the Gray Man and how the band comes to embrace this entity and incorporate it with their music.
"As I sat there, thinking and resting, the sensation of swirling energies overtook me to the point where I couldn't tell the difference between my own self and anything else. I seemed to be lost in space. Lost in time. And this was my first experience with lost time. My first experience with the supernatural."
Sound insane? Does it matter? I was thoroughly entertained and loved everything about this book, the writing, the story and Marcus's vivid description of his and his bands supernatural and numerological experiences.
I would recommend this book for fiction and non-fiction book readers alike.
"How do you finish telling a story that has never really ended?"
5 Heart Pounding, Demonic Stars
Paranormal Activity meets Rock N Roll
"Show others not your darker side for then you must stay here." —THE GRAY MAN
From the very first page to the last, I devoured this book. The events in this book start some 30 years ago and span between the years of 1977 - 1982.
The story begins with the author introducing us to his band members recounting how they meet.
After that, the account of events that happen to these 5 young men is something unimaginable. For Marcus and the band members of Entropy it was a reality.
"Over the next ten days, I was awakened every night at exactly 3:33 in the morning by the sound of the horn blasting in my ear."
Marcus paints a very vivid picture of his experiences with the Gray Man and how the band comes to embrace this entity and incorporate it with their music.
"As I sat there, thinking and resting, the sensation of swirling energies overtook me to the point where I couldn't tell the difference between my own self and anything else. I seemed to be lost in space. Lost in time. And this was my first experience with lost time. My first experience with the supernatural."
Sound insane? Does it matter? I was thoroughly entertained and loved everything about this book, the writing, the story and Marcus's vivid description of his and his bands supernatural and numerological experiences.
I would recommend this book for fiction and non-fiction book readers alike.
"How do you finish telling a story that has never really ended?"
April 1, 2014
Playing with the Devil is the fascinating true story of Marcus Griffin's first experience with the world beyond the normal and how it affected the band he was in and the direction of the rest of his life.
The band's beginning is completely normal yet somehow sychronistic. They came together to create music and had the type of chemistry that literally created magic onstage. Beyond this, they began to experience strange events and dreams that felt as if they were being contacted by a being not of this earth. The band's story continues to build in strangeness and energy. The part about the dreams and the puzzle of the portal were particularly spine tingling for me. It read like a horror story but more terrifying because these were events that the young men actually experienced.
The ending of it wasn't at all what I would have expected and that's partly why I enjoyed it so much. Real life rarely has simplistic endings or happily ever afters.
What's interesting to me about this story is that none of the young men involved had any experience with the occult or had anything like this happen to them before. Why then, would a powerful entity chose to move through them to exert influence on this plane when it could have chosen anyone on earth... perhaps someone who knew how to communicate with him or who had the material wealth to assist in the manifestation of his demands in a realistic time frame. The author of the story asks himself this question in a round about way but doesn't really answer it. Perhaps their music was what brought the paranormal attention to them in the first place, I suppose we will never know.
Griffin does an admirable job of recounting events that happened thirty years before he sat down to write about them. With the amount of time that had passed, I was wondering how many of the events in the book that his mind changed or altered. It would have been interesting to have a chapter or epilogue written by other members of his band so that we could see their take on what happened.
I'd recommend this book for readers who love a true "ghost" story, fans of rock'n'roll, or those interested in paranormal experiences and the occult. It gives you food for thought and doesn't necessarily force one interpretation of the events into your mind- the author leaves you the space to draw your own conclusions.
The band's beginning is completely normal yet somehow sychronistic. They came together to create music and had the type of chemistry that literally created magic onstage. Beyond this, they began to experience strange events and dreams that felt as if they were being contacted by a being not of this earth. The band's story continues to build in strangeness and energy. The part about the dreams and the puzzle of the portal were particularly spine tingling for me. It read like a horror story but more terrifying because these were events that the young men actually experienced.
The ending of it wasn't at all what I would have expected and that's partly why I enjoyed it so much. Real life rarely has simplistic endings or happily ever afters.
What's interesting to me about this story is that none of the young men involved had any experience with the occult or had anything like this happen to them before. Why then, would a powerful entity chose to move through them to exert influence on this plane when it could have chosen anyone on earth... perhaps someone who knew how to communicate with him or who had the material wealth to assist in the manifestation of his demands in a realistic time frame. The author of the story asks himself this question in a round about way but doesn't really answer it. Perhaps their music was what brought the paranormal attention to them in the first place, I suppose we will never know.
Griffin does an admirable job of recounting events that happened thirty years before he sat down to write about them. With the amount of time that had passed, I was wondering how many of the events in the book that his mind changed or altered. It would have been interesting to have a chapter or epilogue written by other members of his band so that we could see their take on what happened.
I'd recommend this book for readers who love a true "ghost" story, fans of rock'n'roll, or those interested in paranormal experiences and the occult. It gives you food for thought and doesn't necessarily force one interpretation of the events into your mind- the author leaves you the space to draw your own conclusions.
March 2, 2016
Fantastic read, I have always been intrigued by the idea of selling your soul to the devil or any kind of entity which is the reason I picked up this book, I didn't get what I was looking for but it was a hell of a story. I anxiously read until the end thinking "there's gotta be an explanation for what this entity is" and I was hoping it wasn't a christian author who would end the book by saying "this entity was the devil and you must be born again or go to hell." There was a christian in the band with similar thoughts, however the members of the band Entropy all had their own opinion on what the entity was and they all experienced it. Now I wonder where and how I can listen to Entropy's music.
August 9, 2014
This was an interesting book. I do, however, question the title. The author himself states several times that he does not know exactly what type of entity he and his band-mates kept encountering; he specifically says that he does not know what the entity's intentions were, or if it were good, evil, or neutral. Why, then, did he give his story such an inflammatory title?
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 3, 2013
Loved it!!! Excellent way to spend a Saturday nite. Unusual,spooky,thrilling and just in time for Halloween!!!
May 30, 2017
Couldn't finish it, got about 60 pages in and the pacing was bad and the story didn't go anywhere, not to mention the writing left a lot to be desired.
January 1, 2019
It's a quick and interesting read. Honestly, I took it at face value because it's hard to verify anything from the book happening unless you were to reach out to the author himself.
January 28, 2019
It was...interesting. I like a good ghost story but this is more of a memoir about ones lost youth than having a paranormal experience. It read more like a diary than a story. Just ok.
September 27, 2013
This bit of literature is an easy read but I could not put it down
for one second. Maybe because of my past ventures with metal bands
and the occult studies I delved in in my younger years.
for one second. Maybe because of my past ventures with metal bands
and the occult studies I delved in in my younger years.
October 26, 2013
Narcissistic and trite. However, I do believe the Author.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews