Double Page Spread Analysis - Kerrang

The choice of band in this magazine is effective in that the genre type and target audience can be interpreted through the way in which the band is presented. The band is presented as being quite evil and dark. This can be related to the gothic side of the rock genre where the dark image is used quite regularly in order to adapt a sense of gothic nature. The use of the band slayer is effective due to the fact that they are a well known rock band. For a quarter of a century the duo have formed one of the worlds most controversial and best loved metal bands. But while they’ve faced and overcome challenges that would derail many a band – from endless concert protests to the banning of latest album Christ Illusion in India.

This shows how prolific their status is amongst the genre and how well known they should be. The magazine uses Slayer effectively to present the target audience, as the audience will be immediately drawn to the well known band in the article.

The type of language in this article is the same throughout the article except for the contrast in the way both band singers speak to the interviewer. Kerry King is somewhat rude through the language that he uses for example, ‘Fucking my wife and doing a shit load of drinking probably’. Throughout the interview there is other evidence of rude language and this therefore suggests that the band wants to aim at a more mature audience, or simply don’t have no concern for the way in which people should speak. In contrast, Tom Araya is quite subtle and uses simple language in response to all the questions put to him. Through his language he can also be seen as being quite kind and considerate, for example, in response to what he would do with one day to live he responded, ‘I’d spend it with my family. It’s not very metal, but that’s the honest truth’.

Colour is used effectively in this article both in the images and the text. The colours green and black are used consistently and are used separately so that they don’t create a clash. Green is used throughout certain parts of the text in the article to publicise certain areas of text that the magazine feels the reader should see, or to separate the interview questions from the answers. This is effective as the reader will immediately notice text that is highlighted in green and want to read it. Black is used in the main image to give an effect of the band being quite dark and/or evil. The black and white image also gives a sense of age, this is backed up by the fact that Slayer are quite and old band.

The double page spread is laid out so that the artists are predominately shown. It is clear that the magazine wants you to notice the band and notice what they are all about, due to the fact that they are so enlarged. This image takes up one whole page of the double page spread which leaved little room for large amounts of text. It subsidizes the text to one page leaving the double page spread split between image and text.

This shows the audience as not being very intellectual in that they value images more than textual references. As with magazines such as ‘The Word’, there is mass amounts of text compared to images due to the audience being slightly older and they value a good read. Whereas Kerrang readers do not wish to be bombarded with reading, they enjoy interpreting images and seeing there favourite artists.

The tone used in this article is differing between the band members. Both band members seem to have a different tone when speaking to the reader yet both aims to create a strong relationship with the reader. However they both have different approaches towards this, for example, Kerry King, is aggressive in some of his answers using swear words such as ‘shit’ and ‘fucking’ repetitively. Whereas Tom Araya is much calmer and talks to the reader as if they were a close friend by using a humorous tone for example, ‘I’d pee on everything! I thin it would definitely make the world a better place’.

The artists are presented as being quite confident and dark through the images. Due to the fact that they are from the 80’s they may be presenting themselves in a way that shows the confidence and morality. It may be that they are presenting themselves in this way as they have nothing to prove to the audience they are merely trying to produce a relationship with the Kerrang age group. However through looking at the interview it can be suggested that they are merely trying to entertain audiences this can be seen where it says, ‘ We’ve always been a band that lives day to day, and I think we’ll continue until someone says that they don’t enjoy it anymore’.

The style of the article is contrasting with that of the front cover due to the vibrant colours that the article uses. Unlike the front cover the article uses the colour green which is quite a vibrant and appealing colour, whereas the fronts cover is quite dark and the layout is dissimilar to that of the article. The front covers layout is aimed to promote rather than to inform this may be a factor which led to the magazine to adapt contrasting styles between their articles and front cover.

To understand or to be entertained by this article you may have to have some prior knowledge of the band in question. Seeing as Slayer is not a very commonly talked about band and the fact that they are from the 80’s suggests that the audience for Kerrang will need some prior knowledge. This is due to the fact that Kerrang audiences tend to fall into the category of teens to young adults.