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.
Dreams Of Eschaton
Manilla Road Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To sleep away the night
A vision from inside my head
A sun with no sunlight
Death would grip humanitiy
A new Solar Ice Age
An Earth that no science could save
I never felt so strange
To think that this could be our fate
To freeze in darkened pain
Then sleep brought back the dreams to me
Of wars to turn the tide
The world committing nuclear suicide
Inside this hazy world of dreams I've never known
I've seen the wrath come down and turn mankind to stone
And then I realized that this be Eschatus
A holocaust of flames to burn Midgard to dust
It has been called by many names throughout the years
Still they all mean the same, man burning in his fears
The Anti-Christ will come and rise up through the sea
The Dreams of Eschaton have shown this all to me
Before the Gods of Hell sentence you to die
Remember well my friend a warlord never cries
These are the words that I've heard inside my mind
When Ragnarok comes down we'll all run out of time
I hope that can see that this is not a game
We don't just sing to thee to win fortune and fame
The souls of all of us are priceless to the last
These dreams could be our fate of living life too fast
And so I say to thee watch the skies above
For when the darkness falls and rivers turn to blood
Then Arthur shall return to fight for peace and truth
To slay the beast of hell and save the righteous few
Before the Gods of Hell sentence you to die
Remember well my friend a warlord never cries
These are the words that I've heard inside my mind
When Ragnarok comes down we'll all run out of time
"Dreams of Eschaton" by Manilla Road is a song about apocalyptic visions. The singer lays down to sleep and has a terrifying dream about the end of the world. The sun has lost its energy, humanity has frozen to death in a new Solar Ice Age, and there is no science that could save them. The singer then dreams of wars as well, and sees the world committing nuclear suicide. The singer realizes that these dreams signify the apocalyptic event of Eschaton, in which the world will be destroyed by flames and turned to dust. The Anti-Christ will rise up from the sea, and the god of war Arthur will return to fight for peace and truth. The song is a warning to be vigilant and watchful of the signs of the end of the world.
The lyrics are metaphorical in many ways. The sun with no sunlight represents life without energy and purpose. The world committing nuclear suicide signifies the destruction of human civilization. The flames that will burn Midgard to dust represent the end of the world. The Anti-Christ symbolizes evil and destruction. Arthur represents the hope of salvation and the possibility of redemption. Overall, the song is a warning about the potential consequences of human negligence and a call to action to prevent such a catastrophic event from happening.
Line by Line Meaning
I laid myself down into bed
I went to sleep and had a dream.
To sleep away the night
I went to bed to rest.
A vision from inside my head
I had a dream that seemed real.
A sun with no sunlight
I saw a world without light.
Death would grip humanity
People would die.
A new Solar Ice Age
The Earth would freeze over.
An Earth that no science could save
No one could prevent this disaster.
I woke sweat running down my face
I woke up scared.
I never felt so strange
It was a strange dream.
To think that this could be our fate
It's a scary thought that this could happen.
To freeze in darkened pain
It's scary to imagine dying this way.
Then sleep brought back the dreams to me
I went back to sleep and had more dreams.
Of wars to turn the tide
I dreamed of wars that could change the outcome.
The world committing nuclear suicide
I imagined a world destroying itself with nuclear weapons.
Inside this hazy world of dreams I've never known
There were things in the dream that I couldn't understand.
I've seen the wrath come down and turn mankind to stone
I saw people turned to stone by some kind of disaster.
And then I realized that this be Eschatus
I realized that this was the end of the world.
A holocaust of flames to burn Midgard to dust
The world would be destroyed in a fiery disaster.
It has been called by many names throughout the years
Different cultures have different names for this disaster.
Still they all mean the same, man burning in his fears
The underlying meaning is that humans are fearful and destructive.
The Anti-Christ will come and rise up through the sea
There will be a figure that brings destruction to the world.
The Dreams of Eschaton have shown this all to me
My dreams have revealed this impending disaster to me.
Before the Gods of Hell sentence you to die
Before you die, make sure you have lived a life worth living.
Remember well my friend a warlord never cries
Remain strong in the face of adversity.
These are the words that I've heard inside my mind
These are my thoughts and beliefs.
When Ragnarok comes down we'll all run out of time
When the end of the world comes, it will be too late to do anything.
I hope that can see that this is not a game
I hope you understand the gravity of this situation.
We don't just sing to thee to win fortune and fame
We are not just doing this for personal gain.
The souls of all of us are priceless to the last
All of our lives are valuable.
These dreams could be our fate of living life too fast
Our reckless actions could lead to this disaster.
And so I say to thee watch the skies above
Be vigilant for any signs of impending doom.
For when the darkness falls and rivers turn to blood
When the disaster strikes, it will be terrifying.
Then Arthur shall return to fight for peace and truth
A hero will emerge to save us all.
To slay the beast of hell and save the righteous few
To defeat the embodiment of evil and save the innocent.
Lyrics © O/B/O APRA AMCOS
Lyrics Licensed & Provided by LyricFind
@MrRyuHayabusaGaiden
I laid myself down into bed
To sleep away the night
A vision from inside my head
A sun with no sunlight
Death would grip humanitiy
A new Solar Ice Age
An Earth that no science could save
I woke sweatrunning down my face
I never felt so strange
To think that this could be our fate
To freeze in darkened pain
Then sleep brought back the dreams to me
Of wars to turn the tide
The world committing nuclear suicide
Inside this hazy world of dreams I've never known
I've seen the wrath come down and turn mankind to stone
And then I realized that this be Eschatus
A holocaust of flames to burn Midgard to dust
It has been called by many names throughout the years
Still they all mean the same, man burning in his fears
The Anti-Christ will come and rise up through the sea
The Dreams of Eschaton have shown this all to me
Before the Gods of Hell sentence you to die
Remember well my friend a warlord never cries
These are the words that I've heard inside my mind
When Ragnarok comes down we'll all run out of time
I hope that can see that this is not a game
We don't just sing to thee to win fortune and fame
The souls of all of us are priceless to the last
These dreams could be our fate of living life too fast
And so I say to thee watch the skies above
For when the darkness falls and rivers turn to blood
Then Arthur shall return to fight for peace and truth
To slay the beast of hell and save the righteous few
Before the Gods of Hell sentence you to die
Remember well my friend a warlord never cries
These are the words that I've heard inside my mind
When Ragnarok comes down we'll all run out of time
@100KGNatty
"""""I laid myself down into bed
To sleep away the night
A vision from inside my head
A sun with no sunlight
Death would grip humanitiy
A new Solar Ice Age
An Earth that no science could save
I woke sweatrunning down my face
I never felt so strange
To think that this could be our fate
To freeze in darkened pain
Then sleep brought back the dreams to me
Of wars to turn the tide
The world committing nuclear suicide"""""
chills...
@joaovictorporto3748
I laid myself down into bed
To sleep away the night
A vision from inside my head
A sun with no sunlight
Death would grip humanitiy
A new Solar Ice Age
An Earth that no science could save
I woke sweat running down my face
I never felt so strange
To think that this could be our fate
To freeze in darkened pain
Then sleep brought back the dreams to me
Of wars to turn the tide
The world committing nuclear suicide
Inside this hazy world of dreams I've never known
I've seen the wrath come down and turn mankind to stone
And then I realized that this be Eschatus
A holocaust of flames to burn Midgard to dust
It has been called by many names throughout the years
Still they all mean the same, man burning in his fears
The Anti-Christ will come and rise up through the sea
The Dreams of Eschaton have shown this all to me
Before the Gods of Hell sentence you to die
Remember well my friend a warlord never cries
These are the words that I've heard inside my mind
When Ragnarok comes down we'll all run out of time
I hope that can see that this is not a game
We don't just sing to thee to win fortune and fame
The souls of all of us are priceless to the last
These dreams could be our fate of living life too fast
And so I say to thee watch the skies above
For when the darkness falls and rivers turn to blood
Then Arthur shall return to fight for peace and truth
To slay the beast of hell and save the righteous few
Before the Gods of Hell sentence you to die
Remember well my friend a warlord never cries
These are the words that I've heard inside my mind
When Ragnarok comes down we'll all run out of time
@truecult666
RIP Mark Shelton. True underground heavy metal GOD.
@shpadoinkle906
R.I.P. Mark Shelton. Thank you so much for this, and many other epic/awesome tracks. You're sorely missed.
@MrRyuHayabusaGaiden
I laid myself down into bed
To sleep away the night
A vision from inside my head
A sun with no sunlight
Death would grip humanitiy
A new Solar Ice Age
An Earth that no science could save
I woke sweatrunning down my face
I never felt so strange
To think that this could be our fate
To freeze in darkened pain
Then sleep brought back the dreams to me
Of wars to turn the tide
The world committing nuclear suicide
Inside this hazy world of dreams I've never known
I've seen the wrath come down and turn mankind to stone
And then I realized that this be Eschatus
A holocaust of flames to burn Midgard to dust
It has been called by many names throughout the years
Still they all mean the same, man burning in his fears
The Anti-Christ will come and rise up through the sea
The Dreams of Eschaton have shown this all to me
Before the Gods of Hell sentence you to die
Remember well my friend a warlord never cries
These are the words that I've heard inside my mind
When Ragnarok comes down we'll all run out of time
I hope that can see that this is not a game
We don't just sing to thee to win fortune and fame
The souls of all of us are priceless to the last
These dreams could be our fate of living life too fast
And so I say to thee watch the skies above
For when the darkness falls and rivers turn to blood
Then Arthur shall return to fight for peace and truth
To slay the beast of hell and save the righteous few
Before the Gods of Hell sentence you to die
Remember well my friend a warlord never cries
These are the words that I've heard inside my mind
When Ragnarok comes down we'll all run out of time
@paujcb59
Thank you \m/
@LichLordNemo
Is the band prophetic?
@memevarg2530
@@LichLordNemo yes, I just wanted to write that. It's like they saw what is about to happen.
@bradleyrohr2612
R.I.P. Mark Shelton :-(
@KB-P
Farewell Shark.May the Lords of Light be with You
Heavy Metal to the Bone
@mannyruiz1954
The man was forged in steel💪🤘😠. VALHALLA beckoned him.
@gustavoautran
the begining of this song is so good. that I wanted to cry, how much this is good.