Metal Magazines: How honest are they?

[Jim LotFP]

Writing for a magazine is a step towards working for a record label.

Many writers for the glossy mags do work for a label or a publicity company.

The problem is the combination of physical publishing being expensive and the internet sucking shit for delivering in-depth content or being a permanent reference library.

Everything's pretty much fucked.

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

I'd still be buying albums based on how cool the album art was were it not for the internet.

I sorta miss that honestly.

I still do. What does the internet have to do with deterring that?

 

[J.]

and im sure every has noticed that many of the writers for some mags share writers (unrestrained and terrorizer in particular) with each other. not to mention some of those same writers write for some metal websites like digital metal.

im so fuckng tired of adrain bromley i could hurl.

 

[Necromunchkin]

im so fuckng tired of adrain bromley i could hurl.

Cool, I'm not the only one sick of seeing that name (and the resultant writing).

 

[MadeInNewJersey]

ha ha ha, Adrian Bromley

I dig Nathan T. Birk; he knows his shit IMO

 

[J.]

Cool, I'm not the only one sick of seeing that name (and the resultant writing).

8/10, 9/10/, 10/10 ratings get a little boring after about 9846519165 of them from this guy. seriously it's like he works for the labels or is simply a promo whore

 

[J.]

Erik Thomas is one of the few I truly trust. And I trusted Raagoonshinaah (sp?) from LARM when it actually existed. RIP.

 

[Necromunchkin]

It's the prozac. Everything sounds good thim at that moment.

 

[Thanatopsis123]

Erik Thomas is one of the few I truly trust. And I trusted Raagoonshinaah (sp?) from LARM when it actually existed. RIP.

I used to like Erik Thomas but either his tastes changed or I just grew out of the shit he liked. Either way, he began to suck.

 

[Ellestin]

Yury Arkadin is the man. But he's more of an essayist than a reviewer tbh.

 

[Dev]

I used to buy a french magazine some years ago. One day I discovered Elend with "Winds Devouring Men", then I browsed their soundcheck because I remembered that review of the said album (8/10 but paraphrasing the promo sheet) ..and if I'm not mistaken Elend finished last with Summoning not far away. At the top, Soilwork and a famous speed-metal band. The first 5 spots as the covers were always occupied with renowned bands in terms of sales.

And there is that new French mag called Versus dedicated to "rock counterculture" ; of course you can't blame them for choosing the most appealing artists for their covers but Nine Inch Nails , QOTSA , Sigur Ros , Mogwai .. how risky is this? Just another mainstream.. as Doomcifer said.

 

[Ellestin]

Yeah I want to see a twenty-pages Goat Molestör coverage on Terrorizer!

 

[IOfTheStorm]

"It depends" (again). Some of them are bollocks, others are trustworthy (mostly german ones). If you don't trust magazines, read printed FANZINES, they will always be trustworthy and they will always give you more information about more bands, with a clear point of view.

 

[dorian gray]

when i got nick's northern shadows zine, it had ads for penis enlargers in the back.

 

[unhinged]

I come from a time before metal mags
when all there was was sounds and NME
I remember being at school when the first kerrang came out
it was fucking amazing to have exclusive metal coverage
of course that and metal hammer et all have been complete trend whores for many years.

Terrorizer isn't bad, it has its ups and downs, Zero Tolerance is ok too.
The thing is, that the people that are active in the underground tend to be the same people so of course you will get people in bands and labels also working at mags (few metal mag jobs actually pay more than the actual promo) because these are the people who are passionate enough to actually want to be involved.
Of course there is a lot of 'corruption' when it comes to selling ad space too, and those shitty free covermount cds. You have to buy onto those y'know.
some people think that the mag hand picks the cream of recent releases for them.....haha

the level of honesty is down to the individual writers and the criteria laid down by the editor.

personally, i did a couple of hundred reviews for metalworks and not one was dishonest, for one I wouldn't review any band I'd done artwork for or even knew personally. I even stopped reviewing code666 releases as soon as we became associated with them.

I personally have little problem with people reviewing thier 'mates' sometimes you get to know the bands youre into....just keep it honest.
look at the coverage Stampin ground got in Terrorizer...I thought they'd be hot shit till I got a promo and it was a sickeningly emmbarrasing slayer RIP OFF

nothing to do with Ian Glasper being a member?
who knows

then there was that whole 10/10 mithras thing with the totally over the top 'best thing in the world review'

maybe I'm just sore because they didn't bother reviewing headworm....ha

 

[unhinged]

when i got nick's northern shadows zine, it had ads for penis enlargers in the back.

did he review them?

heres one of my favorite reviews


DARK CITY [Russia]

Scald 'Headworm'
[translation from russian]

An Irish trio Scald (not to be confused with other scalds!), unlike their scenemates, doesn't drive a listener into eternal gloom (like, for instance, Mourning Beloveth), doesn't crush your brain (like Abaddon Incarnate), and doesn't help you relax (like Antimatter). These guys are just irritating with their attempts to create something brutally psychedelic, with an unpleasant taste of hardcore, with crappy production. To the trashbin!

1/5 (note: review by A.K. of Irond records... hmmm)

this cunt had just released the licences of the three bands (totally musically unrelated to scald) mentioned in the review
fucking brass neck

 

[Ellestin]

hahaha awesome. Why don't you send him a demo?

 

[General Zod]

I just assume that all articles, in all magazines (except Consumer Reports) are swayed by advertising dollars. How can they not be?

I made reference to this in another thread, but a perfect example of advertising dollar influenced publishing is Cigar Aficianado. They'll rate a cigar a 90*, that is widely considered a complete dog rocket, simply because that manufacturer took out a full two-page add. However, this has hurt them dramatically over time. Their publication is no longer taken seriously by serious cigar smokers. Its had such a dramatic effect, that they now put the word "Cigar" in very small letters above the word "Aficianado", as they've been forced to seek out a new demographic for their publication.

Zod

*A flawless, well age classic Cuban cigar typically scores a 92-94.

 

[Thanatopsis123]

I just assume that all articles, in all magazines (except Consumer Reports) are swayed by advertising dollars. How can they not be?

Zod

When the articles have nothing to do with what's advertised?

 

[General Zod]

By the way, I would say that Metal magazine are especially dishonest... except when they write about Trivium. When they write about Trivium, you can take their word as scripture.

Zod