Manilla Road
Voyager

Two years. It took me two years to fully understand the last work of Manilla Road. Two years of listening, attentive to the slightest variation, the most fleeting guitar touch. You might wonder why so much attention for an album that, like the others, will remain a cult object for only a few. Because the band from Wichita is black or white. You either love them or hate them, there's no middle ground.

Mark Shelton and the group have always been champions of a certain way of doing metal that over time has been labeled as epic. Epic was born from Shelton, his creativity always involved in telling stories of Vikings, ancient legends, dusty battles. Their music, raw, powerful, "crazy," call it what you will, has always divided fans. It has never divided the purists, who see in the American band one of the last groups still linked to the "ancient" and classic tradition of heavy metal.

This is why it's complicated for me, a die-hard supporter of the group, to talk about "Voyager", the last endeavor of the star-spangled trio. The band showcases great form. Bryan Patrick, who had replaced Shelton on vocals in some previous works, is no longer a stable presence in the band, so the vocal duties return to the nasal and very personal tone of the leader. Also monstrous is the contribution behind the drums by Cory Christner, always precise, fast, and author of a "battle-ready" performance.

Moving on to analyze the album, "Voyager" is certainly the most varied work in the group's career. There's everything from ballads to psychedelia, from classic heavy metal to death-like raids, finishing with a sprinkle of country. Numerous influences are contained within the album and wonderfully blended thanks to an inspired and complex songwriting. Already from the initial "Tomb Of The Serpent King - Butchers Of The Sea", you can glimpse the accumulation of musical currents. From an intro reminiscent of the latest Lustmord to thrash outbursts in traditional epic style with growl making an appearance. The next track, "Frost And Fire", is instead indissolubly linked to the band's early works and particularly to the schizophrenia of Mystification. Impressive is the technical expertise of the band, which with "Tree Of Life" has written one of the most beautiful epic pieces in its most touching sense. An 8-minute ballad with acoustic breaks and references to seventies psychedelia, reconnecting in sound and rhythm to the monumental title track, one of the album's highlights adorned with cadenced sections and theatrical, evocative singing, a typical trademark of Mark Shelton. Unexpected but absolutely amazing is "Eye Of The Storm". Only acoustic guitar and vocals with a western/country flavor that leads to melodic and dreamy solos. Poetry...

Beyond this melodic side of the band, "Voyager" also enhances its aggressiveness. Evidence of this is "Return Of The Serpent King" and "Conquest", both heavy and monolithic, where the singer engages in a deep growl, balanced between the purest death metal and the singing of Chris Boltendahl, leader of Grave Digger. "Conquest" in particular is a power-packed concentrate, arguably representing the hardest song ever written by the trio. The concluding track, "Totentanz", ends the last effort in the Manilla Road household and also closes the concept on which the entire work is built. The Vikings, after returning to their homeland, are forced to defend their pagan cult, and on their ship, the Voyager, they land in regions where the pagan culture is challenged by Christianity.

A formidable return, that is what the last work at Manilla Road is. A varied, complicated, epically unimaginable album, full of pathos, violent, delicate, psychedelic, furious, touching. Voyager honors epic metal, a genre historically too mistreated. A genre that has its greatest expression in the Wichita group.

A heartfelt thanks to Bartleboom, because it is thanks to his review of "Open The Gates" that today, I know this group.

1. "Tomb Of The Serpent King - Butchers Of The Sea" (9:02)
2. "Frost And Fire" (6:01)
3. "Tree Of Life" (8:02)
4. "Blood Eagle" (6:10)
5. "Voyager" (9:31)
6. "Eye Of The Storm" (4:39)
7. "Return Of The Serpent King" (8:04)
8. "Conquest" (4:37)
9. "Totentanz" (7:56)