Case study of METAL HAMMER magazine

METAL HAMER is one of the most well known metal magazines that you can buy nowadays and is very popular amongst the die-hard metal fans out there.

The Magazine
As soon as you pick up the latest issue of METAL HAMMER you don't need to be a reader to know that this magazine is not cheap. METAL HAMMER comes in a sealed bag which in this case came with a cd and a large poster to get the reader that little bit more intetrested in buying it. The front cover rather than being made of the same material as the rest of the magazine is made of glossy card and the graphics and imaging used can't of been cheap either because the image of the band (alice in chains) has been put on a digitaly created backround and the guitar in the hands of Jerry Cantrell has been digitaly made to look like it's slowly being engulfed by flames.This magazins retails at £3.99 which is at the top end of magazine prices in generall which is quite pricey in my opinion which is why I don't buy every issue but there are many out there who are willing to pay that much for every issue because it has alot to offer to the reader.

Imagery

With METAL HAMMER I wasn't suprised with the imagery. you had the classic pictures of metal bands posing and on the front cover of the latest issue (above) Sean Kinney from Alice in Chains is putting up his middle finger. looking inside the magazine I can see loads of images of bands such as slipknot with scary masks and prisoner convict outfits and there are loads of images with Satanic and deathly references such as demons, maggots and fire. Common font styles used in these sorts of magazines referance gothic culture which many metal bands use and generaly the sort of imagery used in this magazine looks very similar to the front covers and merchandise of metal bands.

Commercial aspect

METAL HAMMER obviously has lots of information about the current metal bands aand generally everything to do with the genre that someone who is in to metal and reads this magazine would want to know, however there is alot of advertisment that has been put in to this magazine for quite a large range of things but that would all apeal to someone who reads this magazine. There are the conventional advertisments that you would expect to find in a magazine like this such as CD albums and singles being released, upcoming festivals, upcoming gigs and all thatsort of thing but there are also adds for alot of merchandise and products such as DVDs, electric guitars and clothing , in fact there is a whole other little catalogue that comes with the magazine which is filled with clothes accessories and gadgets which all to do with the metal genre.

Overall contents of the magazine

METAL HAMMER look at the current metal bands out there in cluding new ones and classics plus I can tell from having read a few ohter metal magazines that METAL HAMMER is a magazine that keeps with the times because I have noticed that the other magazines I have read have been look ing at the fact that the band Slip Knot's tenth anniverssary was this year and Metal Hammer have also picked up on this and have dedicated a whole five page spread to the exeadingly popular metal legends. Aswell as looking at the expected things in a metal magazine which i have just covered this magazine covers a fewmore things; They have sections where they list popular movies and review them, sections that review new gameas such as guiter hero and generally things that would apeal to the reader and in a way it is like a break from the the metal so to speak.