Manilla Road | Artist
Manilla Road was an American heavy metal band from Wichita, Kansas, founded 1977 by Mark "The Shark" Shelton (guitar, vocals), Scott "Scooter" Park (bass), Ben Munkirs (drums), and Robert Park (guitar). Initially the band played mostly progressive rock and space rock but eventually became noticeably heavier with time. The band's heavy metal sound solidified by the release of their second album Metal in 1982. They soon became known for both the nasal voice of vocalist Mark Shelton and his eclectic style of songwriting, with many of his compositions taking place in fantastical universes combining elements of ancient mythologies and of popular culture mythos such as Robert E. Howard's 'Conan' and H.P. Lovecraft's 'Cthulhu'. These fantasy worlds were fully explored in a succession of excellent albums from 1983's Crystal Logic through to their 11th and final studio release The Blessed Curse (2015). On July 27, 2018, a week before the band was booked to perform at Wacken 2018, founder Mark Shelton died in a German hospital the day after playing at the Headbangers Open Air festival the previous night. The cause of death was attributed to a heart attack having been precipitated by severe heat exhaustion. In an earlier interview Shelton explained that the band name "Manilla Road" came to them one night when Shelton and Munkirs were drinking and watching Monty Python's Flying Circus - "In our drunken stupor we came up with the name Manilla Road thinking (wrongly) that it meant the road of light, but we stuck with it". Another fun fact is that Shelton's great-great-great uncle was Ludwig Leichardt, a 19th-century German explorer who vanished in the Australian interior during an expedition. Standout Manilla Road albums include Crystal Logic (1983), Open The Gates (1985), The Deluge (1986), Mystification (1987), Out of the Abyss (1988), The Courts of Chaos (1990) and Gates of Fire (2005). Also recommended is the 2016 archival compilation album Dreams of Eschaton.
Artist Website: manillaroad.net
Featured Albums: Manilla Road
Related Artists: Mark Shelton
