Manilla Road was created by Shelton in 1977 with high school friends Benny Munkirs, Rick Fisher and brothers Robert and Scott Park. After playing in local bars, the group first gained attention with their song "Herman Hill," inspired by the Herman Hill riot. Their first album "Invasion" was released in 1980 on the band's own label, Roadster Records. Between this time and their next release the band recorded material for an album to be titled "The Dreams Of Eschaton", however this was not released until 2002 (under the name "Mark of the Beast") as they were not happy with the sound. Shelton has been quoted as saying the music was "not metal enough" and "sounded like shit." Despite this "Mark of the Beast" was critically well received when it was eventually released. These early albums have more in common with progressive rock and proto-heavy metal than the band's later epic metal sound.
The next record was "Metal" in 1982, which began to define the future musical direction of Manilla Road. Their "classic" sound was solidified with the epic release of "Crystal Logic" in 1983.
The next five Manilla Road albums (along with a live release, "Roadkill") featured new drummer Randy Foxe, who had more of a thrash-oriented style than original drummer Rick Fisher. Along with "Crystal Logic" (1983), the new lineup's first two albums, "Open the Gates" (1985) and "The Deluge" (1986), are generally considered to be classics in the field of epic heavy metal. It was on these three albums that Manilla Road's style became fully formed. Lyrics typically feature fantastic elements from Norse mythology, Arthurian legend or other literary sources. These are often combined in one setting, the concept album "Atlantis Rising" (2001), for example, features a war between the Æsir and Cthulhu, centered around the city of Atlantis.
"Mystification" (1987) suffered from exceptionally poor production resulting, ironically, from the substandard equipment at a new studio the band hoped would improve their sound. The recent re-release has fixed this problem to a large extent. After Mystification came "Out of the Abyss" (1988), widely criticised at the time for its thrash metal influences. The band released one more album, "The Courts of Chaos" (1992), described by Shelton as "the first true Manilla Road masterpiece" before splitting up because of personal and musical disagreements between Scott Park and Randy Foxe.
In 1992 Mark Shelton recorded "Circus Maximus" with Aaron Brown and Andrew Coss. Despite having never been intended as a Manilla Road project, the album was released under this name at the record company's insistence.
Manilla Road re-formed in 1994 and released "Atlantis Rising" in 2001, again with Mark Shelton as the only original member. On this occasion, however, the sound was much more consistent with the Manilla Road of old and it was the band who decided to continue using the name. Their latest albums are "Spiral Castle" published in 2002, "Gates Of Fire", in 2005, and "Voyager" in 2008. In May 2009 they released their second live album called "After Midnight Live", which was recorded live, on the air, at KMUW radio studios, Wichita, Kansas in December of 1979 shortly before the release of their debut album "Invasion". The album "Playground of the Damned" was released in 2011, followed by "Mysterium" in 2013, "The Blessed Curse" in 2015, and what was their final release, "To Kill a King" in 2017.
Mark "The Shark" Shelton died in Germany from a heart attack at the age of 60. Manilla Road were on tour at the time of Shelton’s death; he had performed at Germany’s Headbangers Open Air Festival the previous night.
Black Cauldron
Manilla Road Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
Cthulu comes
Bringer of evil
The Black Cauldron
Dead placed in the Cauldron
Re-animate
Doorway to Hades
The Old Ones' gate
Conjuring Yog-Sothoth's birth
The fires of the Cauldron burn red
Re-animating the dead
With blood from the Cauldron
The dead revive
To war for their master
Cthulu's pride
Aesir warriors
Stand and fight
As Chaotic nightmares
Come to life
The Old Ones bring Chaos to earth
Conjuring Yog-Sothoth's birth
The fires of the Cauldron burn red
Re-animating the dead
The lyrics of Manilla Road's song Black Cauldron are rich in mythology and horror references. The song describes the arrival of Cthulu, an ancient and malevolent entity in the form of a dark angel of chaos. Cthulu is portrayed as the "bringer of evil" and the catalyst for the events that unfold in the song. The Black Cauldron is introduced as a vessel for the dead, capable of re-animating lifeless bodies and opening a doorway to Hades, the realm of the dead. The Cauldron is also referred to as the "Old Ones' gate," indicating that the powers at work are ancient and timeless.
As the lyrics progress, we learn that the Cauldron is used to bring chaos to the world and summon Yog-Sothoth, a god-like being associated with cosmic horror. The fires of the Cauldron burn red as it re-animates the dead, who rise to serve their master, Cthulu. The Aesir, ancient warriors of Norse mythology, are called upon to stand and fight against the Chaotic nightmares that have come to life. The song ends with a repetition of the Old Ones' plan to bring chaos to earth and summon Yog-Sothoth.
Line by Line Meaning
Dark angel of Chaos
Cthulu is a dark angel of Chaos
Cthulu comes
Cthulu arrives
Bringer of evil
Cthulu is a bringer of evil
The Black Cauldron
The Black Cauldron is mentioned
Dead placed in the Cauldron
Dead bodies are placed in the Cauldron
Re-animate
The dead are brought back to life
Doorway to Hades
The Cauldron is a doorway to Hades
The Old Ones' gate
The Cauldron is a gate for The Old Ones
The Old Ones bring Chaos to earth
The Old Ones bring Chaos to the earth
Conjuring Yog-Sothoth's birth
Yog-Sothoth is being summoned into existence
The fires of the Cauldron burn red
The Cauldron's fire is red in color
Re-animating the dead
The dead are being brought back to life
With blood from the Cauldron
Blood from the Cauldron is being used in the process
The dead revive
The dead come back to life
To war for their master
The revived dead fight for their master
Cthulu's pride
Cthulu takes pride in his undead army
Aesir warriors
The Aesir warriors are mentioned
Stand and fight
The Aesir warriors are prepared to fight
As Chaotic nightmares
The undead army is causing chaos and nightmares
Come to life
The undead army comes to life
The Old Ones bring Chaos to earth
The Old Ones bring Chaos to the earth
Conjuring Yog-Sothoth's birth
Yog-Sothoth is being summoned into existence
The fires of the Cauldron burn red
The Cauldron's fire is red in color
Re-animating the dead
The dead are being brought back to life
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
Filipe Oliveira
I love this song!
great riffs, so evil and powerful!
Temashii Osaka
Dark angel of Chaos
Cthulu comes
Bringer of evil
The Black Cauldron
Dead placed in the Cauldron
Re-animate
Doorway to Hades
The Old Ones' gate
The Old Ones bring Chaos to earth
Conjuring Yog-Sothoth's birth
The fires of the Cauldron burn red
Re-animating the dead
With blood from the Cauldron
The dead revive
To war for their master
Cthulu's pride
Aesir warriors
Stand and fight
As Chaotic nightmares
Come to life
The Old Ones bring Chaos to earth
Conjuring Yog-Sothoth's birth
The fires of the Cauldron burn red
Re-animating the dead
Filipe Oliveira
THE BEST HEAVY METAL BAND EVER
Manny Ruiz
Fast, thrashy, Manilla....🤘💪
WarriorOfMetal RoadOfKings
For me is hard to understand in part way Manilla is such an unrated band, my opinion is that its to beautifull and mysterious to all understand.
Manilla Road Official
Thanks for all your nice comments on many songs my friend. And it is cool that you know what a palmMute is ha ha. Must be a guitar player. Black Cauldron is one of the very few songs that I wrote that does not have a guitar solo in it ha ha. Thanks so much for you kind words and support.
Up The Hammers & Down The Nails
Shark
Lemmy Detritus
When Manilla ride the PalmMute, Keep it up dudes your music is my inspiration
Daniel Vibez
at 1:18 i hear the upwards and descending riff from master of puppets.
Javier Chiossi
Awesome song. But that's par for the course with the Shark.