It was announced in their just-out October issue and also during the Metal Insider-sponsored CMJ metal panels that following the December 2009 issue, esteemed metal magazine Revolver will be switching to a bimonthly schedule, publishing six times a year.

“Times are tough for everyone, and there’s been no government bailout for hard-rock magazines,” Revolver Editor in Chief Brandon Geist says. “Metal Maniacs and Metal Edge shut down last year, while we at Revolver had to cut some pages and our poster. Eventually we just decided that we needed to refocus on making the greatest magazine we could 6 times a year, instead of putting out an increasingly skinny, good magazine 12 times a year. I think anyone who picks up the new “Hottest Chicks in Metal of All Time” issue, which I’m personally very proud of, will see what I mean, and agree that we’re giving our readers a lot more bang for their buck. Going bimonthly also allows us to focus more time and effort on throwing mega-events like last year’s Golden Gods, the first ever metal awards show in the U.S. , which we plan to not only put on again in 2010 but also make even bigger and badasser.”

Subscribers will get the remaining number of issues of their subsrciption, meaning if they’d subscribed for one year in October, they’ll get nine more issues, which would last them until June of 2011 by our admittedly shoddy math. It’s sad to see such a solid metal magazine cut back, but unlike Metal Edge and Metal Maniacs, the magazine still exists. And another plus is that the magazines will be thicker and have more pages, making each one more of an event.

And speaking of events, they do have the Golden Gods awards, and while Aaron Turner might not be a huge fan, hopefully the festival will get past its first-year jitters, because a metal awards show seems like a great idea, at least in concept. And the more successful the awards show is, the more money they’ll potentially have to sink back into the magazine.