MANILLA ROAD — Mark of the Beast (review)

MANILLA ROAD — Mark of the Beast album cover Album · 2002 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3/5 ·
Warthur
Don't be fooled by the packaging - this isn't the heavy metal Manilla Road of their classic era, or even the revived Manilla Road of Atlantis Rising onwards. Instead, Mark of the Beast is a release of the long-lost second Manilla Road album, which had already circulated in a bootleg form as The Dreams of Eschaton. Here, the band seem to be dabbling in a dreamy sort of "diet prog" style, a bit like KISS were aiming for on Music From the Elder but with more of a clue as to how to scratch that Dungeons & Dragons itch.

It's an interesting historical curio, but I can't put hand on heart and say it's worthy of the term "lost classic". For one thing, the recording quality clearly isn't what it could be, and for another the compositions are a little weak, meandering around repetitively just a bit too long. Manilla Road would scrap this approach and retool for the Metal album, which gets rather overshadowed by their material from Crystal Logic onwards, and whilst Metal itself might not have bowled many people over I think the decision to change direction was justified.

On pure musical quality, three stars. Add a star if you are a big Manilla Road fan and want to hear this curious little path-not-taken.
Share this review

Review Comments

Post a public comment below | Send private message to the reviewer
Please login to post a shout
No shouts posted yet. Be the first member to do so above!

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

Pure Negative Attitude Hardcore Punk
FREEHOWLING
Buy this album from MMA partners
Inequiem Hardcore Punk
CICADIA
Buy this album from MMA partners
Cemetery Symmetry Hardcore Punk
HUMBLE ABODE
Buy this album from MMA partners
Sadistic Memoirs Of A Psychopath Deathcore
CONSUME THE ASSAILANT
Buy this album from MMA partners
More new releases

New Metal Online Videos

Galleons - Electric Emotions
GALLEONS
Bosh66· 5 hours 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