![]() The theory is sound, but in practice, I actually end up missing the hooks of the earlier material on this album, for whatever that’s worth. Manilla Road didn’t get a really good production job until Mystification, but this one is at least appropriate for the purpose.Īfter all I’ve said, it probably sounds to you like Open The Gates is the ultimate Manilla Road album, at least up to this point in their career. It’s also a more polished and professional sounding work in general – while I like the trebly and immediate sound of Crystal Logic, this album’s rougher and denser approach at least works better with the more arcane material. The band has always excelled at making songs that sound like history and mythology in the making – extended songwriting, Mark Shelton’s distinctive voice, a relatively limited musical/tonal language pushed to its limit – all of these are developed to new highs on Open the Gates. Given that Crystal Logic resulted in both “Dreams of Eschaton” (good) and “Feeling Free Again” (bad), I’d say a further push towards the extensive and epic was a very good development for Manilla Road. It’s not a balanced midpoint, to be fair – outside of a few intense speed metal songs, Open the Gates is essentially a more polished, amped up sequel to Crystal Logic – one that sacrifices some of the pop hooks of the latter to focus more on atmosphere and aesthetics. My understanding is that Open the Gates is something of a transitional album – a midpoint between their earlier, more openly progressive rock influenced take on metal (It’s no surprise the band is from Kansas), and the massive jump in intensity and aggression that is The Deluge. ![]() This was actually the first Manilla Road album I ever listened to, for whatever that’s worth. ![]() Mark Shelton recently passed away, so I figured it might be time to look at one of Manilla Road‘s albums again. ![]()
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