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Manilla Road Album's Ranked


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Ranking of one of the greatest metal bands. Manilla Road mixes a personal and unique metal sound with concepts of history, fantasy, and ancient mythology, incorporating exquisite passages of progressive, power metal, epic, and thrash. The band was led by Mark "The Shark" Shelton, an excellent guitarist, lyricist, and vocalist who was the soul of the band. Until his dead in 2018.
Manilla Road had two eras, from 1977 to 1990, with the classic lineup consisting of Mark Shelton on lead vocals, 6- and 12-string guitars, and arrangement, Scott Park on bass and arrangement, and Rick Fisher on drums, percussion, and backing vocals.

The band made a comeback in 2000, returning heavier and more epic than ever, but with different lineups that changed almost with every record. The Shark was the only original member, but this time he shared duties with Bryan Patrick on vocals, which allowed him to focus more on his guitar playing due to the complexity of the compositions.

Created by: Blackcrowe | 03.12.2020



1. Manilla Road - Mystification
1987 Epic-Thrash Metal and personal favorite. MR is immersed in the Edgar Allan Poe fantasy world.
2. Manilla Road - Crystal Logic
1983 MR fans rank this one higher. The songs "Necropolis," "Flaming Metal System," and "Dreams of Eschaton" are absolutely amazing and the best songs in MR's catalog.
3. Manilla Road - The Deluge
1986 It's hard to rank the records from 1983 to 1987, but "The Deluge" is brutal.
4. Manilla Road - Open The Gates
1985 The amazing song "Metalstorm" is the best intro for this outstanding record.
5. Manilla Road - Invasion
1980 The debut album. Space-prog the band sometimes sounds like '70s hard rock prog, a great record.
6. Manilla Road - Metal
1982 The second record sounds like a pre-"Crystal Logic" experiment approach. The song "Metal" is the best song and a live all-time anthem.
7. Manilla Road - Out Of The Abyss
1988 Mark wants to be a part of the Thrash scene in their own style, great record.
8. Manilla Road - The Courts Of Chaos
1990 Dark Doom record, the keyboards' atmosphere gave a really obscure experience. It's the last from the first era 82-91.
9. Manilla Road - Spiral Castle
2002 The band came back heavier, Mark did his best guitar work here.
10. Manilla Road - Atlantis Rising
2001 An amazing comeback after ten years, very epic and prog. The last record with the shark on vocals; after this, he shared duties with Bryan Patrick.
11. Manilla Road - Gates Of Fire
2005 The most epic MR record, heavy, great concept, and composition.
12. Manilla Road - The Blessed Curse
2015 It's the only double album of MR. CD 1: "The Blessed Curse" is a great record with really good work in songs and performance. Note the outstanding drums of Andreas Neuderth. On CD 2: "After the Muse" is an electro-acoustic record.
13. Manilla Road - Voyager
2008 Epic Viking music.
14. Manilla Road - To Kill A King
2017 This is the last record of MR recorded before Mark's death, a heavy Doom record.
15. Manilla Road - Playground Of The Damned
2011 An great record, this band doesn’t made bad records.
16. Manilla Road - Mark Of The Beast
2002 A record selection of the first years of the band
17. Manilla Road - Mysterium
2013 A pop effort, they tried to do something more accessible for new listeners.
18. Manilla Road - The Circus Maximus
1992 "Circus Maximus" was Mark Shelton's solo effort, but with MR disbanded and the pressure of the record company, they had to release this work. It seems to be unfinished, I don't know.



Disclaimer: All top lists are unofficial and do not represent the point of view of the MS Staff.
[ More lists by Blackcrowe ]



Comments

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Comments: 2   Visited by: 24 users
18.02.2021 - 17:42
Redel
Moderator
Yeah, 18 albums, over ..what.. some 40 years, sure that is hard to rank.
Almost natural we wont agree on each rank.
I could not rank all of them just ad hoc -- though I have just run their entire disco the recent days.
My ranking what not look entirely different from yours I guess.
I definitely have Crystal Logic as their best, by far.
I also have Mark of the Beast much higher. It is hard to get into, not a common MR album, absolutely. But it is a nice one stand-alone for me.
I also have their debut a bit higher in the ranking than you.
I should add that many of their albums score just around mediocre in my books, and -- apart from CL -- none higher than a 7 (which though is quite a high rank in my rating distribution).
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08.10.2021 - 04:35
Blackcrowe
Thanks for your comment, I know Cristal Logic may be the number one but that day I was on Mystification, Deluge and Open the Gates, yes the first 2 records are great but the production are not my taste, maybe with a better recording their gonna be top 5.
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Infinity. The star that would not die.
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