ALBUM:ATLANTIS RISING
ARTIST:MANILLA ROAD
YEAR OF RELEASE:2001
RATING:*** 1/2

When I first got this disc, I was a bit dissappointed(due in part to the opening song, which is a TERRIBLE choice for an opener, and can actually kill one's mood for the disc). However, it's started to grow on me since then, now I just skip the first track and listen to a very good disc. It's probably Manilla Road's heaviest disc to date, a very heavy and doomy feel to the whole album. There are some faster tracks(such as "Siege of Atland"), but overall, the disc focuses more on a slower, heavy direction. There are some nice solos and guitar parts, unlike a lot of doomy stuff though. Also several softer parts, providing some nice dynamics and diversity on the disc. As with most Manilla Road stuff, Mark Shelton's vox are a high point, on this disc not only using his very distinctive clean vox and his latter day aggressive thrashy style, but getting into near black/death metal realms on certain tracks("Decimation" being one). Lyrically, the band is once again exploring Lovecraftian realms, this time combining HPL's Cthulhu with the mythos of Atlantis and the Norse pantheon, a "cheesy" idea some will undoubtedly say, but one that at least hasn't been done 1000 times already. Like most Manilla Road discs, the band once again manages to change styles and avoid rehashing older material, without losing the typical Manilla Road sound. Maybe not the best starting point for one getting into the band, but one that most MR fans will likely appreciate. Highlights include "Decimation"(the most aggressive song on the disc), the soft "Lemuria" which leads right into "Atlantis Rising", and the 8:30 minute epic, "War of the Gods"(my fave. song on the disc).

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