Outburn

Customer Rating:
Summary: Outburn summed up!
Comment: For over five years OUTBURN has catered specifically to people who are aural connoisseurs with slightly darker tastes. Covering Industrial, Aggro, Noise, Darkwave, Gothic, Trance, Death Metal, and every type of music in between, each issue features numerous interviews with both new and established artists from a wide range of genres and over 150 short albums. An interview with The Cult snuggles next to one with Orbital. OUTBURN has a broad reader appeal.

Customer Rating:
Summary: This magazine rots
Comment: I used to love Outburn magazine. I first discovered it when I came across the mag at a local mainstream bookstore chain. The first thing I saw on the cover was VNV Nation. I bought that issue and soon after that I ordered a subscription. What I loved about Outburn at the time was that the magazine covered artists and bands that aren't covered in the mainstream music magazines, namely those in the goth, EBM, synthpop, and industrial scene. Unfortunately within the next year and a half, the magazine started covering less of those types of bands and more death metal bands and hardcore punk bands, two genres I don't give a rat's behind about. I don't know WTF happened at the magazine but they stopped covering anything goth and industrial related and started covering more music I would much rather have my ears ripped off by pliers than listen to (death metal and emo). Just like Alternative Press, Outburn started out as a cool mag but now they have become a joke and more about following than setting trends.

Customer Rating:
Summary: It used to be 5 stars
Comment: This used to be a great magazine industrial/metal/synth/goth (and free cd of your choice), but over the past year and a half it has turned into indy and Hot Topic teeny music.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Not as good as it once was
Comment: Of all the music orientated magazines that I subscribe, Outburn is my personal favorite. This is the only magazine that caters to my favorite music...techno, goth, and industrial music. Rolling Stone stopped being relevant 10 years ago. Spin magazine is a joke. Alternative Press is also a joke and has stopped being relevant many, many moons ago. I discovered Outburn when I saw an article on one of my personal favorite bands of all time, VNV Nation. Rolling Stone, Spin, and AP wouldn't touch VNV Nation with a ten foot pole because it isn't popular with the brainwashed masses. That was last year. Since then, I have been a loyal reader as well as a loyal subscriber to the quarterly magazine. What appeals to me the most about Outburn is that the magazine covers more than just goth and industrial music but also lesser known metal bands like Lacuna Coil and Opeth. I'm not a metal fan by a long shot but it is refreshing to read a magazine in which heavy metal bands are the [pooh] that MTV and Clear Channel, er, radio plays non-stop (i.e Korn, Deftones, Limp Bizkit). Outburn covers lesser known metal bands that MTV wouldn't dare play except maybe on the new incarnation of "Headbanger's Ball". I also enjoy the original questions the writers throws at the artists and bands they interview. They also don't sound patronizing or condescending one bit. And unlike Spin magazine which has now become a forum for video games and fashion as opposed to music, Outburn sticks to what it knows best which is music. Although Marilyn Manson is on the cover of the new issue of Outburn, at least I can be grateful that the editors didn't throw Good Charlotte on the cover. Another thing I love about Outburn is the free cd offer for subscribers. Nothing beats like a free cd and for less than ten dollars. One of the problems I have with Outburn is that it is a quarterly magazine, not a monthly magazine. I wish that rags like AP, Spin, and RS were quarterly magazines. I also wish that they covered less death metal and punk bands nad cover more synthpop/EBM acts like they did a few years when I first started reading the magazine (thanks to the VNV Nation article). I really don't want to see Outburn turn into something wretched like "Alternative Press" did over the years with the pseudo punk movement. Outburn is now endanger of becoming like AP but instead with death metal bands. I am lucky to even read one lousy article about an artist/band that is geared towards my taste (synthpop, EBM, industrial, goth, darkwave). I like reading the record reviews but even they are starting to look stale like the rest of the magazine.

Customer Rating:
Summary: A musical magazine worth reading
Comment: Well, if you read Rolling Stone and Spin (as well as Maxim's Blender), they both have one thing in common: Both are about image and pop culture as opposed to actual musical stuff. For awhile AP got way too trendy for me. However, this magazine is on track. Whereas many of the other magazines will only discuss things from artists that are real obvious "elitist" picks and heavy sellers, this album is for people who know of other great music.

It's got a lot about goth/industrial/heavy stuff, as mentioned earlier. I have to respect them because they actually had a cool article on my favorite artist of all-time, VAST. They are interesting people who like interesting things. I imagine that I'll keep my subscription of this because it's from people who clearly know what they are doing.

Even though they rarely update, Industrial Nation is recommended in addition to this wonderful magazine. I wish people would find that there is a lot of good stuff there that people aren't giving a chance at.