I check this forum every few weeks just to catch up on what's new(not on FB). Was not expecting this.
I'm glad I got to meet and watch him live in 2011. It's one of my cherished live show experiences.
Been a die hard fan since 2005. I'm so glad they managed to find success and fame(sic) in the latter half of their career. We are fortunate that he was so prolific and we have a lot of his music to appreciate for ages to come.
RIP

Absolutely gutted by the news. I met Shelton in 2013(?) at the Noctis fest in Calgary, AB. It was Manilla Road's first Canadian show. He invited myself and a bunch of friends to a party in his hotel room after the show. We showed up, sang a bunch of Rush and Triumph, smoked up and got absolutely steaming drunk. My attached picture speaks for itself, really. He signed my The Deluge backpatch and that vest has been on display in my room for the past couple years. We talked a bit about metal, but spent a lot of time talking about non-metal too. Hard rock, country and bluegrass and prog. He told me that he played in country bands for spare cash when MR was on hiatus. I wrote a short essay on his guitar playing style on the Metal-Archives forum in the Musician's section. My band Gatekeeper owes much to his influence.

I saw Manilla Road again (twice) at Frost and Fire festival, both fantastic performances. I had hoped to ask him about John McLaughlin and Mahavishnu Orchestra the next time I saw him, as I'd started getting into them and the influence seems unmistakable to me. I guess this will remain a mystery.

Gofundme link is here, to get his body back home to the USA.
https://www.gofundme.com/mark-shelton-rip

https://imgur.com/a/bnlU5o0

We are lessened by his passing.

Jesus, that's awful. Wish I would have seen the band live the last time they were in Toronto.

It's rare for the world to see such a unique and creative mind. No one sounded like Mark, or Manilla Road, even those that have tried. He was one of the few that lived and breathed his passion until the very end.

It's been a few hours and I still can't process it properly.

Manilla Road has been my favorite band since I first listened to them in 2005. Every single one of their albums holds a special place in my heart. I was lucky enough to catch them live five times (I had to travel to another continent every single time, mostly for them) between 2011 and 2017. I can't believe Keep It True XX was the last time I'll ever see them. I always assumed I'd see them again, every time.

Mark was such a sweet guy the couple times I got to talk to him. He faced a lot of hardships trying to keep Manilla Road alive and he never gave up. His contribution to metal is not a small one.

May he rest in peace. His legacy lives on.

I've been on this site for years, but I've rarely posted. This can't be ignored, though.

I just recently got into Manilla Road, like, two years ago. I was 29 and your typical black/death metal freak. A pal recommended the band to me, and I was like "what the hell".

[...]
This hurts me so fucking bad. More than Lemmy, Dimebag, Vinnie Paul or anyone else of note that has passed away recently. I didn't think I was really a metalhead anymore (I rarely listen or get into new music nowadays) but Mark's passing has reminded me of a few things. His life has reminded me of a few things. He never gave up doing what he loved.

We should all aspire to the same, no matter what shit life throws your way.

Sorry for the long winded post. I love you, Mark... and I (we) will miss you.

Manilla Road - Avatar, off Mark of the Beast

I haven't commented anything on the recent thread about Shelton's passing because there's nothing I can actually add there. No amount of sorrowful expression can convey the sheer hollowness, momentaneous as it was, that I felt when I read the thread's title. Though I wasn't an instant fan, the day this man's music clicked with me was one of great importance to me. It wasn't all at once, and every era required its getting used to, but it soon became clear that I was in front of something very special. Listening to Manilla Road is kinda like living through those old pulp tales people loved about a century ago; worlds of wonder and adventure and mysticism and darkness and beasts and battles, away from the mundanity of the real and tangible. And all of this power, this wonder, this imagination, is the work of the man who has now left us all. This Man. This Avatar.

Undying.

Avatar of Metal.

The sudden and unexpected passing of Mark Shelton has touched everyone who encountered him or his music, and I have been as moved by the response as I have been by his departure itself. Many people have written about the personal impact that Mark had on their lives and their art, and while I can't claim to have had the kind of close rapport with him that so many of you did, I would nevertheless like to say something that I believe has gone unmentioned since the day of his parting and which needs to be said.

Mark Shelton was killed, at least in part, by climate change.

At the moment, Germany is in the midst of a historic heatwave, the likes of which are notorious for having a disproportionate impact on older folks, particularly those who are undergoing the kind of exertion that, say, stage performance requires of one. Bryan Patrick mentioned in his Facebook video statement that in spite of the fact that they were performing at an open air festival, the heat was extremely demanding even for him and also made him feel faint and weak; these kinds of temperatures are well documented as being a serious risk for cardiac failure. The link between the present heatwave in Germany and climate change also links Mark's untimely passing together with it. The three are bound together hand in hand, as abstract as it may seem.

Mark wrote extensively on human fallibility, the hubris and the folly of trying to wield power to dominate nature and other people, and the somber possibility of impending human extinction. Much has been made of his commitment to his art by trooping under duress right to the final moment, but when your mind is preoccupied by questions of human self-destruction as Mark's was, soldiering right up to the end can also be seen as an embrace of stoicism in response to an impossible challenge like human self-extinction. He was doubtless as conscious of the perils of climate change just as he was of war, disease and poverty, and to me, his passing under these circumstances wasn't merely the rare privilege of a man dying doing what he loves to do; it is also the passing of a man under circumstances philosophically consistent with what he deeply believes to be true about humankind and the world he lives in, which is also a rare privilege.

A lot of people feel moved, and maybe even changed, by Mark's passing. I know I certainly feel as though the world, in some way, will never be as it once was. Many of you will have to ask yourselves serious questions posed by his passing, many of them possibly very personal in nature, but all I insist is this - when you have the time, confront yourself with the same questions that Mark confronted himself with - "Can humankind choose to save itself, or will it author its own demise? And if it can change, what can I do to be a part of that?"

Rest in power to our departed brother. May we meet again on the far side of the sun, and may we also learn to respect its power while we are still here.