Mega City Four: Magic Bullets

MRML READERS: Don't miss our top ten Mega City Four videos over at The Big Takeover

Opinions are divided over Mega City Four's 1993 album, Magic Bullets.

Jack Rabid (at both The Trouser Press and allmusic.com) says the album, "fails to match Sebastopol Rd.'s end-to-end excellence... Still, it's far from a failure. "Perfect Circle" jump-starts the album, the single "Iron Sky" is a lacerating, fresh gem, "Enemy Skies" recalls the whomp and whack of the band's early days and "Speck" closes things on a somber note. Best of all, the melodies still stick to you like a dog in a thunderstorm."



Spavid of Willfully Obscure says that the album "is a favorite of many, if not most die-hard MC4 fans. And while it may lack the visceral thrust of their early material, "Wallflower," "President," and ''Toys" convey the kind of bittersweet pathos that so many of the Brit-plop hopefuls of MC4's era could hold a candle to. Not that they'd even try to of course."




Our own commenter extraordinaire CallPastorJerkface says the album is, "Achingly melodic and, well, just aching now that you mention it, the Four's fourth proper studio album is perfect fodder for a sad lonely day in your room/on the bus/at your cubicle. Some might say that all that sadness makes Bullets proto-emo-pop in its narrow focus on the ground beneath its feet but when the Mega's do raise their heads and run for the horizon ("Rainman", "President", "Greener") you'll find it hard to keep up. Excellent production, glorious guitar soaked pop songs with lyrics that speak to who you are (or were depending on how well the Prozac's working for you) and a nice variety of tempos and song templates may make this a good first Four-ay into the Mega City."



In my view, it's a more consistent album than Sebastopol Road but it lacks a song as perfect as `Stop`. And while I remain a devout fan of the hard-hitting, pop-punk-oriented Decoy years (1988-1990) I`ve really come around to subtle power of the more Brit-poppish Big Life years (1991-1993).

So leave us a COMMENT about how you rate Magic Bullets (and that`s where you`ll find the link, as well).


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