Kerrang Deluxe (Metal Hammer)

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Product:	Metal Hammer
Date:	17/06/01 (78 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Free gift, Very up to date for a monthly magazine, Great quality

Disadvantages: There are always a few interviews with very un-mainstream bands who most people won't be interested in

"Metal Hammer" is the monthly source of reference for fans of a wide range of music, ranging from punk and old rock to death metal and black metal.

Although it is obviously less up to date than the weekly "Kerrang!" magazine, its interviews and features are always more detailed and better presented, giving it the overall look of being more sophisticated and cared about than the seemingly budget Kerrang! It always has a free gift every month as well, which makes the magazine well worth the price of £3.10, as well as its glossy cover and (around) 114 pages. The gift is usually a CD containing great tunes from most of the bands discussed and interviewed inside the mag, (so if you don't know exactly who you're reading about, you can usually have a listen to what they're made of), although more recently they have given away a video and stickers. There's also the occasional pull out poster extra.

The magazine (which is published at high quality by Future Publishing) is very well laid out and easy to handle, and begins with around ten pages of news (which is surprisingly up-to-date for a monthly magazine as it is usually put in just as it's going to press), which includes major headlines about new bands, band members' side projects, major changes in bands, and even any possible tour dates that may crop up. There are many interviews with bands, some of which are not well known and will not be of interest to anyone except the most hardcore fan, although some issues (for example the latest issue at the time of writing, June 2001) contain a large feature on a famous band such as The Offspring. There are also personal one-to-one questionings to rock stars, a hilarious and interesting letters page, competitions, reviews of all new albums (and there are a surprising number every month- usually around 100), as well as a large and interesting concert section which is always very recent, usually reporting on a concert wit
hin two months of it taking place. There is a section dedicated to old, no-longer-running bands, and very interesting personal sections towards the end which depict and talk about a "Superfan" each month (someone whose interest in a band is laughably- and enviably- large), as well as a rather disturbing "Tatt's Life" section on band members' tattoos, which has featured such people as Davey Havok (AFI frontman) and Christian Wolbers (Fear Factory bassist). It's also good to see that adverts are few and far between- in the latest issue there were just 16 pages of adverts, although all are relevant to the magazine, and seem more like regular features than advertisments, such as the always-interesting "Alchemy Gothic" page and the useful concert adverts, which are of great importanc to fans who wish to see their favourite bands live. There are no adverts which don't demand a look, except the occassional advert for a very poor band's new album.

There are always 2 vouchers in the back of the magazine which allow for £2 off selected albums from HMV- some issues only have around three to five albums in this offer, but others have around twenty. And they're all popular albums.

The magazine is very easy to read, and although a lot of the interviews mostly go unread there is always something interesting. The magazine is aimed at an audience of people in their late teens (around fifteen onwards) and adults, so there is a lack of censorship, with words such as "f**k" and "c**t" occasionally cropping up, but this is usually in the letters column, or strictly to add comedy. The writers are not biased in the least, and all bands that fit roughly into the metal/rock (and occasionally punk) genre are talked about equally, with no talk about "selling out"- even Linkin Park, who have received a lot of stick for being a manufactured boy band- are given a large section with proof in both
directions, although Metal Hammer admit that they like the band, and that in the end it is up to the reader to decide what they do or don't like.

A very good attitude for a great magazine.

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