Comments on: METAL EDGE AND METAL MANIACS TO SHUT THEIR COVERS FOR THE FINAL TIME

By: III

III — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:37:30 +0000

Honestly, I wasn’t surprised when I heard this had happened a few years ago. I quit reading Metal Edge in 2006 when that editor lady with the power mullet took over. I had considered not reading it anymore before that, but somewhere in 2006 I finally had enough when I realized they were still covering bands like Limp Dickshit unironically. I’ve been reading Decibel and Revolver ever since, although Revolver occasionally feels like a fluff mag with all of the “Hottest Chicks in Metal” issues they do now.

By: barbara

barbara — Fri, 24 Sep 2010 13:18:46 +0000

bullshit.

By: SMELL MY BUTT

SMELL MY BUTT — Sat, 22 Aug 2009 06:10:31 +0000

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

By: JOE

JOE — Thu, 11 Jun 2009 17:17:15 +0000

I PAID FOR SUBSCRIPTIONS TO BOTH MAGS FOR 2 YEARS EACH TOTALLING ALMOST $80.00.I FEEL LIKE ZENBU TOOK MY MONEY AND BASICALLY SHIT ON ME AND i’M SURE THAT i AM NOT THE ONLY ONE WHO FEELS THAT WAY.I AM RECOVERING FROM MAJOR SURGERY AND AT THE TIME I FIGURED UNTIL I AM ABLE TO GO BACK TO WORK AT LEAST I WILL HAVE SOME READING MATERIAL TO OCCUPY MY TIME AND TAKE MY MIND OFF THE SERIOUS PAIN I’M GOING THROUGH WITH PHYSICAL THERAPY AND ALL. IF THIS IS TO BE THEN FINE, BUT IT WOULD BE NICE TO AT LEAST GET MY MONEY BACK.IF ANYONE HAS ANY SUGGESTIONS ON WHAT I CAN DO TO ACCOMPLISH THIS I WELCOME YOUR COMMENTS, EVEN THOUGH THIS MAY BE A LOST CAUSE. TO ANYONE WHO READS THIS I WISH YOU ALL THE BEST IN YOUR RESPECTIVE LIVES. TAKE CARE.

By: S-E-Y-E-S

S-E-Y-E-S — Thu, 02 Apr 2009 01:45:36 +0000

Nicely put, however add to the fact that you have some people like myself who over a year ago that had never illegally downloaded because the wonderful feeling of having the original or “adding to my other thousands of cd’s.” though, then comes unemployment. i want to keep up but how do i? i’d be slipping out the loop if it was not for “uploaders” helping me out. i’m no longer a completest now that i don’t have the new cd’s from static-x, dope, nickelback, (hed) p.e., etc. and i fear the only that has kept me sane is only going to get worst. hell, in my area… i couldn’t even find the march 2009 issue of “metal edge,” which i’ve been collecting for years now… and now i know why.

By: Lebron Jordan

Lebron Jordan — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 04:28:50 +0000

I somewhat agree, I didnt like it as much though

By: Carl

Carl — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 18:00:55 +0000

Chris-

Thanks for you’re – I mean “your” – astute observations. Tell me…what’s a contarction? Shows me how much you know about the business of the media that my misspelling on a COMMENT would be a reflection of work in a professional magazine, like there’s (another contarction!) a connection between the two. Magazines fold because they lose ad dollars. Not because a writer misspells a word. You stupid fuck.

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 07:33:08 +0000

They had a long run compared to many magazines. I’m not surprised they folded hiring writers who don’t know basic grammar. Its is possessive. It’s is a contarction for “it is”.

By: Carl

Carl — Mon, 09 Feb 2009 22:11:59 +0000

I wrote for ME in it’s last year, and it was the first national magazine I wrote for. I got the text from my friend and former associate editor the day it happened…It was indeed heartbreaking, but certainly not shocking. I didnt write for it to get rich because it didnt pay much (no writing gig really will, unless you’re Stephen King) but that wasnt the point. It was a part time freelance gig that I did to pay homage to the style of music I’ve listened to all my life. I wanted to enlighten readers on music that they may be interested in. That’s ultimately the point of a music magazine, anyway, if you ask me. I read this magazine since I was a skateboarding kid, and it was honor to have put in my work for a magazine I respected for many years. Sure, in it’s last days, ME wasnt what it used to be, but it was still a good mag. It covered a lot of the more obscure metal bands that Revolver didnt, and I honestly believed they had some pretty good writers on staff, who had distinctive voices and who wrote strong pieces (even if the bands may or may not have been the coolest)

I also work in radio, another industry that’s currently being gutted, but luckily (knock on wood) I’m the web director for our cluster, so I might still have a job in 6 months.

But I can tell you this: The web IS the new media. It’s not the future, it’s not what’s coming. It’s already here. And this is just one casualty of this fact. Many media outlets have done a fine job of ignoring this elephant in the room, and sadly they are learning the hard way of the repurcussions of this. And if you want to look just a few years further down the road, mobile technology is really the new media. Cell phones are advancing faster than the web ever did, and any magazine, newspaper, radio or tv station that’s not bolstering and embracing and adapting their web and mobile presence 100% will see their doors close soon too. That is my first evaluation of any form of media these days: how’s their website?

Metal Edge could have done ALOT more to bolster their web presence, and who knows, maybe that is what they will focus on from here on out. Maybe they are just shutting down their print element, and will just go online I mean, when the rumblings in the media are saying that the NEW YORK TIMES may cease their print edition in May, you know the tides they are a changing…

To anyone who is reading this who may be an aspiring writer or journalist, my advice to you: learn some web development. CSS, HTML, PHP and java will never hurt your chances in this Brave New World.

By: Wrecking Balls

Wrecking Balls — Sat, 07 Feb 2009 06:00:46 +0000

Neither mag was my favorite, but this is bad news.
Anyone remember Rip magazine? Was my favorite back then…

By: Broadway Joe

Broadway Joe — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 13:36:47 +0000

So Zenbu is failing, and taking Metal Edge and Metal Maniacs with them. ME and MM should’ve been folded into one title the nanosecond they purchased them. I never really liked either mag, too cutesy and cheesy for my tastes. Future US’s Revolver is usually pretty good, but a) I know they’re not making that much money on subscriptions if they’re only charging a buck an issue if you subscribe- and they’ve cut out the free mp3′s! b) they focus way too much time and energy on bands that are about as heavy and/or metal as a cheese omelet, and c) one more advert from those PETA terrorist bastards, and I’m kicking all their asses myself, THEN cancelling my subscription!

All the good rock & metal mags go sooner or later, Creem, Circus, Hit Parader (?), and now ME & MM. Oh well, it’ll all be online anyway.

By: Vibrations Of Doom Magazine

Vibrations Of Doom Magazine — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 01:39:36 +0000

I have been doing an online music magazine for over 16 years now. The world’s oldest and longest running, if you believe the hype… :) I was there for the fanzines and the demo tape trading; in fact, it was my help writing for the short lived Underworld fanzine in the late 80′s (and writing for Good Times/Good Times Metal which is now Creative Loafing) that got me wanting to start my own publication. SO I’ve seen it all? Anyone remember Thrash Metal Magazine? Metal Forces? Metal will never die, it was huge in the early to mid 80′s, died out for awhile but the people who had metal flaming souls never forgot about the music. Metal Maniacs was a GOOD magazine, I mean where else could you read about Norwegian black metal bands like Darkthrone, Gorgoroth, Satyricon, Marduk and the like and possibly see full color photos of them? I owe Metal Maniacs a lot, they covered my publication a few times in their pages, and massive respect to them for the work they did promoting and even giving decent space to bands signed to tiny labels the world over.

Metal is seemingly growing in this day and age, and though Metal Maniacs will be missed, there is one thing that the internet has advantages over print publications: multimedia content! Just look at vibrationsofdoom.com for instance, there’s over 1300 rare, classic and out of print metal albums you can listen to in their entirety, a weekly 2 hour radio show, and at least 5 songs in streaming RealAudio from EVERY CD reviewed. Every issue! So obviously for music, the internet can do more, but there is NO substitute for good writing and good in depth, informative interviews. Despite having done the interview and review thing for almost two decades now, there are STILL better writers than me out there, and Metal Maniacs picked up on this.

The reason we all do this? I hear at least 10 bands every month from every corner of the globe: bands that 95 percent of the U.S. population will NEVER get to hear, even if they are readers of metal magazines and internet scourers! So that’s my job in a nutshell. I don’t suppose everyone will like what I like, but at least with me there’s consistency. I’ll keep doing what I do for many years to come. At least I hope. Hopefully someone will pick up the torch for the new breed of metalheads coming along, because the youthful enthusiasm and healthy rebellion of youth have the fire and the passion to continually make music that will amaze me and kick my ass to the floor… They say the youth are the future, and they’re right. SO, who will step up?

Steven Cannon,
Editor In Chief of Vibrations of Doom Magazine/DOOM Radio.

By: raiseyerfists

raiseyerfists — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 07:39:21 +0000

This is a bummer for sure, I remember worshipping Metal Maniacs in my formative years. Let’s be real though – this is a shitty time for publishing, but it’s not doomsday by any means. It’s the bust part of the boom-bust cycle. The internet is a huge factor for sure, but people like mags in their hands. Times were good for a while, lots of mags, lots of money to go around, and publishers were raking it in – many came to expect a 30% profit from mags, which is fucking absurd.

But it’s not a friendly climate now and lots of mags will have to go – same with record labels. The good ones will stick around through the recession, and in a few years when things have straightened out, we’ll see some new ones pop up.

Nothing against ME and MM, but I guess they couldn’t find a good, steady niche to support their business model.

Decibel FTW x10

By: MG

MG — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 06:29:32 +0000

I just scrapped up enough cash to post an ad and I was looking foward to working with them later in the year. At least the issue we’re in actually got published, I feel bad for all the people working at those magazines, people who cared about metal. Just like newspapers, I guess the magazine industry is having to adapt…

By: AVERSIONLINE

AVERSIONLINE — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 01:36:54 +0000

WOW. This is wild, and unfortunate. Fucking crazy…

By: Aya

Aya — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 00:44:20 +0000

The music industry has totally changed since the emergence of Internet, I think. The only choice is whether you accept it or have it thrust upon you. Yet, it doesn’t mean that there’s no way out: 1) Get a contract with music download and streaming websites. 2) Be engaged with other industry, game, movie, for example. 3) merchs, tours 4)…
It’s kinda like transit of economic structure. It’s not on the way! It’s here! Face it! Think out of the box and try every means to seek a new direction. That’s all it counts.

By: Sammy

Sammy — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 23:49:26 +0000

People who lament the decline in album sales, yet who steal all of their music off the net, are probably the same people who lament the loss of the written word but have probably never actually purchased one issue of either of these magazines. (If you don’t fall in either of those two categories, this is not aimed at you.)

By: hibernum

hibernum — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:54:42 +0000

Allen Brandt,

Why would you assume I don’t go to shows? To answer your question, I am generating traffic for an old roommate, not that it is any of your goddamn business.

And you apparently read decibel and revolver? Poser fag!

By: Allan Brandt

Allan Brandt — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:43:57 +0000

Hibernum, if your idea of metal is being locked in a closet with a stack of CDs, never going to shows, never discussing metal with anyone else, never reading a magazine… then what the fuck are you doing reading metalsucks and posting on a message board, scenester?

Anyway, we all lose. I took Maniacs for granted just like everybody else, but that magazine covered hundreds of piddly-ass bands every month that will never appear in Decibel or Revolver. Until they are already streamlined and professionalized, anyway. Sad day!

At least MetalSucks can pick up Metal Edge’s Blessed by a Broken Heart coverage.

By: tr00

tr00 — Wed, 04 Feb 2009 22:16:14 +0000

fuck. I know ME has gone downhill (rapidly) in the past year in quality, but that was the first metal publication I read. I was pretty loyal to ME, that is, until Revolver came out. It sucks to see them go, but I just hope the same doesn’t befall Revolver, Outburn, and Decibel. those are the best 3 IMO.