Manilla Road to the World - Part 14: Chromaphobia (After Midnight Live)

For once, a live album is covered on the whole of Monday Metal Treasures with After Midnight Live. The reason this is being covered is because the whole album consists of never before heard on any of Manilla Road's albums. After Midnight Live is a live album recorded from KMUW radio back in 1979. The tapes that recorded the show from Rick Fisher, the drummer of the band at the time, were discovered a few years ago. The tapes were handed to Mark Shelton and he fixed the sound as much as he could to put out an adequate release for it. The sound production is still raw and loses its quality here and there but this is to be expected when taken from cassettes. However, for a 30 year old tape, the results turned out rather well.

Chromaphobia is the first track the band play on the show and is the strongest point of the album. This song contains the rocking feel from Mark of the Beast. The vibe comes from the riffs and Mark Shelton's vocals that make it sound a lost track from the said album... As if it wasn't lost enough already from being buried for 20 years. The song makes an elaborate intro that feels like it stands within Black Sabbath and Motörhead. The verses tone down the guitars and gives off the spacey feel which is what Invasion and Mark of the Beast would corporate after the initial recording. Mark Shelton states the song is about being a metalhead in the future and receiving the grief for being a dedicated metal fan, having long hair, etc. This isn't a favourite song of the Shark's but it's still a damn good way to kick off a live recording from the early days of the band.

Week 30: Legend - The Golden Bell

The artist: Finishing off American traditional metal month, we have Legend, more specifically the Legend from Connecticut. They are a short lived band who only ever released one album in 1979. Despite their brief time on the road, Legend have had an influence on some of the American traditional metal bands today. The best example is Slough Feg who covered The Wizard's Vengeance on Twilight of the Idols. Whoever looked further in the cover songs by Slough Feg will have come across Legend at some point. The band split up a few years later after Ray Frigon left the band. The rest of the band felt there was no strong replacement for him and split up. Unfortunately, the frontman Kevin Nugent passed away in his sleep in 1983. If it weren't for that, he could have returned to this band and made plenty more great material for the metal world.

The album: Fröm the Fjörds is Legend's only album. Although the psychadelic rock/blues rock elements were strong, it's hard to deny this band as heavy metal considering The Destroyer, The Wizard's Vengeance and the instrumental The Confrontation. There were even a few songs about vikings and this was a time before the term viking metal even existed. You can easily tell there was a lot of Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin influences here and while it may seem they were just another band who sounded too much like them, Legend would have further developed their musical style if Kevin Nugent was still with us. Fröm the Fjörds is an extremely rare album on CD but if you ever come across it on eBay or wherever, be sure to pick it up right away as it might be a once in a lifetime chance.

The song: The Golden Bell is the ballad of the album and for 7 minutes this song accomplishes a lot. The moment you hear the intro of the song, you know there's something magical about it. What has to be noted is Kevin Nugent's great vocal performance. He has the emotion to show what's going on through the song and there's definitely something depressing about the line "For our lives may too soon end" which could be seen as harsher in hindsight considering Kevin would pass away a few years later. The song goes in an instrumental phase where the psychadelic rock elements truly show in the album. The second half of the song continues the psychadelic phase with vocals and eventually returns to the soft side of the track to be heard once more.

The lyrics are based on Greek mythology and although many metal bands have covered Greek mythology, hearing a song about Poseidon seems rare for some reason. It's not just about Poseidon, though as it shows Hades taking over the world and the world being saved by pegasus and the golden bell at the temple. Overall, The Golden Bell has to be one of the most beautiful metal songs ever played with some greatly crafted tempo and mood changes. This is a legend that's been forgotten and wrongfully so.

Week 5: Scorpions - The Sails of Charon

The artist: Ending off early metal month, we have Scorpions. Scorpions are one of the most well known hard rock/heavy metal bands in Germany. Despite owning only three albums so far, if you consider the whole career of this band, you can easily tell they've taken a few directions over the years. They formed in 1965 which predates even Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin but didn't release an album until 7 years later with Lonesome Crow which was rather experimental but had some metal elements present. This is the same band that would release hits such as Rock You Like a Hurricane and Winds of Change. These songs overshadow a lot of great stuff Scorpions must have to offer, especially the great stuff from Taken By Force. After spawning 17 albums for 45 years, Scorpions have declared retirement once they finish off their current tour.

The album: Taken By Force is the last Scorpions album to feature Ulrich Roth and this man did quite a lot for Scorpions in the earlier days. He certainly went out with a bang for his time with Scorpions to play with Steamrock Fever, We'll Burn the Sky, Born to Touch Your Feelings and the song of the week The Sails of Charon. Any Scorpions fan who may have missed out on this album should give this one a try.

The song: The Sails of Charon is a true highlight in Taken By Force. The moment you hear it, your attention is attacted to a riff that you'd never hear before in any other song. The sheer awesomeness of the song doesn't stop right there as the song is then focused on Ulrich Roth's fantastic solo. They manage to squeeze all of that great material within a minute and a half. Once the intro is over, Klaus Meine comes in and shouts out some very dark and mean lyrics obviously based on the Charon mythology alongside with another fantastic riff for the song. The ending is also a highlight for its mysterious feel. All of this together makes this song a great definition for metal. Too bad it's heavily overshadowed by other songs Scorpions have.

Week 3: Judas Priest - Run of the Mill

The artist: Every fan of metal should know these guys and like Black Sabbath, they shouldn't need an introduction. Just like Black Sabbath, however, there are many underrated songs in Priest's library. They have sixteen albums released and you can expect there's a dozen or two songs that need some good recognition. Recently, Judas Priest have announced retirement and are having a farewell tour before they call it a day for the band. To those that have never seen Priest live, your chances are very limited!

The album: Rocka Rolla is the debut album of Judas Priest released in 1974. Unfortunately, it's not a strong metal debut effort like Iron Maiden's self-titled or Holy Diver and the one thing that may be most remembered about this album is the album cover. This is because of the similarity of the Coca-Cola logo. There was an alternative album artwork which was either due to Coca-Coca passing legal charges or the band wasn't really happy with the original album cover. As for the songs themselves, the band's style wasn't fully developed so don't expect anything along the lines of Breaking the Law, The Hellion/Electric Eye or Painkiller. This is a time well before they even stormed the radio with such classics.

The song: Run of the Mill stands as the longest and most certainly a highlight in Rocka Rolla. One of the slowest songs Judas Priest have to offer but with the time they took to play this song, the outcome was worth it for an emotional and adventurous number. The main riff for Run of the Mill certainly has a spice of metal which is where Judas Priest must have gone from to work on heavier tunes for the following album Sad Wings of Destiny. The more adventurous part of the song is the mid-section when a slow solo is played and Ian Hill on bass is heard clear as day. To contribute to the depressing feel of the song, the lyrics question about one's failure and how as an old person you've failed all your life. Quite harsh but damn, they take those lengths just to make an outstanding song from the very beginning.

Week 2: Budgie - You're the Biggest Thing Since Powdered Milk

The artist: Although Budgie have some recognition in heavy metal, at times it seems they don't get the praise they actually deserve. For a band that played metal well before the term heavy metal was known as well as predating other big acts like Iron Maiden and even Judas Priest, it's injustice that most of their recognition these days comes from Metallica's cover of Breadfan. Putting that aside, Budgie do have an awesome name for their band. Maybe that's because you're listening to someone who has a pet budgie but it's good to know these guys acknowledge the awesomeness of that particular bird species.

The album: Never Turn Your Back on a Friend was released in 1973 and this was a time when metal wasn't fully developed. While Black Sabbath were storming the world with their heavy sound which no-one ever heard of before, Budgie sat down and recorded a masterpeice of their own. Although this is the only album of theirs I have so far, there's no doubting the awesomeness of this album as well as the metal elements. Sure, it may sound more hard rock than heavy metal but considering Breadfan, their cover of Baby Please Don't Go and this week's pick, Budgie should qualify as a metal band.

The song: Budgie provide a very interesting structure of the song. It starts off with a great drum solo by Ray Phillips going on for a minute and a half. Right afterwards you are given great riffage and bassline with the works of Tony Bourge and Burke Shelley respectively. The bass is crystal clear thanks to great sound production. More about the bass, Shelley doesn't cease his awesomeness on the bass guitar as he provides another great bassline at 5 minutes in which will easily remind any Maiden fan of Phantom of the Opera. That's not all, though as Tony Bourge plays another excellent riff for the song and makes a great part for the last section of the song. Overall, it's a fantastic song and with the twists and turns Budgie take, it proves to be just as good as Breadfan and Parents, the most well known tracks on the album.