Clamor #23 / $4.50 / Full-Sized / 68 Pages / PO Box 20128, Toledo, OH 43610 / http://www.clamormagazine.org /
My first experience with Clamor was really a mixed bag. While all of the pictures and layout look decent, with the layout seeming a little sterile but workable, some of the pieces collected in this issue really seem diffuse or lacking in any sense of cohesion. Take, for example, the interview with Elevated Cypha, which does include an introduction but no information to have me know whether they are a art group or feminist group or anything. Some of the other pieces are able to make up for this major oversight with much more solid writing, including “God’s Chosen Heathensâ€, a piece that discusses the rise of contemporary Christian music alongside that of punk rock. Still, the ratio of well-written, thought out, overall impressive pieces is precariously close to being an even ratio, with “Sleeping Sickness†reading more like the failed musing of a livejournal fiend – important discussion, but without the right words to properly capture the context of things. Other pieces, like “Using the Universal Life Church†bring to the foreground some interesting facts, but do the literary equivalent of spinning their tires and just giving up without a complete discussion of the issues at hand. While there are a number of strong pieces in this, the religion issue of Clamor, the simple fact are that a number of these pieces are ill-executed and should have immediately caught the eye of a strong proofreader.
Rating : 5.0/10