Album Advert Analysis

"Of Mice & Men" - "The Flood"

Of Mice & Men are an American metalcore band from Costa Mesa, California. The group was founded by Austin Carlile and Jaxin Hall during mid-2009 after Carlile's departure from Attack Attack!. The name of the band is derived from John Steinbeck's novel of the same title. The band techically have three releases, the first is their self titled album they released in 2010 and then following that, in 2011 they released an new album named "The Flood" and the third was released late July in 2012 which was a re-issue of their second album "The Flood" with an extra disc containing new tracks and a new and different track listing.

 

The advert above is a double page spread from "FRONT" magazine which includes lots of alternative/metal band information and other things. This particular advert advertises the new re-issue of "The Flood" by "Of Mice & Men". I think that this advert is very good due to qute a few different reasons. First of all, the first thing you see when you look at this advert is the band name. It is a very clear and readable font which is reconisable to fans of the band and also makes it eacy for people have not heard of the band before to become familiar with the band and maybe get them to listen to their music. Another thing about this advert is the way they have used the phrase "The Flood is coming again..." This is clever in different ways. First of all saying that "The Flood is coming" grabs the readers attention and makes them think about what it is suppost to mean in relation to the band and the music and then it says "again" which will thenm make the reader think even more about it and make them read on in the advert to find out what they mean by "The Flood is coming again" it is also clever using this phrase as it is a re-issue of the album "The Flood" so therefore the album is being re-released and "coming again". this will also get the fans of the band excited and interested as they will be familiar with the album and then seeing that it is "coming again" will make them read on to find out what the advert is talking about.

Another way in which this advert is constructed well is the way that it is clear in saying that the band are releasing a re-issue of their latest album, When it comes out and what it will look like with the image of the album cover on the bottom left hand side of the advert.

One more way in which this is a good adverty is that it also doubles up as an advert for their latest tour they are going to be doing which informs the reader on when and where they will be performing. This is clever that they have doubled up both the album and the tour advert as this will make the reader look at the band and then wonder what they sound like and then see the tour advert and then maybe think about going to see them perform to find out.

The layout of this advert is very well constructed aswell as they have put something to grab the readers attention at the top and in big writing and that gives the reader the first bit of information they will want to know about thet band (the name) then after they metion a new album re-release and then show what it will look like and then advertise their tour. this is good as the reader will find out what they need to know from the advert in the order they need to, to be able to understand it.

 

"Architects" - "Daybreaker"

Architects are a British metalcore band from Brighton, England, formed in 2004. The band currently consists of lead vocalist Sam Carter, drummer Dan Searle and his twin brother, guitarist and keyboardist Tom Searle and Alex Dean on bass guitar. The band went through several name changes before they decided upon Architects. Their first name was Inharmonic, which was swiftly changed to Counting the Days. After a couple of years this was in turn changed to Architects. They have released five studio albums and one split ep with Dead Swans.

They released their debut album Nightmares in 2006 on In At The Deep End records. After their original vocalist, Matt Johnson, left Carter joined and made his first appearance on Architects second album Ruin released in 2007 through United By Fate records. In 2009 the band released Hollow Crown through their current record label Century Media. They then released their fourth album The Here And Now in 2011, which showed the band step in a more melodic "clean-cut post-hardcore" direction. Upon its release the album received critical acclaim but was panned by their fanbase. The next year Architects returned to their original style with their fifth album Daybreaker, with more politicised lyrics as opposed to the violent and comedic lyrics that can be heard throughout their older work. The album advert i will be anaylsing is for their latest release named "Daybreaker" 

The advert above is from the same issue of "FRONT" magazine as the advert for "Of Mice & Men" and is an advert for the new album that has been released by the band "Arcihtects" named "Daybreaker".
Decpite the simplicity of the advert, i do quite like it. It informs the reader on all they will need to know in just one image and four words. It does this by showing the name of the band: "Architects", then the album name: "Daybreaker", and then shows an image of the album to familiarise the reader of what the album looks like and then finally infiorms the reader that it is "out now" and avilable to be bought. This advert does the exact same job and informs the reader of the same information as the "Of Mice & Men" advert but this one does it in alot more of a simple way so that it is quicker for the reader to look at and then if they are familiar with the band they now know it is available to buy and then because of the simplicity of the album, it will keep the people who are un-familiar with the band curious of what the band sound like and because the advert informs the reader that the album is available for purchase so they might be so curious that they go out and buy the album to find out.

Overall, both albums are very clear and clever on what they are trying to give across to the reader but do them in different ways. "Architects" decided they will make it as simple as possible and inform everyone with what they need to know about the new album in four words and an image and "Of Mice & Men" did the exact same job with their advert but in a differnt way and added more information but also without giving away to much information to keep the reader curious. Therefore, both adverts do their job and advertise the albums to the audience/reaer to help persuade the reader to either buy the albums or get into their music so that they will become more popular and become more recognisable to the generl public.