| Product: |
Kerrang! |
| Date: |
25/05/08 (269 review reads) |
| Rating: |
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Advantages: Excellent quality of writing, good information.
Disadvantages: Heavily covers what's hot in rock whilst often overlooking other styles.
Kerrang! Magazine was first published on June 6th 2001, it's a weekly publication and currently can be bought at a cost of £2.20. Originally the magazine emerged as a one-off supplement in the Sounds newspaper, it was devoted to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM) and also covered such topics as the rise in popularity of AC/DC. Over the years Kerrang! has covered various different genres in the spectrum of rock, it's quite a diverse magazine but at the same time it is a magazine that tends to favour the 'popular' rock genre of any given time.
Every week a band of choice gets featured on the cover of the magazine; this is generally a band that is particularly popular at the time of the magazine going to press and generally a band that also has recently released an album. It's quite interesting seeing what band gets to reside on the cover of the magazine each week, generally Kerrang! tends to favour a similar set of bands but occasionally a band will get cover featured that you really don't expect to see there. Fall Out Boy and My Chemical Romance are two of the bands that Kerrang! seem to be quite fond of at current; recently the Canadian punk band Cancer Bats were featured on the cover however and this was really rather refreshing to see.
Upon opening the magazine the first thing you are presented with is that of the 'Contents' page, this will give you an idea of what the weeks magazine will feature and is I feel extremely neatly sectioned out. Directly after the contents page comes the 'Feedback' page, this is where you can read the weekly rants from fans of the magazine. The feedback page brings together all the best weekly e-mails, texts, letters, and Myspace messages that the magazine has received; all of these are compiled on the page amidst a sea of photos and also awarded each week is a 'Letter Of The Week'. The prize awarded for achieving the 'Letter Of The Week' is currently that of a £50 Play.com voucher, it's fairly interesting to see what gets awarded this accolade each week but generally there's nothing much that really makes the 'Letter Of The Week' stand out from the rest.
In every issue the latest rock music news is compiled and given its own section within the magazine. The news pages mainly are made up of information about artists getting together to record new albums, it makes for interesting reading but if you're a fan of any of the bands being spoken about then it's generally not new information to you. Included in the news section there is an 'Introducing' feature, a one page article displaying information about a band soon to be releasing an album; generally a fairly small band currently on the rise. It's always interesting to read this feature of the magazine I find, usually I search the band out further and at the very least give the artist a listen on Myspace. More often than not the featured band is excellent, always I enjoy searching the artist out and on several occasions now this has lead to me purchasing the bands album when released.
The features that Kerrang! run are also quite interesting I feel, many times the features of the magazine have impressed me over the years and always they have plenty to offer. Often current bands are spoken to and interviewed in the 'Features' section, at times the magazine does however look back at bands of the past and their musical achievements. It always provides for an excellent read when bands histories are looked into, the magazine writing style is strong and the articles always are hugely informative. The feature writing of Kerrang! is perhaps one of the magazines strongest points, the articles are kept factual but also massively entertaining; the writing has life and this is something I love about the magazine.
Each week roughly 25 albums are reviewed within the magazine, most are around 100 words long; three or four key albums get featured more heavily however and in each issue one album is picked out as the main release of the week, this album is given roughly 400 words in the magazine and also a large picture runs down the side of the review. A look down the list and you tend to see a pattern of the same six or seven writers being used to write the reviews each week, you come to learn their writing styles and many of the names currently writing for the reviews section of the magazine have been doing so for years. Sometimes you feel that 100 words just isn't enough with some of the album reviews, mainly the reviews come across well however and the quality always is high. Key tracks are picked out from the album at the end of the review, an idea of similar artists is given, and each album received a rating out of five. The reviews section is well structured I feel, a large variety of albums are reviewed and there's always something in there for everyone. As well as album reviews, games reviews and DVD reviews are often also featured - generally there are one or two computer game/film reviews in each magazine and a small section is devoted to them. Each week in the review section Kerrang! also pick out '10 Songs You Should Hear Now!', a few lines are dedicated to each of the ten tracks named and always this section is an interesting one. Take a trip to Kerrang.com and you can listen to each of these ten tracks which I think is quite a nice touch.
As well as album reviews a small selection of live reviews also feature in the magazine each week. The magazines coverage of music festivals is also always excellent I feel, many pages are often devoted to the big name rock festival such as the Carling Weekend, Download, and Give It A Name also. Live reviews of gigs from all around the world often feature in the pages of Kerrang!, shows in the UK are covered first and foremost but generally there is also a review or two from gigs in New York and other such American locations. The live review coverage is brilliant, not only are the main headlining band spoken about in the reviews but the support bands also which is always good to see. The writing in this section is strong as ever, Paul Brannigan is currently the editor of the magazine and clearly he is doing a good job.
Not only is Kerrang! an excellent resource for live reviews but also a fantastic place to find out what bands will be heading your way in the week ahead. The 'Seven Days of Rock' feature in the magazine gives a day-by-day account of what bands will be playing at which venues in towns/cities all around the UK. Town names are laid out in alphabetical order for each day, alongside this the name of the artist playing there is stated along with the venue and the contact number for the venue also. As well as this, Kerrang! also has a list of 'Upcoming Shows' with an A-Z list of bands that will soon be touring the UK and the dates that they shall be playing. It's a pretty extensive list, clearly laid out and a fantastic way of finding out if a band you like soon be coming to a town or city near you.
The final feature of the magazine each week is that of the 'Famous Last Words', a one page interview piece where ten questions are asked and answered by a famous face in rock. It's not the most exciting feature in the world, often the people that answer the questions give pretty generic answers but occasionally you'll get an interview that provides for quite an entertaining read. It's worth taking a look at, hardly the best way of ending the magazine but I suppose it's an adequate way of doing so nonetheless. The questions vary slightly from week to week, the same sort of 'When', 'What', and 'Who' questions are always asked however such as 'When was the last time toy cried?', 'What was the last lie you told?', and 'Who was the last person you said, 'I Love You' to?'.
Dependent upon your own personal tastes in rock music I would have to say that Kerrang! is probably the best weekly rock music magazine that there is. Both the NME and Kerrang! are flawed in that they tend to stick most heavily to whatever genre of music is popular at the time, Kerrang! certainly has the edge however for those that like their music a little heavier as the NME tends mainly to showcase Indie Rock bands and little else. Kerrang! magazine certainly has its fair share of flaws, often you find letters written into the magazine complaining about the heavy coverage of 'emo' music and demanding more metal; it's still a decent music magazine however and one that I personally thoroughly enjoy reading. There are quite a few adverts in the magazine, the adverts are relevant ones however and often are used to promote albums/computer games that readers of the magazine may well be interested in purchasing. The magazine is well targeted, a weekly comic strip by the artist Ray Zell titled 'Pandora' also features here and often this provides for a good bit of light relief.
Over the years I've witnessed quite an increase in the actual price of the magazine; it was £1.80 when I first started buying it in 2000 and this has now risen to £2.20, this is true of many of the magazines I read however so is something that I tend to overlook. The quality of writing with Kerrang! is always strong I find, the magazine has an excellent glossy feel and really does come across as an extremely professional weekly rock magazine. I do recommend reading the magazine for those that are into rock music, be aware of the magazines tendency to follow trends however as this may just mean that the genre of rock that you love so much may not be featured too heavily in the pages of Kerrang!
Publisher: Bauer
Editor: Paul Brannigan
Website: http://www.kerrang.com
Current cost of magazine: £2.20
Summary: Kerrang! is a decent weekly rock magazine, the best out there in my opinion.
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