My. Oh. My.
Magna Carta – once home to such diverse progressive-rock/metal outfits as Shadow Gallery, Magellan, Enchant, Ice Age and Kansas – now clearly leans toward the heavier end of the metal spectrum. Its Prime Cuts compilation series aside, the first indication that the U.S. label was making a major shift came with last year's release of Slave to None by Totalisti, a bridging of progressive-metal with the somewhat cumbersome genre of modern metal. Now comes Speakers For the Dead, a Fresno, Calif.-based band that combines heavy metal, hard rock and brutal hardcore with alternate singing and shouting on a mind-numbing platter that will have you double-checking the record label. Prey For Murder, the band's occasionally melodic debut disc, is easily the heaviest record Magna Carta has ever released. There's the freight-train chug of "No Wrong" the machine-gun barrage of "Pest" and the down-tuned rage of "Fade." Speakers For the Dead will definitely shock your speakers to life. Despite some technical passages and intricate arrangements, though, this is not really progressive music in the traditional Magna Carta sense. Instead, it's loud, brash and full of vitriol with a hint of hope – hell, just take a look at the cover. Does it stand up to past Magna Carta releases? Of course not. But it does set the bar for future releases from a label that keeps evolving.
Track Listing:
1) Finally
2) Far
3) No Wrong
4) I've Become
5) Long Way
6) Pest
7) About to Fall
8) I Am
9) Back Home
10) Fade
11) Again
12) Resignation
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