Rock Sound


Rock Sound is a British magazine which covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to more well-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, emo, hardcore, heavy metal and extreme metal genres of rock music, rarely covering indie rock music at all. The tag-line "For those who like their music loud, extreme and non-conformist" is sometimes used. Although primarily aimed at the British market, the magazine is also sold in Australia, Canada and the United States.

History

The British edition of Rock Sound was launched in March 1999 by the French publisher Editions Freeway. The magazine was bought out by its director, Patrick Napier, in December 2004. The magazines offices are in London. Separate titles with the same name have been published under the same umbrella company in France since 1993, and in Spain since 1998.
The magazine is known for including a free CD in most issues, which has tracks from bands' new albums that have not been released as singles. These are now normally called '100% Volume' or 'The Volumes', but in the past compilations were also called 'Music With Attitude', 'Bugging Your Ears!', 'Sound Check' and 'Punk Rawk Explosion'. Sometimes whole albums are included with the magazine, particularly from bands wanting to gain exposure, including Futures' debut album The Holiday in March 2010, and Burn The Fleet's debut album The Modern Shape in May 2012.
The first issue was published in April 1999. Issue 2 featured British band Reef on the front cover, and later issues 3 and 8 featured Terrorvision and Foo Fighters respectively. In July 2011 a host of "Through The Years" articles were written to celebrate the 150th issue of the magazine. 2017 witnessed the first annual Rock Sound Awards where £1 from every magazine bundle sold was donated to the One More Light Fund in memory of Chester Bennington.

Audience

The magazine had a circulation figure of 15,005 from January to December 2010 auditored by ABC. This includes 10,162 sales in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and 4,843 from Other Countries. The same auditing body said the magazine had a slightly lower circulation figure of 14,227 from January to December 2011, with sales of 10,053 from the United Kingdom and Ireland, and 4,174 from Other Countries. The majority of sales come from newstrade, with some coming from subscriptions.
The main rival to the magazine in Britain is Kerrang! because of the similar types of music both magazines cover.

Album of the Year

At the end of every year the magazine lists their favourite 75 albums released in the previous twelve months.
Occasionally Rock Sound adds a new album to its Hall of Fame. The main criteria is thought to be influence – even within a particular genre – and for that reason many of the albums have been commercially successful as well as critically successful because they have then gone on to influence large numbers of bands or the music scene. Thus this differs from the Yearly Top Albums lists which do not take influence into account. In each article there is normally an interview with band members, a commentary on the album's release, a look at its initial success, and reaction from other musicians as well. In some of the newer issues this section had been renamed to "Throwback".
AlbumArtistNationalityYearIssueGuest Writer
The Shape of Punk to ComeRefused27 October 1998#136, June 2010
JupiterCave In8 August 2000#138, August 2010Jacob Bannon of Converge
WeezerWeezer10 May 1994#139, September 2010Gustav Woods of Young Guns
SmashThe Offspring8 April 1994#140, October 2010Frank Turner
White PonyDeftones20 June 2000#142, December 2010
Jane DoeConverge4 September 2001#145, March 2011Winston McCall of Parkway Drive
Queens of the Stone AgeQueens of the Stone Age22 September 1998#146, April 2011
Hello RockviewLess Than Jake6 October 1998#149, July 2011
Casually Dressed & Deep in ConversationFuneral for a Friend20 October 2003#151, Summer 2011
Tell All Your FriendsTaking Back Sunday26 March 2002#152, September 2011
Relationship of CommandAt the Drive-In12 September 2000#153, October 2011
From Under the Cork TreeFall Out Boy3 May 2005#155, December 2011
New Found GloryNew Found Glory26 September 2000#158, March 2012
The Artist in the AmbulanceThrice22 July 2003#159, April 2012
Good MourningAlkaline Trio13 May 2003#160, May 2012
Start SomethingLostprophets2 February 2004#161, June 2012Aled Phillips of Kids In Glass Houses
Ideas Above Our StationHundred Reasons20 May 2002#162, July 2012Rou Reynolds of Enter Shikari, Frank Turner
Suicide SeasonBring Me the Horizon29 September 2008#164, Summer 2012Sam Carter of Architects
A Fever You Can't Sweat OutPanic! at the Disco27 September 2005#165, September 2012Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy
Mike Ferri of We Are the In Crowd
The UsedThe Used25 June 2002#166, October 2012Chris Pennells of Deaf Havana
The Young and the HopelessGood Charlotte30 September 2002#167, November 2012
Alive or Just BreathingKillswitch Engage21 May 2002#168, December 2012Matt Heafy of Trivium
AscendancyTrivium15 March 2005#171, March 2013
What It Is to BurnFinch12 March 2002#172, April 2013
The BronxThe Bronx26 August 2003#173, May 2013
Love MetalHIM14 April 2003#174, June 2013
InfestPapa Roach25 April 2000#175, July 2013
Tomorrow Come TodayBoysetsfire1 April 2003#176, August 2013
As the Palaces BurnLamb of God6 May 2003#177, Summer 2013
Bleed AmericanJimmy Eat World24 July 2001#178, September 2013
Take to the SkiesEnter Shikari19 March 2007#179, October 2013
Miss MachineThe Dillinger Escape Plan20 July 2004#180, November 2013
Coheed and Cambria20 September 2005#181, December 2013
Gutter PhenomenonEvery Time I Die23 August 2005#184, March 2014
PerseveranceHatebreed12 March 2002#185, April 2014
Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored WaterLimp Bizkit17 October 2000#186, May 2014
A Place in the SunLit23 February 1999#187, June 2014
The Trees Are Dead & Dried Out Wait for Something WildSikth18 August 2003#188, July 2014
SuperunknownSoundgarden8 March 1994#189, August 2014
Punk in DrublicNOFX19 July 1994#191, September 2014
Hollow CrownArchitects26 January 2009#192, October 2014
Slaughter of the SoulAt the Gates14 November 1995#193, November 2014
Get SomeSnot27 May 1997#197, March 2015
Follow the LeaderKoЯn18 August 1998#198, April 2015
CrisisAlexisonfire22 August 2006#202, August 2015
Nothing PersonalAll Time Low7 July 2009#203, Summer 2015
The Gift of GameCrazy Town9 November 1999#204, September 2015
Menace to SobrietyOPM15 August 2000#205, October 2015
This War Is OursEscape the Fate21 October 2008#206, November 2015
AnthologyAlien Ant Farm6 March 2001#207, December 2015
The Best in TownThe Blackout25 May 2009#210, March 2016
Nightmare AnatomyAiden4 October 2005#211, April 2016
SaosinSaosin26 September 2006#212, May 2016
Ocean AvenueYellowcard22 July 2003#213, June 2016
Billy TalentBilly Talent16 September 2003#214, July 2016

Rock Sound Records

In 2019, Rock Sound introduced a new venture titled Rock Sound Records, a sub-brand of Rock Sound offering and distributing music in limited physical formats, such as cassette tapes and vinyl records. Generally, this involves the exclusive physical release of a record released by a band that's signed to a different record label. For instance, the first Rock Sound Records release was a cassette tape version of Simple Creatures′ debut EP Strange Love, while the band is currently signed to BMG.

Discography