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
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.
ReplyDeleteThanks 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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