Metal is Manilla Road's second/third album released in 1982. The band recorded an entirely different album a year before that never saw the light of day until 2002 when it was picked up by Monster Records to clear up the master tapes and release it under the name Mark of the Beast. Metal shows a heavier approach to the band from the debut album. Although Mark Shelton's vocal performance was still lacking here and there, he definitely improved in this album. The songs overall had more reasonable track lengths which makes it an easier listening experience. Most of the tracks aren't some of the greatest performance by the band but the speed metal opener Enter the Warrior, the shortened and improved Far Side of the Sun and the epic Cage of Mirrors (today's pick for Manilla Roadkill) are worth additions to the Road.
Cage of Mirrors stands as the longest song in Metal. The song stars with a slow acoustic intro and with Mark Shelton's soft voice with a great echo. After the intro section, the song is struck with a damn heavy riff and for heavy metal's standards in 1982, these riffs are extreme and not many songs from that year were as heavy and loud as these riffs. There's a touch of doom and thrash to the riffs as well and this was around the time when thrash metal was starting to rise in the metal scene. The song's structure goes back and forth with the acoustic and heavy sections of the song but it works for the more intense parts of the lyrics which cover the story of a dark sorcerer making his attempt to open the gates of hell and summon Lucifer. It's a fantastic song and not only is it one of the greatest songs from the album, it's also one of the finest Manilla Road songs ever written!
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