MANILLA ROAD — Atlantis Rising (review)

MANILLA ROAD — Atlantis Rising album cover Album · 2001 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4.5/5 ·
Warthur
Manilla Road sat out most of the 1990s, with Mark the Shark attempting to put the project to bed after 1990's The Courts of Chaos and then, after the record company insisted on releasing his solo Circus Maximus album as a Manilla Road release, forcing the issue by taking a nearly decade-long hiatus from music. In retrospect, this hiatus feels like it was a decidedly wise move - the musical scene in the 1990s had moved on from the more fantasy-friendly days of 1980s metal, especially in the US, and taking this time off both allowed Mark to ride out this hostile period and also recharge his creative batteries.

Atlantis Rising is a return to the style of Manilla Road before influences of thrash metal and other extreme metal styles began creeping in, which is appropriate enough since it's a bit of a sequel to that release. Thematically, it's a mashup of a bunch of different mythologies beloved by classic metal bands - the storyline has Atlantis returning to the surface of the sea at the behest of great Cthulhu himself, in order to do battle with the Norse gods! In the hands of a less capable band, this would be absurd nonsense - but Manilla Road have the D&D metal chops to make it a gloriously over-the-top epic and enormous fun. A true return to form.
Share this review
more

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
Warthur wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Eh, it's about a sea creature rising from beneath the deep, I guess it's thematically linked even if it's hard to figure out where it fits into the plot of the rest of the album. (Concept album in slightly fuzzy plot shocker!)
Tupan wrote:
more than 2 years ago
I think we need more reviews of this amazing band. But the first track (Megalodon) isn't part of the story about Atlantis, right?

Review Index

Member Zone

Username:
Password:
Stay signed in

Metal Subgenres

Artists Alpha-index

MMA TOP 5 Metal ALBUMS

Rating by members, ranked by custom algorithm
Albums with 30 ratings and more
Master of Puppets Thrash Metal
METALLICA
Buy this album from our partners
Paranoid Heavy Metal
BLACK SABBATH
Buy this album from our partners
Moving Pictures Hard Rock
RUSH
Buy this album from our partners
Powerslave NWoBHM
IRON MAIDEN
Buy this album from our partners
Rising Heavy Metal
RAINBOW
Buy this album from our partners

New Metal Artists

New Metal Releases

The Goblin Sessions Heavy Metal
THEM
Buy this album from MMA partners
Tormenta De Arena Metalcore
VORAGO
Buy this album from MMA partners
Infinite Metalcore
FUTURE GHOST
Buy this album from MMA partners
Heretic Melodic Death Metal
SUNCINDER
Buy this album from MMA partners
The Skull Burned Wearing Hell Like A Life Vest As The Night Wept Mathcore
FRONTIERER
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

OPETH`S Epic Headline Show at Bloodstock 2024 | YouTube Premiere | Full Set | August 9th, 2024
OPETH
666sharon666· 2 hours ago
Opeth '§4' Visualizer/Lyrics Video
OPETH
666sharon666· 2 hours ago
Future Ghost - Wolves (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Future Ghost - Nemesis Game (Official Music Video)
FUTURE GHOST
Bosh66· 1 day ago
Harrowed TwentyTenVideo
HARROWED
Bosh66· 3 days ago
More videos

New MMA Metal Forum Topics

More in the forums

New Site interactions

More...

Latest Metal News

members-submitted

More in the forums

Social Media

Follow us
Follow us on Twitter Become a Facebook fan RSS Feed