MANILLA ROAD — Mysterium (review)

MANILLA ROAD — Mysterium album cover Album · 2013 · Heavy Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
UMUR
"Mysterium" is the 16th full-length studio album by US heavy metal act Manilla Road. The album was released through Shadow Kingdom Records in February 2013. A vinyl version is available through High Roller Records.

The music on the album is dark edged traditional heavy metal style with nods toward both NWoBHM and US power metal. Hard edged riffing and a pounding rythm section to boot. Lead vocalist Bryan Patrick has quite a distinct sounding voice and vocal delivery. To my ears his toneless and flat delivery sometimes suits the music well and other times he is a show stopper. An aquired taste for sure. The music is very traditional in style and execution even though Manilla Road at times travel a darker more gloomy road than others playing a similar style of music. Take "Do What Thou Will" as an example of that. "The Fountain" is a folky tinged acoustic ballad type track, so Manilla Road are not a one-trick pony. The atmospheric (and quite cheesy) instrumental "The Calling" is also a bit different from the rest of the material but it serves as a kind of intro track to the epic 11:21 minutes long closing title track.

The sound production is a bit off to my ears. The guitar tone is great, raw and piercing, but the drums could have prospered from a more organic sound. The bass is barely audible in the mix and vocals are maybe placed a bit too high in the mix. It won´t spoil the listening experience for most listeners and the sound production is still professional and suits the music, but when there are issues, I would be a bad reviewer if I didn´t mention them.

"Mysterium" is a solid heavy metal release by Manilla Road and fans of a slightly darker approach to the genre than your usual "put your leather fisted glove in the air" type of heavy metal, should find lots to like here. Bryan Patrick´s voice is the real challenge here, but if you can appreciate his vocal style, "Mysterium" is definitely recommendable. A 3.5 star (70%) rating is deserved.
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