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Wichita, KS-based Manilla Road is one of America's -- make that the world's -- greatcultheavymetalbands.Geographicallyisolated,fiercelyindependent, and highly original, the group has rarely toured and neverseenasinglealbumreleased by amajor record company, buthasnevertheless managed to endure in one form of another for over twodecades.Vocalist and guitarist Mark Shelton was involved in a number of amateur bands during the 1970s, playing jazzandcountrybefore windingupinarockband called Embryo, and later founding Manilla Road in 1979 with bassist Scott ParksanddrummerRick Fisher. Unwilling towai ...read more
Wichita, KS-based Manilla Road is one of America's -- make that the world's -- greatcultheavymetalbands.Geographicallyisolated,fiercelyindependent, and highly original, the group has rarely toured and neverseenasinglealbumreleased by amajor record company, buthasnevertheless managed to endure in one form of another for over twodecades.Vocalist and guitarist Mark Shelton was involved in a number of amateur bands during the 1970s, playing jazzandcountrybefore windingupinarockband called Embryo, and later founding Manilla Road in 1979 with bassist Scott ParksanddrummerRick Fisher. Unwilling towaitforrecordlabels tocome discover them all the way out in Wichita, the resourcefultriorecordedits first album, Invasion, later thatyear,thenreleased itthrough theband's own Roadster Records for goodmeasure.Anotheralbum, tentatively entitled The Dreams ofEschaton,wasfinished andshelved because thebandmembersweren'thappy withthe results, but they gave it another try and duly came upwith1982'ssimply titled MetalLP.Despite such indicative titles, however, Manilla Road's first efforts actually delved into everythingfromprogressivetospaceandstraightforwardhardrock, and it wasn't until 1983's watershed Crystal Logic that theirmetallicinclinationstrulytookover. Fusing a fewlingering hard rocktricks and apenchant for epic and fantasy lyrics withtherecentaestheticinnovationsof the New Wave of British HeavyMetal, Crystal Logicboasted improvedsound quality, introduced ManillaRoadtoawiderheavy metal fan base (especially beyond America'sborders), and signaledthe beginning of theirgolden age.This wouldbemarked bytrulytriumphant subsequent efforts like Open the Gates(1985), The Deluge (1986),and, toalesserdegree,Mystification (1987) -- all of whichwerereleased by French independent Black DragonRecords andfeaturedthemoreaggressive,inventive, and thrash-attuned drumming of newarrivalRandy Foxe.Released in 1987, Live Roadkill preceded a couple of less memorable but still occasionally inspired efforts in 1988'sthrashandH.P.Lovecraft-obsessed Out of the Abyss and 1990's disjointed and aptly named The Courts of Chaos. This provedto bethefinal bowforManillaRoad's"classic"lineup, since Parks and Foxe were no longer speaking, and Shelton was prettyburntouthimself. Looking for a freshstart,he laidtorest the ManillaRoad name and recruited bassist/keyboardist/vocalistAaronBrownand drummer/vocalist Andrew Coss tocollaborate onanewproject. Far moreeclectic and progressive in nature,1992'sTheCircus Maximus was intended to double as both theirband and albumname,butwhen it came down tocrunchtime,BlackDragon deviously slapped Manilla Road on the cover in order toguarantee bigger sales.None too pleased with this act of deception, a disillusioned Shelton vanished from sight for a few years, but eventually re-emergedwitharevamped Manilla Road (featuring bassist Mark Anderson and drummer Scott Peters) for 2001'sAtlantisRisingand2002'sSpiralCastle(alsofeaturing another vocalist in Bryan Patrick). Later that year, Manilla Road's longlostsecondalbum was given anofficialreleaseasMark of theBeast, and recent reports suggest that Mark Shelton has no plantoretireanytime soon.http://www.manillaroad.net/ « hide |
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