In this day and age of gigantic media conglomerates who saturate the market leaving no room in the often conformity-minded public for alternatives, surviving five years is more than a milestone. Considering the nano-second attention span given most consumers, the idea of a seven page interview could be seen as suicidal. Yet, Metal Rules! accomplishes both.

With a tag line like “Where the Underground Meets the Playground”, it’s no surprise EIC Jeff Rappaport captions a photo of growling metalmasters Cremation “We’re men, manly men in tights...” or Ted McGinley (yes, you read that right) saying “Have you seen my penis?” It’s this touch of juvenile male humor that keeps all the self-important metal bands from becoming overwhelming. Well, that and the interviews with oddities such as the aforementioned Ted McGinley, Steve Guttenberg, Mark Metcalf and child-actor Jeremy Licht. Their inclusion is so incongruent in a metal magazine yet so in keeping with this New Jersey native’s sense of normal-guyness that it’s impossible to argue. In fact, Metal Rules! is nothing but interviews, interrupted by CD reviews and reader letters, so there is no excuse for not learning a thing or two before the issue is done.

Jeff’s philosophy, if there is one, seems to be one of genuineness. He interviews the artists and quasi-celebrities he’s interested in talking to with seemingly no thought to what will sell the issue. He engages them in lengthy conversations, as if they were old friends, sharing bits of his own life (including his most embarrassing moment, which I’ll let you discover for yourself in the Jason Mewes transcript) while extracting anecdotes, thoughts and experiences most “legitimate” journalists would be afraid to ask. He’s the guy you meet at the local bar for wings and beer, who, before you know it, has coaxed you to relate the tale of the disappearing vibrator to a table of strangers.

Unlike their big-city counterparts, most small print zines forego a hundred pages of glossy paper (and the resultant cost) for a professional cover and a matte black and white interior. Where many metal-related publications make their mistake is in the use of dark and/or patterned backgrounds, either on their articles or their advertising. Graphics are muddied, text is more difficult to read - it just degrades the integrity of the project as a whole. Jeff and Metal Rules! avoid this trap, sticking to your basic black font on white, but even the shadowy record ads are crisp and clean. Whatever the secret is, it’d be great for small publishing as a whole if they’d share.

Metal Rules! is distributed by Ubiquity, Kent, Desert Moon and Ingram, and can be found in Tower Records, B. Dalton, Walden Books, Barnes and Nobles, Borders and many other independent record, bookstores and newsstands. So if you’ve got some time on your lunch hour or before you check out that kick-ass band playing at your local club, take a flip through Metal Rules!’ pages. Believe me, you could fill your head with a lot worse.

www.metalrulesmagazine.com