Register Forgot login?

© 2002-2024
Encyclopaedia Metallum

Privacy Policy

Manilla Road > Metal > Reviews
Manilla Road - Metal

Epic metal in its infancy - 74%

Jophelerx, March 27th, 2013

1982's Metal is an interesting stepping-stone on Mark Shelton's musical evolution throughout the years via the band Manilla Road (and more recently, Hellwell). 1982 was a year in which epic metal was hardly a well-established genre, with Manowar only just beginning their career that year with their debut full-length Battle Hymns, from which only two songs could really be called "epic". Other influences were sprouting up in the U.S., UK, Mediterranean area, as well as in mainland W. Europe, particularly Germany, Sweden, and the Netherlands. However, Manilla Road's evolution is so logical, as well as early, that it's pretty clear they weren't taking in much of that influence. While bands like Omen, Existence, Elixir, and Valkyrie plotted their first respective moves on the heavy metal board, Manilla Road were already well on their way to becoming epic metal masters with their flawed, yet clearly significant work, simply titled Metal. Much more mature than the unsteady, rambling Invasion, yet more up-front and in-your-face than the shelved follow-up originally titled Dreams of Eschaton, Metal was rocking and ready to roll, with traces of both aggressive heavy metal and epic thoughts and ideations throughout.

Metal more or less serves as a blueprint for the Manilla Road albums to follow it, with a fistful of metal, a rockier number or two, and an album epic. In this case the rockier numbers are "Defender", "Out of Control with Rock n Roll" and "Far Side of the Sun". Whereas "Out of Control" and "Defender" are fairly banal and quite skippable, "Far Side of the Sun" is a decently enjoyable redux of the song from "Invasion", which was a bit overlong and unpolished. Stripped down to a more pleasurable length, "Far Side of the Sun" now stands as a solid rocker for the album. The epic here is "Cage of Mirrors", which is one of the strangest MR songs out there, with its circus-y intro leading into a progressively heavier sound. The buildup here is pretty cool, especially if you follow the lyrics, which speak from the perspective someone who uses black magic and ends up more or less opening a pandora's box, releasing nameless evil upon the world and screwing himself over in the process. Still, at some points the song feels a bit overlong with the repetitive riffing.

"Enter the Warrior" is a better example of a metal song; probably the most mature song here, this is both epic and in your face, almost to the point that it could have been released on Crystal Logic without too much problem; it sounds most similar to "The Veils of Negative Existence", with its dark, frantic riffage and gruff roars. "Queen of the Black Coast" has some metal in it, but it falls more into the proto-metal design of the majority of the album, not really able to completely get rid of those hard rock tendencies. Overall, the album is an interesting and necessary piece of the Manilla Road puzzle as it developed from a hard rock/shred group in the late 70s and early 80s to a full-on epic heavy/power/thrash metal band by the mid 80s. While Metal isn't their best album, nor even great by any standards, it still has a few enjoyable numbers and stands to show Shelton's progression throughout the years.

Blacken All the Seas - 72%

Nightmare_Reality, September 9th, 2012

When you choose the name "Metal" for the title of your new record, that implies a couple of things. The main thing that it implies is that the music found on this album should be heavy metal, but the music on Manilla Road's sophomore full-length is still very proto-metal, embracing the same sound that the previous album had, only Shelton and the gang decided to strip the music of its epic qualities and release shorter songs that had more of a "metal" resemblance. This turned out to be a horrible idea that saw the group fall into the "sophomore slump" as this is easily the most mediocre and forgettable album in the band's (Pre-2000) discography.

Manilla Road's previous full-length "Invasion" was a terrific starting point that showed glimpses of what the band would accomplish in the future, while "Metal" is an album that should not have been released in the form it was, because there are definitely some moments where the band showed they were ready to take their sound to that next level, but for the most part the execution of that ideal sound was nowhere to be heard. "Queen of the Black Coast" is one of the two solid tracks on this album that is worth listening to, as mostly everything clicked on this song. Mark's ability to create music that flows together smoothly was nearly absent on this record, but on this particular song the riffs are rockin' and his vocals are tremendous. And much like the album that came before, the closing track "Cage of Mirrors" is an epic full of acceptable riffs, solos, and compelling vocals that bring a darker edge to the song, something new and fresh for the band.

That's really where the praise for "Metal" stops, though. The other songs are far too forgettable to even try and re-listen to over and over hoping for them to suddenly grow on me. The songs started to get shorter, something that I have no problem with, but the music lacked anything memorable. The riffs all maintained an amount of rock attitude and fervor, but they don't seem to stick. In fact, I found the bassist's performance to be more acceptable because I can remember the basslines and fills more than the riffs (something that should not be happening). And of course, there's the incredibly misleading title track. While the lyrics are something that any proud metal fan should enjoy, the music is boring and played on a clean guitar (ironic?). This is an album that I probably won't actively seek out for quite a while, especially when the two songs worth listening to aren't even that great when compared to much better material produced later on in the band's career.

Highlights
"Queen of the Black Coast"
"Cage of Mirrors"

Originally written for Nightmare Reality Webzine.
nightmarerealitywebzine.blogspot.com

Very 'eavy, very 'umble! - 91%

Acrobat, June 19th, 2009

What with a title as plain-as-day as Metal one might be led to expect all sorts dazzlingly, speedy pyrotechnics and other sorts of Sturm und Drang (roughly translated from German this means ‘Heavy Metal Thunder’). I for one would expect this to sound very Priest-alike – maybe some up-tempo NWOBHM-derived sound. But that’s the thing, on the cover just above Metal we have the words “Manilla” and “Road”, and Shark “The Mark” Shelton doesn’t play by anyone’s rules but his own. So essentially, you could do well to take most of the preconceptions you’d have about what heavy metal in 1982 sounds like. Because even back then Manilla Road successfully avoided any clichés or any possible hint of gaining mainstream appeal. In short: they’re so underground they’re buried. There’s something very, very admirable about the fact that Manilla Road set out to make music for themselves, to do something they felt was noteworthy, and I’m not even too sure that they even gave this a conscious thought. I’m sure it was more a case of “We’re Manilla Road, and apparently we’re the ultimate cult band… I’m not too sure myself I was too busy reading about some albino’s Runesword draining men’s souls”. When you hear the utterance ‘Love of life bring us metal’, you should be in absolutely no doubt as to whether or not this is a labour of love.

I should probably note at this point that I don’t want you or any of your immediate family members to start your Manilla Road voyage/quest/crusade with Metal. Oh no, keep your grubby mitts off it! Try one of their next three epic albums – all more overtly metal than this one and probably a little more easy to dive into (though using the word ‘easy’ to describe Manilla Road makes me chuckle – there is no easy Road! Scale the castle’s walls instead!) But this makes Metal all the more exciting: you’ve made it this far, but will you get Metal? It’s like the crucial page-turning moment in so many “Choose Your Own Adventure” novels; will you trounce evil or be chewed up by the ten-headed demon-of-the-pit?

Somewhere within this smouldering tomb of truly epic heavy metal you’ll find the essence of escapism – Metal is an album to escape into, to run away with. Turn off the lights and drink deep from the jewel-encrusted goblet of heavy metal. ‘Love of life brings us metal!’ Surely, around this point your mother will enter the room telling your there’s sick on your shoes, or the cat needs several new coats of paint – but no, this can wait. Surely, too, others might say it’s probably time you ventured into the outside world and you’ve probably spent all your time in idle self-indulgent la-la land. But fuck it, you’re young – you can spend your days in so-called idle pursuits. Seriously, which of these options are you going to be more proud of?
a) I went out and got a job. I’ve got a whiny bitch of a girlfriend – she’s getting a bit porky these days, probably going to cut my hair, too.
b) Stayed at home and listened to heavy metal – had a fantastic time.
I mean, really now, this album’s only 35 minutes long. Life can wait just a little longer, eh?

In terms of professionalism and technicality this is hardly what most would consider particularly excellent. Mark’s guitar sounds like it’s been broken in about 3 places and the positively archaic production job sounds as if you could more easily compare whatever 4-track this was recorded on to Stonehenge than a modern day studio. Still, I reckon this is a great sounding record – I wouldn’t really have it any other way. The fact that each instrument seems to be covered in a thick layer of dust is actually beneficial to the overall sound here.

When giving an actual approximation of the sound here it could say it’s strange, but yes, it’s Manilla Road, of course it’s fucking strange. The weirdest of weirdos and quirkiest of quirks could tell you that – the point being that Metal is actually stranger than the usual Manilla Road (and again using the word ‘usual’ in reference to Manilla Road makes me chuckle). It’s something I really like about this record – it’s like you’re uncovering something lost and forgotten amongst louder and more brightly feathered creatures, perhaps, you’d find this in a City of the Dead amongst decrepit artefacts of some long-lost kingdom whose doom was ushered in some minor agricultural advancement like horse-drawn ploughs.

Metal is a sort of oddly paced record to these ears, I don’t mean that in the usual sense of how the songs are paced, as indeed, this is a cohesive piece – even if the usual “mood-breaker” song is there (though, I do find ‘Out of Control With Rock ’N’ Roll’ to be far more enjoyable than ‘Feeling Free Again’ or ‘Heavy Metal to the World’). No, this is something else, rhythmically this album has a sort of weirdly stinted groove to it; it’s not really comparable to much else I’ve heard. Rick Fisher is hardly a great drummer – but he proves integral to the sound here and it all fits rather nicely in place. But there’s a very different sense of rhythm here; it’s as if the band all had one leg shorter than the other. ‘Enter the Warrior’ shows this best – it’s gruff and bumbling at the same time; like some blind-drunk Viking warrior. Ever seen someone so drunk that when they walk down on corridor that only hitting into the walls keeps them from completely falling over? It’s sort of like that, though not funny but rather sort of menacing. Mark’s vocals – as per usual – are great here; his growls in the verses are as vicious as anything he’d do later on and he bellows out in chorus like some ancient priest beckoning some colossal incantations. I think I actively dislike people who don’t like his vocals, how could a metal fan not enjoy such things?

‘Defender’ comes across as almost the opposite in its mood. It’s still stumbling in its execution but Shelton comes across as some bit-part character in a Sci-Fi novel: cowardly and uncertain – it’s got a sort of seventies schlock to it. Seems to be expected to be a great warrior but would much rather stay in bed than face his fate in battle. A very interesting song, thankfully the mock-heroism going on here isn’t overdone due to the song’s brevity. I’m not sure you’d get a band other than Manilla Road doing a song like this. Oddly enough the closer comparison to this song I can think of is Bad Religion’s ‘Frogger’. So as you probably tell there aren’t too many songs of this ilk out there!

‘Queen of the Black Coast’ is another fantastic song, again inspired by the richest fantasy, and the song takes on really hypnotic quality with its refrain (and all those totally over-the-top “Yah yah yahs!”) It’s worth noting that with this song – and indeed album – Mark’s lead work is often shorter than on future albums but nonetheless it’s still fantastic with some almost lyrical phrasing and a cool, honky accenting of his notes. It reminds me a lot of Glen Tipton’s 70s work – it’s clear from the off that he’s been greatly inspired by that era of Priest (see: that ‘Victim of Changes’ aping intro on ‘Enter the Warrior’). So is this Manilla Road’s Sad Wings of Destiny? Er no, it’s Manilla Road’s Metal! They’re their own band, some might say.

Then we have the title track, which really is something completely out-of-this-world. If I were to count all the songs I know about heavy metal I know of I’m sure I’d quickly run out of digits and thus be very confused as to who I am and where my mother is. Furthermore, I’m sure an archive search would give a vast abundance of metal-related song titles and assuming at least half of those were about heavy metal, I’m sure we could come to the concurrence than heavy metal, as a genre, really likes songs about itself (I’m not actually going to enter the number of metal-related songs I found; as I’m sure whilst this review was waiting to be accepted another band would appear on the archives with another song about metal). Still, I’d bet and wager that none of those thousands of songs are like this (ignoring Mark Shelton’s other metal inspired numbers, of course). It’s a deeply personal song – and that’s not to say the rest of the album is impersonal or distant by any means, though common music journalist instilled knowledge would tell us that by singing about fantasy you can’t possibly have any personal connection with your subject matter, indeed, for a song to be personal it must follow the boy-meets-girl formula. Ahem, anyway, what a stunning song! Despite its deeply reflective nature it never comes across as slushy, sentimental-in-the-bad-way pap. Having something that’s reverent of metal itself is certainly not something you’d normally to be what is largely a ballad, that one its own is noteworthy. You may not think it initially to be very heavy metal – but c’mon, ‘we raise our swords and ride to Valhalla!’ that’s fucking seminal! But you know, this is Manilla Road; remember to listen with your third ear. Of course, the up-tempo section towards the end may owe more to Wishbone Ash than Iron Maiden but there’s something very defiantly metal about this song; Manilla Road never need to play things the way you’d expect them to. So, expect the unexpected and I’m not a hallucination… though I would say that, wouldn’t I?

Though I wouldn’t expect a great deal of people to actually find this to their taste (Metal being a taste as acquired as the tastiest of blue-veined cheeses). But then again you’re going to have to come to point at which you decide whether you want rock ’n’ roll or a tooth paste commercial. The choice is yours. I think there’s a lot to be revealed in here and I can whole-heartedly concur that there most certainly was life before Crystal Logic, and you’d do best not to forget that.

Love of life brings us metal! - 88%

Abominatrix, May 7th, 2004

In many ways this album signifies the beginning of what some would term the "classic manilla Road sound". I think it still owes a fair amount to '70s psychedelic/hard rock, but this is by no means a negative criticism. I love some of the music from that era and early Manilla Road definitely strikes a chord with me.

This is over-all much more streamlined and focussed than the debut, "Invasion". in fact, it's remarkable how much the band has matured in such a short time. There was actually supposed to be an album released between the two, back in 1981, but apparently the band wasn't too happy with the result and the project was canned in favour of the "Metal" album. That interim recording, "Mark of the Beast" has recently been released by Monster Records, and from the older (and very shite quality) bootleg recording I've heard of some of the album it's a nice bridge between the preceeding and following albums. But, I digress..."Metal" is a pretty strange and unique album, very much steeped in the magic that made early manilla Road so wonderful. There's a really special, almost personal feeling about the recording...even though the lyrical subject matter is often quite otherworldly. What's more, the production is very live sounding, to the point where it sounds as if the band is playing right in front of you. If you close your eyes, you can almost imagine being in some slightly ramshackle bar somewhere (probably Kansas!) seeing these guys play their young hearts out, and it's such an exhilarating feeling. I really feel that this album warrants a track by track discussion, so bare with me while I indulge.

"Enter the Warrior" is a pretty strange opener for the album. The riffing itself isn't too extraordinary, except that it's more metallic than anything Manilla Road had done previously. What's odd is the rhythm, particularly the drums, which give the song a sort of staggering yet punchy feel. It's very unconventional and left me scratching my head the first couple of times I heard the song...but it grows on you after a while. Mark's vocals on this album are interesting: they possess a really growly, snarly quality that was mostly dropped for the next album. Oh, he can sing quite cleanly at times, and does so often enough on this album, but the gruff, very unpolished tone here really adds something to the live, one-take nature of the recording, as well as providing a certain charisma that is part of the early Road magic.

"Defender" is a very catchy, up-tempo song with a sinister, pounding chorus. Mark sings the verses in an almost plaintive tone of voice, which kind of fits the lyrics, which are both amusing and oddly tragic sounding. yes, they're about the famous arcade game from the early '80s, and I love the way it sounds as if he's being really subtle about it until the last line of the last verse..."won't somebody play me? A quarter will do!" The chorus is one of those anthemic fist-pumping metal affairs, in which Shelton snarls out "Defender!" in a biting voice. Truly great stuff.

Next up we have "Queen of the Black Coast", a depiction of a truly great Robert E. Howard story involving Conan and a beautiful female pirate who falls in love with him. This is probably one of the Road's most underrated songs, for me at least. It has a really wonderful wistful air about it; a compelling magic that doesn't quite hit you on first listen but which draws you in as you become more familiar with the song, until it remains stuck in your head for days. The pace is very much rock n roll, the rhythm straightforward and unpretentious...yet the riff Shelton plays on his guitar is really striking in its sheer simplicity and total strangeness. It reminds me, almost, of the chorus to Venom's "Don't Burn the Witch", not in a musical sense exactly, but in the sense that you expect the riff pattern to go a certain way, and instead it does the exact opposite. The lyrics to this song are really cryptic, to the point where they make little sense unless you've read the tale the song is based on, but their subtle nature, and the way mark growls out the verses in that sinister yet still melodic tone of his, while performing the chorus parts in his distinctive soaring yet somehow tentative (in a good way, if that makes any sense) clean voice, just adds to the atmosphere. It really makes you take notice, that's for sure.

We then come to the album's eponimous track, and what an anthem it is. It's actually very sedate, for a song called "Metal", for most of its length. however, the almost gentle sounding nature of the music belies the fact that the lyrics are full of pride and meaning. "We praise the blood that metal brings / The essence of creative quality / Is life so pure we cannot seek / Our hopes, our dreams to make our fantasies reality." Mark sings the mellow opening moments beautifully, and this is one of the pieces I would love to see performed live one day, particularly when it erupts into a fast paced section 3/4 of the way through that's somewhat reminiscent of Judas Priest, full of frantic guitar soloing and wails of "heavy..metaaaaaal!" Amazing stuff. As an aside, the mellow part of this track seems to be a reworking of "Venusian Sea", which was to be on the previous album.

"Out of Control with Rock n Roll" is probably my least favourite track here. It's still pretty good, but the growly vocals here seem almost excessive, and there's an annoying echo effect on them which renders the whole song a bit messy sounding. There's some good soloing, and some absolutely great lyrics about how rock n roll can be both the best and the worst of everything, but other than that, this song is really nothing special.

It seems every Manilla Road album up until around "Mystification" had to have one mammoth epic track. "Cage of Mirrors" is just that, and it's an unbelievably powerful song. There's a verse motif that consists of nothing but gently picked clean harmonics and some very moving vocals. Following this section the song crashes into full gear with some powerful and distinctive riffs, including one with an odd galloping rhythm that could be almost thrash if it were sped up a dozen fold. The song dramatically returns to the quiet motif to continue the story of the disciple of hellish sorcery who, excited and awed by the power he holds in his hands to summon Lucifer and his warriors to Earth, realizes far too late the horror he has unleashed upon the world and the damnation to which he has condemned his own soul. Very moving stuff, and Mark actually gets pretty passionate with his singing here, going off key a bit, but who the hell cares? The vocal melody is gorgeous! After a repeat of the thundering riffset from the previous section and some crazy soloing, the quiet returns once more and we get the final, regretful and tremulous words of the sorceror..."I would send back Lucifer and his warriors / but I'm trapped, in this cage of mirrors".

Finally, the album closes with a much more up-beat and metallic version of "Far Side of the Sun", originally from "Invasion". This version doesn't include the slightly silly Hawkwind-esque intro, and betters its predecessor in every way possible. You'll definitely want to crank this one. More wailing solos, gritty but melodious vocals and rhythm/riff combination that's very worthy of maximum headbanging. This song, more than anything, shows how far Manilla Road have come.

In conclusion, this album is a real treasure. The band would never quite find this particular brand of magic again, although it could be argued that they do have better albums. Then again, every Road album is unique in its own way, and I don't think any of them aren't worth owning. This one in particular should appeal to those seeking a very underground and sincere sounding brand of early 80s american metal, without any pretentions or gloss. Manilla Road is the type of band that makes you a fan over years, not overnight, so don't be surprised if this doesn't exactly strike you as anything special on first listen. As with most of their other albums, it needs time to sink in and grow. "Metal" deserves far more appreciation than it gets, as does this band in general, and if I've even turned one person onto them through this review, I am a very happy man.