Manowar is an American heavy metal band from Auburn, New York. Formed in 1980, the group is known for lyrics based on fantasy and mythology, as well as numerous songs celebrating the genre and its core audience. The band is also known for a loud and emphatic sound. In an interview for MTV in February 2007, bassist Joey DeMaio lamented that "these days, there's a real lack of big, epic metal that is drenched with crushing guitars and choirs and orchestras... so it's nice to be one of the few bands that's actually doing that". In 1984, the band was included in the Guinness Book of World Records for delivering the loudest performance, a record which they have since broken on two occasions. They also hold the world record for the longest heavy metal concert after playing for five hours and 1 minute in Bulgaria in 2008. They also have been known for their slogan "Death to false metal".
Warlock were a German heavy metal band founded in 1982 in Düsseldorf by members of the underground bands Snakebite and Beast. The band gained popularity and some commercial success in Europe in the mid-1980s, due to the personality and stage presence of lead vocalist Doro Pesch. Warlock supported successful heavy metal bands on tour, such as W.A.S.P., Judas Priest, Dio and Megadeth.
Valley of the Damned is the debut studio album by British power metal band DragonForce. In 2000, while the band was still known as DragonHeart, a demo of the same name was recorded and sent to Noise Records, subsequently gaining the band a deal with the label. It was then re-recorded in late 2002 and released as a full-length studio album on 25 February 2003, following the band's obtainance of the deal with Noise and change in name to DragonForce. The album was set to be remastered and released with a bonus DVD on 24 September 2007, but was subsequently delayed and eventually released on 22 February 2010, along with the re-release of the band's second album, Sonic Firestorm.
Southern Lord is an American heavy metal record label that was founded in 1998 by Greg Anderson. It initially specialized in experimental metal: particularly doom metal, stoner rock, and drone metal. The label later expanded its line-up to include artists from black metal, hardcore punk and crust punk bands.
Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is the debut album of the Swedish doom metal band Candlemass. It was released 10 June 1986 on Black Dragon Records. On its release, the album had a significantly different sound than other European heavy metal bands of the time, because of their use of operatic vocals mixed over slow and heavy guitar riffs. The album did not sell well on its initial release, which led to the group being dropped from the label during the same year. Since then, the album has been re-issued in several different formats. The album title Epicus Doomicus Metallicus is a dog latin translation rendering of Epic Doom Metal — the genre which the band helped pioneer and with which it is most commonly identified. Although he was actually a guest musician at the time of its recording, this was the only Candlemass album to feature vocalist Johan Längqvist until he joined the band, officially, in 2018.
Crystal Logic is the third studio album by the American heavy metal band, Manilla Road, released in December 1983. On this album the band fully embraced heavy metal, leaving behind the space, progressive and hard rock influences which could be found on the two previous albums.
Atlantis Rising is a concept album released by heavy metal band Manilla Road in 2001. Its content revolves around the lost continent of Atlantis re-emerging and the resulting war between the Æsir and Great Old Ones over the continent.
The Courts of Chaos is an album by the American heavy metal band Manilla Road, released in 1990. This is the last album before the band split up. They reunited in 2001.
The Deluge is the fifth album released by the American heavy metal band Manilla Road. It was originally issued in 1986 and re-released in 2001.
Mystification is the sixth studio album by American heavy metal band Manilla Road, released in 1987. It was re-released in 2000 on Sentinel Steel Records.
Out of the Abyss is the seventh studio album released by the American heavy metal band Manilla Road. It was first issued in 1988 on Leviathan Records, then re-released in 2005 on Cult Metal Classics. Though the band had been constantly increasing the thrash metal influence to their music since their album Open the Gates, this album was its peak, being almost completely thrash metal.
The Circus Maximus is an album released under the name of American heavy metal band Manilla Road in 1992, after the band had first split up. The album contains the work of Manilla Road founder and frontman Mark Shelton who assembled a new band named Circus Maximus. However, Shelton's label, Black Dragon Records, added the Manilla Road logo. The sound and style is very different than the rest of Manilla Road material.
Spiral Castle is the twelfth album by American heavy metal band Manilla Road, released in 2002 by Iron Glory Records.
Mark of the Beast is an album released by American heavy metal band Manilla Road in 2002. Around half of the album was originally recorded in 1981, and was intended to be the band's second album. The results were judged unsatisfactory by the band and so was scrapped in favor of writing the album Metal. With half of the scrapped songs existing for 20 years as a bootleg called Dreams of Eschaton, Monster Records cleaned up the master tapes and released the project under the name Mark of the Beast with additional unreleased early tracks. The cover is taken from a drawing by Jim Fitzpatrick.
Gates of Fire is an album released by American heavy metal band Manilla Road on October 12, 2005. It is divided into a trilogy: "The Frost's Giant Daughter", inspired by the story of the same name written by Robert E. Howard; "Out of the Ashes", based on Virgil's Aeneid; and "Gates of Fire", inspired by the stand of King Leonidas and his Spartans at the battle of Thermopylae.
Manilla Road was an American heavy metal band from Wichita, Kansas, founded by Mark "The Shark" Shelton and Scott "Scooter" Park. Beginning in 1977, the early years of Manilla Road were spent playing mostly progressive rock and space rock but eventually became noticeably heavier with time, the band's later heavy metal sound becoming more and more apparent with the release of Metal in 1982.
Playground of the Damned is the fifteenth studio album by American heavy metal band Manilla Road. It was released on October 25, 2011, on Shadow Kingdom Records in CD format and on High Roller Records in LP format.
Mysterium is the sixteenth studio album by American heavy metal band Manilla Road. It was released on February 1, 2013 in on both Golden Core-ZYX and Shadow Kingdom Records in CD format and on High Roller Records in LP format.
The Blessed Curse is the seventeenth studio album by American heavy metal band Manilla Road. It was released on February 13, 2015 in both CD and LP format on Golden Core-ZYX. It is unique in being the band's first and only studio double album.
Dreams of Eschaton is a double-CD compilation album by American heavy metal band Manilla Road. It was released on June 2, 2016, in both CD and LP format on High Roller Records and features a re-issue of the Mark of the Beast album on the first disk along with both the 1979 demo Manilla Road Underground and the 1979 in-studio live After Midnight Live album on the second disk. The name of the compilation refers to the original title of what would become the Mark of the Beast album, released in 2002 but with most of its featured tracks recorded in 1981.
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