People say that Manilla Road is an overrated and washed-up band fairly regularly on message boards. Having seen them twice I can attest that is just message board bullshit. The new records cannot compare to the old masterpieces but are good pieces of epic heavy metal in their own right.

I think Manilla Road is as strong now as they ever were, though of course I never had the pleasure of witnessing a performance in the 1980s. The fact that Mark is still making music with no sign of slowing down is just too awesome for words.

Based on the art and song titles, as well as Ronny Hemlin, I think this will be garbage. Hoping the band proves me wrong...

Listening to "Narita" after the discussion I saw. Definitely some slick songs here. It was a little hard adjusting to "not-speedy-Thundersteel" Riot, but they're very good at this style as well.

Also holy fuck, the title track is straight up speed metal. I wish I'd known about it when I was writing my article on speed metal...which unfortunately died in a website database crash.

I hereby apologize for every disparaging word I've ever uttered about Screaming for Vengeance. It is the last perfect Priest production.

Eh. The first four (Plus the title track) are incredible, but I could live without songs like (Take These) Chains and Pain and Pleasure. You've Got Another Thing Comin' is still a fine song, despite being massively overplayed.

Take These Chains is legit. Pain and Pleasure does kinda suck, but it's the only one on the album that dose. I like that album better than Painkiller.

I think Take These Chains and Pleasure/Pain might be two of the heaviest songs on the album. Not fast, but heavy as a motherfucker.

There's a teasing effect, they don't keep the riffs coming non-stop but when they cut loose it's just incredible.

The sound quality is also terrible, like most of their albums with Dave Holland--they're mixed like glam albums with a really weak and artificial quality to the sound. Really Judas Priest's last truly great album IMO was Stained Class. Even Painkiller had a lot more weak moments (especially "A Touch of Evil") than their two '70s classics and a vastly inferior performance from Rob Halford.

To celebrate the release of the Blazon Stone album I hereby showcase the whole grand finale epic track of the album
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EDTfTnWv6rw

I really like that. Very reminiscent of the Running Wild epics to me (which I guess was the point). The vocals are awesome too! Guess it has to go on the "to buy" list. But I also hope it has some speedy killers on there (in fact I hope the whole album alternates between speedy killers and mid-paced crushers).

Sure, there's plenty of speeders on the album too

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bd8T9pDYwRQ
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WgkoUyJCHTI

So this suddenly happened within a day, but it turns out my friends dads boss is vice president of whatever so I'm going with my friend to see Iron Maiden and Megadeth tomorrow for free, in a private suite/booth.

Please be jealous, because finally I fucking win in Kansas!

Holy crap! This is A-W-E-S-O-M-E! I congratulate you sir - this really evokes the best, mid-period era Running Wild. I would order it like now but the shipping to Poland is kiliing me. But sooner or later I will buy this.

Haha. I'm jealous of Maiden, not so much by Megadeth, but seeing them play Mechanix is still great.
Good luck there!

Anyone here listened to Lord Fist? Another raw retro heavy metal band for you lads to mull over. Their demo is up for free download too.

Haha yeah. I guess Megadeth will give us time to devour some beer beforehand.

So, Terry Gorle apparently found the original tracks for Graceful Inheritance, and he did a new mix of Another Candle. Check it out:

http://www.heirapparent.com/download/Another_Candle.mp3

He says that this was just him playing around, and he'd get a professional to do any official remix, but goddamn this is such a huge improvement over the original mix that I'm almost at a loss for words. It's so damn clear and crisp. Wow.

10+ years after, will there ever be a new Cauldron Born album? MA says the band is still active. Can someone tell the ugly truth once and for all?

I think Howie mentioned somewhere that there will a third Cauldron Born album someday. Nobody knows when and who will release it.

I am recording vocal tracks for 3 new CB songs and have recorded 2 already. The final one is a long epic and is a bit more challenging, plus I have a young baby at home now that I am taking care of. The new material is really excellent. I don't think long time fans will be disappointed, because I am a long time fan myself and I think the new stuff is awesome.

My understanding is that Iron on Iron records will be releasing it but you'll have to talk to Howie to get all the correct details.

I should have remembered that you would be doing the vocals on the new CB album. That assures that vocals will be awesome. I can only hope the production is good with with the new songs. Anyways - my hopes are very much up.

The new Cauldron Born EP will be delivered to Iron On Iron as soon as the vocals are finished and we do the final mix. The album was finished with the vocalist from "...And Rome Shall Fall" but there was a problem. When he found out I was letting Iron On Iron reissue the "Swords, Sorcery and Science" demo as bonus tracks on the EP he had a problem with being on the same recording as another singer, so I called Jim who we were already looking at for some possible live gigs and the next Cauldron Born full-length (if it ever sees the light of day). Cauldron Born has the same members as Briton Rites, just Jim Mullis is singing for Cauldron Born and Phil Swanson sings for Briton Rites. The Cauldron Born line-up is:

Jim Mullis-Vocals
Howie Bentley-guitar
Alex Parra Guitar
John Leeson-Bass
Greg Haa-Drums


The new Cauldron Born EP is almost thirty minutes in length and has two new Cauldron Born songs along with the Heavy Load cover "Singing Swords". The title of the EP is "Sword and Sorcery Heavy Metal" and features a killer album cover painted by Lionel Baker II--possibly the best Cauldron Born album cover yet.

Very very cool to hear! And a Heavy Load cover - that is all shades of awesome! It is good to hear Cauldron Born paying tribute to one of the first and best epic metal bands of all time. So I take that the "Swords, Sorcery And Science" demo is finally included on the EP as bonus tracks?

While I am at it. It seems there have been a lot of delays, but my wife became very sick back in December We had to rush her to the emergency room and she had to have two surgeries. She has been staying with her sister while she has been undergoing treatments since February. I am working six days a week and trying to do everything around the house. I work on music when I can.

Right now we are rehearsing with Briton Rites and Greg Haa (Cauldron Born/ Briton Rites drummer) is doing some repairs on the analog equipment that was given to me by my cousin. It is the complete studio that we recorded the "Swords, Sorcery and Science" demo on.
The Briton Rites material is all written, being rehearsed and is practically ready to record once the repairs are finished up on the 32 channel mixing board.

Zdan: Yes the demo will be included. There will be a total of seven tracks on the album.

Thank you very much for the compliment.

The production is excellent. It hits really hard and sounds amazing cranked up in the studio. In particular, I really like the drum sound. I'm really looking forward to owning this on vinyl too.

Glad to see Howie join in and give all the official info.

Thanks for keeping everyone posted Jim. Sometimes I don't get a chance to check the board as much as I want to.

No problem. Didn't wanna speak for you but wanted to give CB fans the bit of info that I know.

Oh hey, there's a new ReinXeed album out. This news makes me feel so...something.

I've got a fiver on it sounding exactly like the last five.

I like Reinxeed plenty, they're a fun, overindulgent band, but the reason Tommy can crank out an album once a year without fail is because despite how fun the music can be, he clearly puts next to zero effort into songwriting.

ReinXeed puts out an album? Well hallelujah.

I got one ReinXeed album and I think that's good enough for me. I still think its good to leave at least a 1 year gap between each album a band releases (Unless its a 2 part album they have been writing for a few years). Ideally I would say a 3 year gap, but I personally don't mind waiting for a band I like to release an album.

It seems like most bands that try to force an album out every year tend to be rather mediocre. Then there are those screwballs on sites like bandcamp that crank out an album once a month. I realize people like writing/playing music, but one is seriously trying to build a fan base its not a good idea to put out everything you slap together.

Thanks for the updates everybody. Still rooting for the new album!

Anyone here listen to Ilium?
http://www.metal-archives.com/bands/Ilium/4572

They caught my attention a few years back when I heard one of their songs. I think it was "Vespertilion", but at this point I don't remember what it sounds like. Anyway they only have one review here and I just wondered if anyone thought they were worth checking out.

A remastered Graceful Inheritance? That would be amazing. The songwriting and vocal work are very good, but the sound quality is shit.

And fuck that album cover.

Remastered Graceful Inheritance would be dope of course, but what would be dope is if Gorle got something up and running for ripping new albums in the vein of that classic record. Would be an amazing addition to the lineup of festivals like KIT and HOA too.

Meanwhile, how the fuck did i sleep on Menace's 'Metal Lethal' which was apparently released last year. Now i'll admit i'm not the most rabid, pouncing, in-the-know follower of everything when it comes to snapping up all the new releases as soon as they hit the streets, but I remember listening to Quake Metal by those guys years ago, loving it, and repeatedly checking their MA page to find their status as broken up, and never seeing any news of them doing anything else which i thought was a damn shame. I was then putting them on youtube at my guitarist's place the other day to show him the band, we brought up their MA page, and much to my surprise, they had a FULL LENGTH album there released last year. I was stoked, and have been non-stop bangin' it ever since. Perhaps if i had visited here as frequently as i used to, I would have been in the know earlier. Did you guys discuss this in my absence? Do many of you guys dig this band?

Looking forward to the new Cauldron Born and Briton Rites albums. I met Phil at the second one of the Liege Lord shows in CT and he was a great guy, even taking the time to dig through his collection and rip some old local demo tapes from the 80s that weren't even on MA until this year (Tribe and High Ride Crew).

Is the new Briton Rites release looking to be out in the late fall, or more likely later than that? I recall that Phil recorded the vocals but Howie needs to perfect the rest, last I heard.

Zodijackyl: My cousin gave me his complete analog studio. I was all set to go get the studio equipment back in early December when my wife became very ill. After two surgeries she went to stay with her sister while having her treatments. Things have been delayed since then. I am working six days a week and trying to do everything that needs to be done around here on my day off.

I picked up the studio back in March. Greg Haa( Briton Rites/ Cauldron Born drummer) is an electronics wizard and has been doing repairs on the equipment. I have had the heads on the 16-track analog machine reconditioned, and Greg is trying to pinpoint a problem with the 32 channel mixer. Once the mixer is done we should be able to start recording. We don't make any money doing this (I am lucky to break even) so we have to do this when we can.

Phil's vocals are finished and the material is all written. We hadn't rehearsed in over a month, but we started back a week ago. We will be ready to record as soon as the mixer is ready. I had hoped for the album to be done by the end of the year, but at this point that seems like that may be a little too optimistic.

Howie

This is all I wanna show the public from next Rocka Rollas releases until more solid stuff is available!

From third album Celtic Kings: everything finished, except a few songs need vocals and guitar solos.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZbnN2bO3Wmg

From fourth album Darkheart: everything will be re-recorded, because nobody wants programmed drums, eh?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qpexJyRiYQs

Also Blazon Stone and Mortyr follow ups are beginning to take shape!
Short pre-production "snippet" from Blazon Stone sequel here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JjsgsqxuV3s