HM (magazine)

''HM Magazine'' is a monthly, digital and print on demand publication focusing on hard music and alternative culture of interest to Christians. It is headquartered in Houston, Texas. The magazine states that its goal is to "honestly and accurately cover the current state of hard music and alternative culture from a faith-based perspective." It is known for being one of the first magazines dedicated to covering Christian metal. The magazine's content includes features; news; album, live show and book reviews; culture coverage and columns. HM's occasional "So and So Says" feature is known for getting into artists' deeper thoughts on Jesus Christ, spirituality, and politics.

History

In 1985, Doug Van Pelt started ''Heaven's Metal'' as a fanzine. It was Van Pelt's friend who would later place a classified ad in the 100th issue of ''Kerrang!,'' a British magazine focused on covering rock musicians and bands. During that time, Christian Metal as a genre began to gain more attention, with ''Heaven's Metal'' profiting from this as the only publication exclusively covering that genre. Soon, ''Heaven's Metal'' achieved more popularity and became an official publication, with five full-time journalists working for the magazine. Around this time, ''Heaven's Metal'' achieved a regular subscription base of 15,000 readers.

The name was changed to ''HM Magazine'' in 1995, with HM being the initials for "Hard Music." Despite name and format changes over its history, the magazine's spiritual focus remains Christian, as it follows both the Christian rock and the Christian metal movement. Bands' sales usually rose when the ensembles were covered in the magazine.

During the 1990s, ''HM'' sealed a distribution deal with a major magazine wholesaler that immediately increased its print-run from 13,000 to 22,000 copies, and it allowed Van Pelt and his co-workers to double ad rates, making ''HM'' a stable business enterprise. Later, it would be two specific articles that would cement ''HMs mainstream popularity: the first was the band King's X's vocalist Doug Pinnick using an interview with ''HM'' to talk about his sexuality, and the second being Alice Cooper's interview in 2002 about his spiritual beliefs.

In October 2004, Van Pelt revived the ''Heaven's Metal'' name, starting a fanzine under the same name, to be released between issues of the primary ''HM Magazine''. (At the time, ''HM'' was a bi-monthly publication.) Christianity and metal music were also themes of this venture, but it was produced in a smaller, less formal format. The fanzine focused on the more traditional styles of heavy metal, and it regularly featured bands considered not as mainstream as those featured in the ''HM Magazine''. Currently, ''Heaven's Metal'' is run alongside ''HM Magazine'' as a "magazine within the magazine," coming out 12 times a year as part of ''HM Magazine''.

Over its years of publication, ''HM'' has expanded to include acts other than those that would fit into the hard rock or metal category. It is not unusual to find an article on a softer rock band like Deas Vail, or a synthpop group like Owl City. However, the magazine's focus remains steadfast in covering "left-of-center" bands.

In an attempt to get out of debt, ''HM'' launched a "Save HM Magazine Campaign" in March 2012 through their website to raise funds in order to continue printing the publication. As a thanks to donors, contributors were offered a collection of songs available for download. After more than 26 years of publishing as a print magazine, with simultaneous digital editions starting to run in May 2007, the publication went exclusively digital starting with the December 2011 (issue #151) and changed to a monthly format.

In February 2013, Van Pelt sold the magazine to current editor David Stagg under undisclosed terms. Stagg had previously interned at ''HM Magazine'' in the summer of 2003, and remained on staff as a feature writer and reviewer even after becoming the new business owner.

References

External links

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*Official instagram https://www.instagram.com/heavensmetal/

Austin Chronicle: HM Editor/Publisher Doug Van Pelt's Hard-Rocking Christian Empire
August 7, 2000


October 4, 2004

{{DEFAULTSORT:HM Magazine
1985 establishments in Texas
2011 disestablishments in Texas
Christian magazines
Christian metal
Defunct magazines published in the United States
Magazines established in 1985
Magazines disestablished in 2011
Magazines published in Texas
Mass media in Houston
Monthly magazines published in the United States
Online music magazines published in the United States
Online magazines with defunct print editions