Manilla Road
Metal

In the year when Italy won the World Cup, Manilla Road gave birth to one of the greatest examples of epic metal. Considered by many as the first true epic album (the previous "Invasion" sounded more rock), this "Metal" from 1982 remains one of the cornerstones of the entire metal genre. Most metalheads don't even know of its existence, but those few who have had the fortune to listen to this record have heard a work born in the "cauldron" of metal, at its dawn, when recording and sound didn't have the importance they have today.

Mark "the shark" Shelton, vocalist, guitarist, and soul of Manilla Road, wrote most of the tracks starting with the splendid "Enter the warrior" with its syncopated and "twisted" rhythm that opens in the best way possible a record that in its genre has made history. Special mention for Shelton's voice, one of the most evocative and "personal" in the metal realm. To be passed down.

Although Manilla Road directed their career towards raw and no-frills heavy metal in the first two works, the distance between hard rock and the more classic metal is still reduced enough not to define them within a precise genre. The subsequent "Defender" and "Queen of the Black Coast" are proof of this, so close to the rhythms of the English band Judas Priest. It's incredible how, over 20 years later, the chorus of "Queen of the Black Coast" remains one of the most epic and "unsound" I have had the pleasure to hear.

Their way of understanding music also allows them to try to embrace shores distant to them. The title track is an unusual ballad for the guys from Wichita, an initiatory song to what will be later (master)works like "Dreams of Eschaton" and "Dragon Star". Also worth mentioning is the progressive "Cage of Mirrors", perhaps the peak of the album.

The limitation that once again penalizes them, and in this case heavily, is as always the production. While in later albums this flaw was compensated by compact songwriting unattainable for many other groups today, here at the start of their career, the technical expertise is not at the levels that will be achieved later. Moreover, their inspiration from NWOBHM makes this work an immovable base for the epic movement, but it does not elevate it to a masterpiece given the various confluence of genres. Too dated in sound and perhaps still too little "mature." The fact is that most of the heavy metal that was born in the United States in the following years is owed, for better or worse, to this band and in particular to this work. An album that intertwines complex and dark songwriting with solos that will soon become the trademark of the Manilla Road house. Essential.

1-"Enter the warrior" (5:15)
2-"Defender" (2:02)
3-"Queen of the black coast" (4:22)
4-"Metal" (6:11)
5-"Out of control with rock'n roll" (4:13)
6-"Cage of mirrors" (8:40)
7-"Far side of the sun" (8:09)