Rock Sound

Rock Sound

Chester Bennington and Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park on the cover of June 2014 edition
Categories	Music magazine
Frequency	Monthly
Circulation	14,0571
First issue	1999
Company	WhyNow
Country	United Kingdom
Language	English
Website	www.rocksound.tv
ISSN	1465-0185

Rock Sound is a British magazine that covers rock music. The magazine aims at being more "underground" and less commercial, while also giving coverage to better-known acts. It generally focuses on pop punk, post-hardcore, metalcore, punk, emo, hardcore, heavy metal and extreme metal genres of rock music, rarely covering indie rock music at all. The tag-line "For those who like their music loud, extreme and non-conformist" is sometimes used. Although primarily aimed at the British market, the magazine is also sold in Australia, Canada and the United States.

The British edition of Rock Sound was launched in March 1999 by the French publisher Editions Freeway. The magazine was bought out by its director, Patrick Napier, in December 2004. The magazines offices are in London and Paris. Separate titles with the same name have been published under the same umbrella company in France since 1993,²³⁴ and in Spain since 1998.⁵⁶

The first issue was published in April 1999. Issue 2 featured British band Reef on the front cover, and later issues 3 and 8 featured Terrorvision and Foo Fighters respectively. In July 2011 a host of "Through The Years" articles were written to celebrate the 150th issue of the magazine.⁷ 2017 witnessed the first annual Rock Sound Awards where £1 from every magazine bundle sold was donated to the One More Light Fund in memory of Chester Bennington.⁸

The magazine was known for including a free CD in most issues, which had tracks from bands' new albums that have not been released as singles. These were called '100% Volume' or 'The Volumes', with other past compilations named 'Music With Attitude', 'Bugging Your Ears!', 'Sound Check' and 'Punk Rawk Explosion'.⁹ Sometimes whole albums were included with the magazine, particularly from bands wanting to gain exposure, including Futures' debut album The Holiday in March 2010, and Burn The Fleet's debut album The Modern Shape in May 2012.¹⁰

In more recent years, exclusive artist merchandise including t-shirts have been sold alongside the magazine via the Rock Sound web store.

In 2023, Rock Sound became part of WhyNow media group and a special edition magazine was published in partnership with Slam Dunk Festival featuring headliners Enter Shikari and The Offspring on the cover. A weekly digital cover feature, The Album Story, was also launched on ROCKSOUND.TV.¹¹

Rock Sound's 300th issue was published in September 2023 with Fall Out Boy, Corey Taylor and Motionless In White appearing on the cover. The magazine will celebrate its 25th anniversary in 2024.

The magazine had a circulation figure of 15,005 from January to December 2010 auditored by ABC. This includes 10,162 sales in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and 4,843 from Other Countries.¹³ The same auditing body said the magazine had a slightly lower circulation figure of 14,227 from January to December 2011, with sales of 10,053 from the United Kingdom and Ireland, and 4,174 from Other Countries.¹⁴ The majority of sales come from newstrade, with some coming from subscriptions.

The main rival to the magazine in Britain is Kerrang! because of the similar types of music both magazines cover.

At the end of every year the magazine lists their favourite 75 albums released in the previous twelve months.

• 1999 – Filter – Title of Record¹⁸
• 2000 – A Perfect Circle – Mer de Noms
• 2001 – System of a Down – Toxicity
• 2002 – Isis – Oceanic
• 2003 – Hell Is for Heroes – The Neon Handshake
• 2004 – Isis – Panopticon
• 2005 – Coheed and Cambria – Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness
• 2006 – The Bronx – The Bronx¹⁹
• 2007 – Biffy Clyro – Puzzle²⁰
• 2008 – Genghis Tron – Board Up the House²¹
• 2009 – Mastodon – Crack the Skye²²
• 2010 – Bring Me the Horizon – There Is a Hell Believe Me I've Seen It. There Is a Heaven Let's Keep It a Secret²³
• 2011 – Mastodon – The Hunter²⁴
• 2012 – The Menzingers – On the Impossible Past
• 2013 – letlive – The Blackest Beautiful²⁵
• 2014 – Lower Than Atlantis – Lower Than Atlantis²⁶
• 2015 – Bring Me the Horizon – That's the Spirit
• 2016 – Panic! at the Disco – Death of a Bachelor
• 2017 – All Time Low – Last Young Renegade
• 2018 – Twenty One Pilots – Trench²⁷
• 2023 – Sleep Token – Take Me Back to Eden²⁸
• 2024 – Twenty One Pilots – Clancy²⁹
• 2025 – Sleep Token – Even In Arcadia³⁰

Rock Sound inducted numerous albums into its Hall of Fame, as part of a long-running feature. The main criterion for inclusion was thought to be influence – even within a particular genre – and for that reason many of the albums have been commercially successful as well as critically successful because they have then gone on to influence large numbers of bands or the music scene. Thus this differs from the Yearly Top Albums lists which do not take influence into account. In each article there was normally an interview with band members, a commentary on the album's release, a look at its initial success, and reaction from other musicians or participants in the album's creation - such as producers, engineers, and music video directors. Towards the end of this section's run it was renamed to "Throwback".

Album	Artist	Nationality	Year	Issue	Guest Writer
The Shape of Punk to Come	Refused		27 October 1998	#136, June 201031
Jupiter	Cave In		8 August 2000	#138, August 201032	Jacob Bannon of Converge
Weezer	Weezer		10 May 1994	#139, September 20103334	Gustav Woods of Young Guns
Smash	The Offspring		8 April 1994	#140, October 201035	Frank Turner
White Pony	Deftones		20 June 2000	#142, December 201036
Jane Doe	Converge		4 September 2001	#145, March 20113738	Winston McCall of Parkway Drive
Queens of the Stone Age	Queens of the Stone Age		22 September 1998	#146, April 201139
Hello Rockview	Less Than Jake		6 October 1998	#149, July 201140
Casually Dressed & Deep in Conversation	Funeral for a Friend		20 October 2003	#151, Summer 201141
Tell All Your Friends	Taking Back Sunday		26 March 2002	#152, September 201142
Relationship of Command	At the Drive-In		12 September 2000	#153, October 201143
From Under the Cork Tree	Fall Out Boy		3 May 2005	#155, December 201144
New Found Glory	New Found Glory		26 September 2000	#158, March 201245
The Artist in the Ambulance	Thrice		22 July 2003	#159, April 201246
Good Mourning	Alkaline Trio		13 May 2003	#160, May 201247
Start Something	Lostprophets		2 February 2004	#161, June 20124849	Aled Phillips of Kids In Glass Houses
Ideas Above Our Station	Hundred Reasons		20 May 2002	#162, July 20125051	Rou Reynolds of Enter Shikari, Frank Turner
Suicide Season	Bring Me the Horizon		29 September 2008	#164, Summer 201252	Sam Carter of Architects
A Fever You Can't Sweat Out	Panic! at the Disco		27 September 2005	#165, September 201253	Pete Wentz of Fall Out Boy Mike Ferri of We Are the In Crowd
The Used	The Used		25 June 2002	#166, October 201254	Chris Pennells of Deaf Havana
The Young and the Hopeless	Good Charlotte		30 September 2002	#167, November 201255
Alive or Just Breathing	Killswitch Engage		21 May 2002	#168, December 201256	Matt Heafy of Trivium
Ascendancy	Trivium		15 March 2005	#171, March 201357
What It Is to Burn	Finch		12 March 2002	#172, April 201358
The Bronx	The Bronx		26 August 2003	#173, May 201359
Love Metal	HIM		14 April 2003	#174, June 201360
Infest	Papa Roach		25 April 2000	#175, July 201361
Tomorrow Come Today	Boysetsfire		1 April 2003	#176, August 201362
As the Palaces Burn	Lamb of God		6 May 2003	#177, Summer 201363
Bleed American	Jimmy Eat World		24 July 2001	#178, September 201364
Take to the Skies	Enter Shikari		19 March 2007	#179, October 201365
Miss Machine	The Dillinger Escape Plan		20 July 2004	#180, November 201366
Good Apollo, I'm Burning Star IV, Volume One: From Fear Through the Eyes of Madness	Coheed and Cambria		20 September 2005	#181, December 201367
Gutter Phenomenon	Every Time I Die		23 August 2005	#184, March 201468
Perseverance	Hatebreed		12 March 2002	#185, April 201469
Chocolate Starfish and the Hot Dog Flavored Water	Limp Bizkit		17 October 2000	#186, May 201470
A Place in the Sun	Lit		23 February 1999	#187, June 201471
The Trees Are Dead & Dried Out Wait for Something Wild	Sikth		18 August 2003	#188, July 201472
Superunknown	Soundgarden		8 March 1994	#189, August 201473
Punk in Drublic	NOFX		19 July 1994	#191, September 201474
Hollow Crown	Architects		26 January 2009	#192, October 201475
Slaughter of the Soul	At the Gates		14 November 1995	#193, November 201476
Get Some	Snot		27 May 1997	#197, March 201577
Follow the Leader	KoЯn		18 August 1998	#198, April 201578
Crisis	Alexisonfire		22 August 2006	#202, August 201579
Nothing Personal	All Time Low		7 July 2009	#203, Summer 2015
The Gift of Game	Crazy Town		9 November 1999	#204, September 2015
Menace to Sobriety	OPM		15 August 2000	#205, October 2015
This War Is Ours	Escape the Fate		21 October 2008	#206, November 2015
Anthology	Alien Ant Farm		6 March 2001	#207, December 2015
The Best in Town	The Blackout		25 May 2009	#210, March 2016
Nightmare Anatomy	Aiden		4 October 2005	#211, April 2016
Saosin	Saosin		26 September 2006	#212, May 2016
Ocean Avenue	Yellowcard		22 July 2003	#213, June 2016
Billy Talent	Billy Talent		16 September 2003	#214, July 2016

In 2019, Rock Sound introduced a new venture titled Rock Sound Records, a sub-brand of Rock Sound offering and distributing music in limited physical formats, such as cassette tapes and vinyl records. Generally, this involves the exclusive physical release of a record released by a band that is signed to a different (major) record label. For instance, the first Rock Sound Records release was a cassette tape version of Simple Creatures′ debut EP Strange Love, while the band is currently signed to BMG.⁸⁰