Manilla Road - Playground Of The Damned

Heavy Metal
Shadow Kingdom

2011

1. Jackhammer
2. Into The Maelstrom
3. Playground Of The Damned
4. Grindhouse
5. Abattoir De La Mort
6. Fire Of Ashurbanipal
7. Brethren Of The Hammer
8. Art Of War

Manilla Road are one of those bands I'd basically consider myself a casual listener of. They're not the sort of band where I own all their material or wait excitedly for their next album, but I have enjoyed some of their stuff from time to time. With that in mind this wasn't a high priority review for me, but one of those 'If I have the time' kind of ones. Basically, an album which I had no real expectations of.

Well, I guess I did have one expectation and that was that this album would not be recorded in a garbage can with a mr. microphone. Unfortunately, this expectation was not met. I mean there's trying to sound raw and then there's that embarrassingly bad sounding garage demo. This is the later and there's really no excuse for it at this stage in the band's career. I can't believe someone would listen to the finished project and say... yeah... that... that's what we want. It's as mystifying as St. Anger. Actually St. Anger looks damned competent in sound next to Playground Of The Damned. I'm fine with a little raw traditional, but holy fuck.

This release is just so damn lost in the murk and fuzziness it's hard for me to really analyze or more particularly enjoy the music. That being said though I tried to take a look beyond the absolutely atrocious sound to the songs. These sound more or less like what I'd expect Manilla Road to sound like, but they do kind of meander and don't seem to ever really build to anything particularly memorable. Maybe if this Sounded better, I could pass this off as mediocre Manilla Road, but I can't help thinking this fairly bland material is not even worth the effort of trying to listen to this.

What else can I say about Playground Of The Damned? Who do I recommend this to? A bum who lives in a trash can because he can relate to the sound? I don't know what to do with this album. It's American traditional in sound to a fault. The doomy influence only serves to make it seem more trudging and dull. Playground of the Damned is not inventive, the hooks are few, the songs are lacking, and the sound is so bad it's painful. Worth a listen to MAYBE hardcore Manilla Road fans and probably just one for the sake of hearing it. Playground Of The Damned is pretty much made of fail. Try again Manilla Road. The only thing I can even muster to say Positive about this album is it doesn't do anything ridiculously irritating or sell out. Other than that this album doesn't really have any merits.

Highlights: None

Rating - 1.0/5

Manilla Road - Gates Of Fire

Traditional Metal
Battle Cry Records

2005

1. Riddle Of Steel
2. Behind The Veil
3. When Giants Fall
4. The Fall Of Iliam
5. Imperious Rise
6. Rome
7. Stand Of The Spartans
8. Betrayal
9. Epitaph To The King

Arguably, it's been awhile since Manilla Road has really been relevant. Manilla Road never really garnered all that much mainstream success anyways, but once upon a time in the 80s they did cement themselves with some definite cult favorites. Even that degree of popuality has waned though and you're more likely to hear about how great they were then how great they are. Still, Manilla Road has always forged on, never compromised themselves, and are the poster children for traditional metal unwilling or afraid to advance themselves in any way. There certainly is a small, but fiercely loyal audience for this sort of stuff.

Listening to this one though, I have to be blunt and say I was pretty fucking bored. Like a lot of traditional coming out now days I got the impression of having heard this done better before, but there's more to it than that. These songs are trying way too hard to be true and epic to me. Many of the songs on this album clock in between 7 and nearly 15 minutes and seem like they're in no hurry to get absolutely nowhere. Repetition is the rule of this album and most of this seems like it's just being long for the sake of it. The album itself is 72 minutes in length and I think any sane producer of a larger label would've looked at this, laughed, and trimmed the fat. Somewhere in this is an ok if unspectacular album, but even that's lost in the boredom getting through all the filler. I like this band's early stuff, but this is a mere shadow of it. I'd have to say that this album is completely uninspired and dragged out to the point of being practically unlistenable. Some of the shorter tracks aren't bad and some of the guitar solos are actually pretty impressive, but I can't see myself revisting it as a whole very often if ever.

Highlights: Riddle Of Steel, When Giants Fall

Rating - 2.0/5