Metal Edge Relaunch

Ok, Metal Edge has just relaunched and I received my first issue of the "new" magazine today. Aside from clearer pictures and maybe a few less grammatical errors, the rag looks exactly the same to me.

The major difference is that the September 2007 issue comes complete with a CD. The bands featured on the disc are:

Ministry
Droid
Scum of the Earth
Blacklist Union
City Sleeps
Bring Me the Horizon
Atreyu
Novembre
Trashlight Vision
Megadeth
Ken Synder
Chris Volz
Dawn Over Zero
Another Day Dies

The cover looks a little better, mainly because it seems Zenbu Media sprung for some better paper stock and went back to a glossy format. The masthead is also slightly different, which I think is an idiotic move in poor brand marketing, but who the hell am I? If you're a Tool fan, you might want this issue because the band is on the cover.

For us glam fans there's a one page worthless article by Eddie Trunk. I quickly scanned the contributing writers list and Trunk isn't included, so maybe this was a one-time special. At any rate, he writes "What's in a Name?" and talks about glam bands that have different members or two touring groups, like L.A. Guns, Faster Pussycat and White Lion. Whatever.

Just as worthless is a two page spread on the "25 Wildest Album Covers." The list includes - and I am not making this up - Soundgarden's Superunknown, Pantera's Vulgar Display of Power and Judas Priest's Screaming for Vengeance. Metal Edge editors say Nothing's Shocking by Jane's Addiction is the most wild album cover of all time. O.K.

Save your $4.99 and put it toward a new issue of the British import Classic Rock.