Damn, I wish I had discovered these dudes decades ago when they were at their peak circa Crystal Logic or thereabouts, and Mark "The Shark" Shelton was still alive. RIP.
Manilla Road encapsulates everything I like about Classic Heavy Metal. Guitar-driven. Quasi-medieval, swordly-and-sorcerous subject matter. Well-constructed songs that take you on a journey. Varied material, from dirges to headbangers to haunting melodic journeys. A singer that sounds like Skeletor.
All delivered with attitude. Great example is this week's Metal Friday.
"Flaming Metal Systems" has a lengthy intro, then kicks into a massive higher gear at about the 1:10 mark. It then reaches an incredible crescendo starting at the 4:32 mark that sends chills down my spine. Nice work boys.
I'm still tickled that bassist E.C. Hellwell writes sword-and-sorcery, and I've got one of his stories, "The Riddle Master," on my shelf, in DMR Books' Swords of Steel.
Beware, the shrapnel flies
2 comments:
Just for the record, "The Riddle Master" is a Weird Tales-type of horror story, not sword-and-sorcery. Hellwell's stories in the other two volumes of Swords of Steel are S&S, though.
Thanks for that Dave! I read "The Riddle Master" but it was a long time ago. Still have Swords of Steel vols. 2 and 3 on my shelf, to read.
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