music mends broken hearts (absolutepunk.net)

Member Name: coolboy182

Product:	absolutepunk.net
Date:	28/07/03 (148 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: great source of news, lots to look at, good forums

Disadvantages: some news not real

Absolutepunk.net is a great site about pop-punk and punk-rock music, updated daily if there is any news at all on bands in these catagories or record labels like Vagrant and Drive Thru. Readers can join the mailing list to recieve the absolutepunk newsletter or register so they can leave messages in the forums or add their own news like if they know something about a band or have heard a roumer that has not yet been added, they can write it on and it will later be classified as true or false. This is cool because you can find out lots of unreleased news and you get your own small personal picture of a band of your choice as the selection is vast.

I check this site daily to see if any bands I like are in the news: if they are releasing a new album or single, going on tour or signing a record label or anything really. A database of all the information you need is on this site, including information on bands, record labels, magazines, lyrics, tabs and pretty much everything about punk bands of today and some older stuff. There is also an archive of all the news and official interviews from the past days, months and years so you can see what bands have done and said previously.

On the home page, there are many links and adverts including new, less famous bands and clothes companys like Atticus and Macbeth (owned by Tom and Mark from Blink 182). These rotate and if any catch your eye, you can just click on them to go to that location. There is also a search engine of bands where you can type the name of a band in and all matches will come up, or if you have a band, you can add to the data base so people can view your site to find out more about you: I did this for my band and it is good for promotion.

There are useful sections also on the home page like featured downloads which is some recommended punk songs which are generally worth checking out and also, recommended products: some CDs of punk bands you should buy. A release date calender is
available for your use which says all the confirmed dates for new albums to be released. A small box called 'the next big thing' contains a band the maker of the website predicts to be huge soon so worth listening to.

The multimedia part has an image gallery of band photos and album artwork and wallpaper and icons downloadable for your PC. There is a whole reviews section so readers can find out what others think of album releases and it's cool because sometimes theres more than one review so you get a general opinion and can weigh up the pros and cons or just ignore their views completely and just go on your own instinct but you know, they're worth reading really if you've got the time. I think it's great the way the people who write these reviews like the same music as me and I can appriciate their opinions.

You can contact the producers of the absolute punk if you need to ask a question or just to make a comment on the site by sending it to webmaster on the site. There are many topics to discuss on the forums or if you just want to chat, there is a general discussion room. You can make your own new topic, asking a question which lots of people with answer or just saying a random comment. Polls are also an option on the board to see what people's opinions are on things.

Overall, this is a brilliant site for punk music of today and if you are a fan of this, I would recommend you make the most of this service offered and use this site so you can, like me, find out all the news and chat to other punk-rock fans online. It's great!

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