Ah yes, the mighty Manilla Road! One of my all time favorites, and although they are widely recognized in the underground, most metal fans have never heard of 'em unfortunately. They never really stuck to a style, and continued evolving throughout the 1980s. They started out as a psychedelic/space hard rock band, but would go on to create some of the most amazing epic metal masterpieces to ever grace man's ears.

Manilla Road's mainman has always been Mark "The Shark" Shelton, the band's guitar player and lead vocalist. Since I'm a lazy arse, here's a biography I got off of wikipedia:

Beginnings

Manilla Road was created by Shelton in 1977 with high school friends Benny Munkirs, Rick Fisher and brothers Robert and Scott Park. After playing in local bars, the group first gained attention with their song "Herman Hill," inspired by the Herman Hill riot. Their first album Invasion was released in 1980 on the band's own label, Roadster Records. Between this time and their next release the band recorded material for an album to be titled The Dreams Of Eschaton, however this was not released until 2002 (under the name Mark of the Beast) as they were not happy with the sound. Shelton has been quoted as saying the music was "not metal enough" and "sounded like sh!t." Despite this Mark of the Beast was critically well received when it was eventually released. These early albums have more in common with progressive rock and proto-heavy metal than the band's later epic metal sound.
The next record was Metal, which began to define the future musical direction of Manilla Road. Their "classic" sound was solidified with the epic release of Crystal Logic in 1983.

Second lineup

The next five Manilla Road albums (along with a live release, "Roadkill") featured new drummer Randy Foxe, who had more of a thrash-oriented style than original drummer Rick Fisher. Along with Crystal Logic, the new lineup's first two albums, Open the Gates and The Deluge, are generally considered to be classics in the field of epic heavy metal. It was on these three albums that Manilla Road's style became fully formed. Lyrics typically feature fantastic elements from Norse mythology, Arthurian legend or other literary sources. These are often combined in one setting, the concept album Atlantis Rising, for example, features a war between the Æsir and Cthulhu, centered around the city of Atlantis.
Mystification suffered from exceptionally poor production resulting, ironically, from the substandard equipment at a new studio the band hoped would improve their sound. The recent re-release has fixed this problem to a large extent. After Mystification came Out of the Abyss, widely criticised at the time for its thrash metal influences. The band released one more album, The Courts of Chaos (described by Shelton as "the first true Manilla Road masterpiece") before splitting up.

Circus Maximus and hiatus

In 1992 Mark Shelton recorded The Circus Maximus with Aaron Brown and Andrew Coss. Despite having never been intended as a Manilla Road project, the album was released under this name at the record company's insistence. After this incident, Mark Shelton went on hiatus for nearly a decade.

Re-formation

Manilla Road re-formed and released Atlantis Rising in 2001, again with Mark Shelton as the only original member. On this occasion, however, the sound was much more consistent with the Manilla Road of old and it was the band who decided to continue using the name. Their latest albums are Spiral Castle published in 2002, Gates Of Fire, in 2005, and Voyager in 2008.

If all goes well I'll get round to reviewing their first album later today. If not, I'll do it after weekend (since I'll be busy with the introduction camp for first year university students this weekend).

Looking forward to this. Finally!

Have only heard a few songs here and there so i'm interested in what you have to say.

I know absolutely nothing about this band so this will be a good read for me.

I hope this thread doesn't go too fast. I really want to follow it as much as I can, and get to listen to the albums I do own when they are posted about.

Would you say that's their best era?

I would say so. My personal favorite albums are Mystification, The Deluge and The Courts of Chaos.

"Invasion" 1980



1. The Dream Goes On
2. Cat and Mouse
3. Far Side of the Sun
4. Street Jammer
5. Centurion War Games
6. The Empire

Just like many now famous heavy metal bands, Manilla Road had yet to find their style on their first LP. The material on Invasion is a far cry from the material on later albums. Whereas pretty much every other album they'd ever record would be a original take on the heavy metal sound, Invasion is more of a progressive rock album than anything else. Part early Rush, part Hawkwind and part Blue Oyster Cult... just not as good.

Invasion is far from a bad album, but it's nothing special. Sure, The Dream Goes On and Street Jammer are really catchy, unique sounding rockers, but they don't hold up against later classics. With that said, I have to say that The Empire is an exceptionally killer track. Overall there's not a whole lot to say here, unfortunately. Invasion is a good album, but far from the best in the MR discography.

I'm sorry, but Invasion is a pretty terrible album, imo. They cannot decide if they wanna be metal, space rock or prog! The songs are loooooooooong, but go nowhere, and some of the choruses are even more repetitive than some of Iron Maiden's latest blemishes ("I'm a street jammer" X 48, blech)!

I only really like "Centurian War Games", (an acoustic '70's bonfire sing-along epic thingy, that clocks in at under 4 minutes, alas the shortest song on this debut) and "The Empire" (with 13 and a half minutes, the longest track here) Both reminds me of Jethro Tull or Wishbone Ash maybe?

Manilla Road has a pretty uniques sound from the start though. One of the first true epic metal acts.

I have this somewhere, I'm gonna have to pull it out and listen to it.

I know nothing of Manilla Road. They're one of those bands I've heard/read much about over the years, but have never actually heard... so I may have to take a swing at that compilation Spec posted up above and git schooled.

AAAAAARGH! I just typed a big ass review for the next album... and then my browser started screwing with me.

Well, do it again then, Bozo!

Sorry it took so annoyingly long guys. Life's been keeping me pretty damn busy. But here's the next the review:

"Metal" 1982



1. Enter the Warrior
2. Defender
3. Queen of the Black Coast
4. Metal
5. Out of Control with Rock 'n' Roll
6. Cage of Mirrors
7. Far Side of the Sun

Manilla Road’s second full length album, the aptly titled Metal, is a step up from their debut. While Invasion was more of a prog-influenced hard rock album, the follow up raises the bar quite a bit. Although it is not a heavy metal masterpiece like the albums they would release in the next couple of years, it is still a very decent album with a couple of awesome tracks.
Most songs are a tad shorter and to the point here, with the epic Cage of Mirrors being a notable exception. Overall the songs are just a lot better. The rerecording of Far Side of the Sun (which was on the first album as well) pisses all over the original. The band just sounds a lot more focused on Metal, and a lot of the prog-tendencies are replaced by some more NWOBHM-sounding parts. Overall, Metal is a great album, but I wouldn’t quite call it a classic record: there isn’t any filler or anything, but some songs are just more interesting than other ones.

Shelton's voice is often described as an acquired taste but I dig it. He does pretty well going from that nasally singing voice to his more gravelly style and back again.

Yeah, I love his singing, but then again I have a thing for weird vocals.

Next review will be up tomorrow... I hope.

Metal' was the second album from Manilla Road. At least the second one released. You see, the band recorded a sophomore record during two recording sessions in 1981. The working title for the project was "The Dreams Of Eschaton". However, the band members were unhappy with the sound, and they didn't think the material was metal enough! Thus they scrapped the whole thing, and started from scratch. This "lost" album would later see the light of day in 2002, under the title "Mark Of The Beast". Then 'Metal' was recorded, and released on Roadster Records in 1982.

'Metal' features more of the quirky proto-metal heard on the debut. It's a more focused record in that it doesn't blend styles as much as 'Invasion'. However, it is still a far cry from the epic metal on the bands later releases. We we can hear the outlines of what is in store in the future here though. The title track f.ex. have a definitive epic metal feel to it, and the members of Manowar must have earned an ear of 8 to this album, I'm sure!

Killer tracks: Queen Of The Black Coast, Metal

"Crystal Logic" 1983

1. Prologue
2. Necropolis
3. Flaming Metal Systems
4. Crystal Logic
5. Feeling Free Again
6. The Riddle Master
7. The Ram
8. The Veils of Negative Existence
9. Dreams of Eschaton / Epilogue

Although Invasion and Metal are two very solid platters, Manilla Road's first brilliant record would be released in 1983, a year that is known for dozens of absolutely brilliant releases (Kill 'Em All, Show No Mercy, Court in the Act, Piece of Mind, Melissa etc. etc.). Whereas Invasion saw the Road playing a style reminiscent of progressive rock, and Metal was pretty much a hard rock record, Crystal Logic is Manilla Road first true heavy metal album... and what an album it is!

One of the best things of this brilliant heavy metal platter is the dreamy atmosphere. Rarely have heavy metal albums had such an ethereal, mystic sound to them. Although the production is hardly what you'd call good, it works like a charm for Crystal Logic. The drums sound muffled, the bass is pretty much inaudible, the guitar tone is very, very dry and the vocals are considerably higher in the mix than the instruments... but damn, it just sounds so amazing!

But let's be honest, what makes an album? The songs! To be completely honest, Crystal Logic features one song that many Manilla Road fans consider to be a sore thumb on an otherwise perfect album, namely the commercial-sounding hard rocker Feeling Free Again, but all the other songs are considered to be heavy metal classics. From the uptempo Necropolis, to the rocking The Ram, the plodding doom of The Riddle Master and The Veils of Negative Existence to the magnificent epic Dreams of Eschaton. Another standout track is the CD bonus track Flaming Metal Systems, which wasn't on the original LP issue, but has since become pretty much an integral part of the album... to me at least!

Honestly, I could for hours and hours about the perfection of this album. It's just one of those metal masterpieces that every selfrespecting fan of epic heavy metal should own. Buy or die comrades, buy or die.

Wow, good stuff on those vids. Have you heard the band, The Ram? I almost wonder if MR influenced them? Some of the same atmosphere.

I've never heard of 'em, but guessing by the band name MR definitely are an influence. Would you happen to have any info on 'em, or a myspace link? They aren't on Metal Archives.