Metal Rules

{{Short description|Heavy metal webzine}}

{{italic title}}

{{promotional|date=February 2012}}

{{Use Canadian English|date=October 2022}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=October 2022}}

{{Infobox website

| name = Metal Rules

| type = Online music magazine

| founded = {{Start date and age|1995}}

| country_of_origin = Canada

| owner = EvilG

| founder = EvilG

| url = {{URL|metal-rules.com}}

| commercial = Yes

| current_status = Active

}}

Metal Rules, also known as Metal-Rules, is a heavy metal webzine established in 1995 by owner and editor EvilG.{{Cite book |last=Dumittan |first=Arlette Huguenin |title=Text Linguistics in Heavy Metal Magazines and Webzines |publisher=Cuvillier Verlag |year=2014 |isbn=9783954047451 |pages=189–191 |chapter=Corpus |id={{ProQuest|2229276197}}}} Based in the province of Newfoundland, Canada, the site was founded to promote "Real Metal," which is one of the world's largest and longest-running heavy metal websites. {{Citation needed|date=May 2024}} As of 2024,{{Cite web |title=Metal-Rules.com Staff |url=https://www.metal-rules.com/metal-rules-com-staff/ |access-date=2024-09-03 |website=Metal-Rules.com |language=en-US}} the site lists an international staff of 16 members, and half a dozen additional contributors from around the world, including Canada, the United States, England, Sweden, Finland, Australia, Malaysia, Estonia, and most recently, India. As of March 2007, the site was receiving between 1.2 and 1.5 million page views per month, and had 4,400 registered forum users and more than 2,000 newsletter subscribers.

The website contains a wide range of features, including news, CDs, and DVDs as well as book reviews, concert reviews, and interviews.  The site has almost 16,000 CD reviews, almost 600 DVD reviews, over 2,600 interviews with musicians and metal fans, and over 2000 concert reviews. In the summer of 2011, Metal-Rules introduced a new section called The Library Of Loudness, specializing in hard rock and heavy metal book reviews. This section currently has over 800 book reviews. The site also has several Internet chat forums, with over 100,000 registered members since its inception. Other features include audio and video streaming, interactive polls, editorial pieces, cartoons, guitar samples and tabs, tour blogs, and more.{{Citation needed|date=June 2024}}

Metal Rules, alongside Metal Sludge, was cited in a New York Times article, after the death of Dimebag Darrell in 2004.{{cite news |title=Heavy-Metal Web Sites Mourn Dimebag Darrell |first=Sarah |last=Boxer |url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE0D71131F932A25751C1A9629C8B63&pagewanted=1 |newspaper=New York Times |date=December 11, 2004 |accessdate=August 20, 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110820174855/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE0D71131F932A25751C1A9629C8B63&pagewanted=1|archivedate=August 20, 2011}} Its tribute to Ronnie James Dio was featured on Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles's website.{{cite news |title=Metal Rules Pay Tribute To Ronnie James Dio |url=http://www.bravewords.com/news/162026 |newspaper=Brave Words & Bloody Knuckles |date=May 16, 2011 |accessdate=August 20, 2011|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20121008120048/http://www.bravewords.com/news/162026 |url-status=live |archivedate=October 8, 2012}} It received praise from the heavy metal world.{{cite news|title=About Metal-Rules |url=http://www.metal-rules.com/info/index.php?page=about |publisher=Metal Rules |accessdate=August 20, 2011 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110813063834/http://www.metal-rules.com/info/index.php?page=about |archivedate=August 13, 2011 |url-status=dead }}