Posted on: December 8, 2007 Posted by: James McQuiston Comments: 0

Alarm #13 – Full Size/108 Pages[Burnt Zine]
$5 / No Trade / Full-Size / 108 Pages / [email protected] / http://www.alarmpress.com / Alarm Press, PO Box 200069 / Boston, MA 02120

For a magazine that is so glossy (with a color insert in the middle of the zine), there is absolutely nothing in the content department. Seriously, there are three opinion pieces, about 10 interviews with bands and individuals, 1 short story, and about 60 reviews. And this is a 100+ page magazine! Honestly, I am all for the minimalist approach, but there should be at least some maximum to the white space that one uses on a page. The advertisements in the magazine are pretty common, but nowhere near as bad as some of the other large-run zines (Such as Skyscraper and Maximumrocknroll) that one can go 8 pages without seeing anything content-related. Some of the interviews in the magazine are just your average necessary reviews (The Bouncing Souls and Piebald), but some actually break out of the punk-emo axis (Illogic and El-P). Pretty much, what saves Alarm from being a complete washout in my eyes is the fact that the editor has this open ideology about music, even choosing to review rap and dance.

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