The design is cool and I’m definitely not debating that. I am also a designer as well as a musician, so I would say it is difficult to be unique.

I am a fan of stencil fonts and I don’t at all discourage the use of them, but one of DRUM!’s primary fonts is very similar to the one on your front cover. There was a double bass issue a while back with Tommy Lee on the cover that had a lot of stencil art with skulls. It reminded me of that design. They primarily use their stencil font in their features, but generally not on the cover. It probably is just a coincidence.

There’s a few example’s here of what I was referring to: http://www.flickr.com/photos/corporateamongstthecorn/

I’ve only seen the cover of this magazine, so I was only noting some likeness in the design. It’s hard for me, as a designer to not compare visuals things or keep an eye out for trends. Likeness to something that is cool I don’t think is a negative thing 😉

There are other magazines about drums, so I don’t think it’s possible to be “one of a kind”. But in saying that…great writing, good photography/design is plenty enough to make me a reader. I’ll definitely check it out. Good luck with the launch.

Cheers,
Leslie