12/9/2023 0 Comments Manilla road open the gatesIn fact, the latter's influence is particularly strong (to discerning metal geeks, anyway) in the growled narrations opening and closing the LP, and the guitar licks shot through the near-ten-minute sprawl of "The Ninth Wave" (originally featured with "Witches Brew" as a 12" vinyl bonus disc), which recalled Saxon's "The Eagle Has Landed." As for lyrically, Shelton was diving deep into his esoteric, mythological and sci-fi readings, with Arthurian legends providing the backbone to many of the compositions cited above, as well as the excellent, all-too-brief title cut. Only a few cuts ("Heavy Metal to the World" and stunning opener "Metalstorm") resorted to all-out thrash, however, as the retooled trio continued to take the bulk of their cues from heavy metal's formative founders of the '70s and more recent New Wave of British Heavy Metal champions like Iron Maiden and Saxon. Easily their heaviest, hardest-hitting, and most focused effort to date, the album clearly benefited from the arrival of powerhouse new drummer Randy Foxe, who provided a more limber and muscular attack behind the kit, and helped founders Mark Shelton (vocals/guitar) and Scott Park (bass) infuse Manilla Road's sound with the thrash-affected techniques that were popular of mid-'80s. Having made incredible strides while experimenting with several hard rock subgenres on their first three albums, Manilla Road appeared set to delve further into the fantasy-laced niche of epic heavy metal that had dominated 1983's Crystal Logic with its 1985 successor Open the Gates. Purchase and download this album in a wide variety of formats depending on your needs.
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