Description
One of Manilla Road’s best albums is back in print! Of course most of these songs were available either as live versions or bonus tracks on the band’s ROADKILL live album (or the OUT OF THE ABYSS/ROADKILL double release); if you already have either of those, what you’ll pick up here are the studio versions of the “Deluge” suite and “Dementia”, plus “Divine Victim” (about Joan of Arc) and the instrumental “Morbid Tabernacle”. And if you haven’t heard any of these songs before–wow, are you in for a treat! “Shadow in the Black”, “Hammer of the Witches”, “Friction in Mass”, the songs mentioned above–bandleader Mark Shelton called THE DELUGE “the first Manilla Road album that was the total package.” (For a little more about the music itself see the ‘editorial review’ above–I can’t really add much to that.)
Not the least part of that package is the great cover art, front and back, by Eric Larnoy. He was a French artist, who died in 1996 at a mere 35, a real shame–you can see from the paintings here and from his cover for Manilla Road’s previous album OPEN THE GATES that he was a fantasy art talent in the league of Frank Frazetta, Gray Morrow, and other superstars.