Analysis of Kerrang magazine

This particular issue of Kerrang! magazine features the lead singer of a new up-coming band named Dir En Grey, he shows his chest which makes him look more powerful and dominant. He is wearing typical “rock” style clothing; a black leather jacket, he also has tattoos which he seems to bend his head to make visible, his hair is long which supports the “rocker” theme as this image is stereotypical of the chosen target audience. The background is a dull grey, this makes the man look more appealing and more attractive to a female audience, the target audience of Kerrang! magazine is males, therefore the attractive male appeals to a market that they wish to attract. The colour grey is very dark and miserable which reflects the darkness of the genre. The name of the band is central and immediately draws you to look at it. Normally magazines would choose to have to title as the more prominent piece of writing, however Kerrang! is more well-known and established and can therefore afford to rely on their loyal readers. The name of the band is printed in white with a grey outline which ties in with the background colour and the overall theme of the magazine. Below the title of the band a brown/gold strip of colour which has the words, ‘The untold story of the world’s biggest cult band’ printed on it in a black rugged font.
The thing which next grabs your attention is the image in the bottom left hand corner which takes up at least a quarter of the cover, it features another attractive male. ‘Bring Me The Horizon’s’ lead singer Oli Sykes is the male who is well-known as a “heartthrob” to females and an idol to males. The male is very popular and therefore carries his own audience who in turn will profit the magazine. Oli Sykes is featuring at the Relentless tour and the logo used to promote the tour is placed diagonally across from the image. The logo fits in with the colour scheme and also contrasts with it, the red background to the logo stands out and grabs the readers attention. Another image featured is that of a masked band, the dominant colour used on this image is red, this colour does not feature heavily on the cover and therefore stands out and grabs your attention.
At the top of the cover four bands names are shown in a rusty gold colour, this is a way of showing the main bands featured in the magazine without having to show an image on the front cover. More names are shown in the bottom right hand corner and the words ‘Free posters!’ are shown in the same rusty gold colour as before. The use of the word “free” makes the reader believe that they are getting more for their money and they feel more obliged to buy the magazine.