Metal Hammer Double Page Spread Analysis (metal hammer issue no.210)

Metal Hammer is a music magazine that focuses on one particular genre of music, which as the name suggests, is metal. This means that it has quite a niche market, with the main audience being male although I wouldn't say there is a particular age group that it is aimed at. Metal Hammer is slightly bigger than A4 so they have quite a lot of space to each page. This means that, as with this double page spread, they can afford to use a whole page just for a photo. I feel this is also quite effective because the photo catches the reader’s eye, and if it is a band / artist they like then they will want to read the interview.

The actual layout itself is relatively simple; Title of article and the band name is at the top of the left page, the ‘strap line’ underneath these, the article is split into two columns under this, and the whole right page is taken up by an image of the Vocalist of the band, with a quote across the middle of it. I feel this is an effective layout as the article doesn’t look too daunting to the reader because the amount of text compared to the space available is relatively small.

The image dominates the double page spread and, together with the title, takes up about seventy-five percent of the available space. This does seem slightly wasteful of the space but, the text is rather small and therefore quite a lot can fit into the remaining area.


The colour scheme of the article is also very simple, using black, red and a variation of burnt orange colours, to go with the title ‘TRIAL BY FIRE’. Black, in this ‘setting’ connotes darkness, and possibly hiding, which is backed up by the fact that Oli has his hand put up to the light which means a shadow is cast across his face, this gesture could also mean that he doesn’t really want to be interviewed, but as he is looking straight at the camera, this effect is lost. Also he could be shielding himself from the ‘fire’ that is alluded to in the title, the fire causing the light that he is blocking out with his hand. They have also focused alot on the fact that Oli is in a dark room and there is alot of shadow used in the image and all the rest of the page is also very dark suggesting that he is the only thing lighted up by the light and he doesn't want to be seen.