Old Metal Al told me to tell you young whippersnappers to listen to Manilla Road

Manilla Road: “Mystification” (Shadow Kingdom Rec.)

Curious to hear what Old Metal Al would tell me about this band, I checked with him. Maybe I shouldn’t have. He wouldn’t stop praising Manilla Road. There is something about this band that makes the old heavy metallers go bonkers. That “something” could be: (1) This Wichita, Kansas band’s demo is from 1979/debut from 1980; (2) their 1982 album is called “Metal”; (3) this album “Mystification” from 1987 is the sixth album; (4) they have a bunch of albums and their fanatics are very vocal about defending this band, whose latest album “Mysterium” is from 2013. As to the album at hand, “Mystification” combines dark/horror themes/imagery with fast, uptempo and a bit thrashy (in places) headbanging cult heavy metal. The themes have that old metal obsession with the occult, as you’d find in so much classic metal; and classic metal, this is. Al is right.

an old pic from 1980 something?

a more recent pic

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