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.
The Veils of Negative Existence
Manilla Road Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
To banish evil from this place
I fight with sword of fire and lightning
I am the guardian come this day
I will never put my sword down
I will never run away
In The Veils of Negative Existence
My crystal shield will never fail me
It can withstand the devils rain
And with the Lords of Light to guide me
I bring forth vengeance in their name
I will never put my sword down
I will never run away
In The Veils of Negative Existence
I know it's not my mind at play
Upon the Island of Damnation
The Horde of Hades screams and wails
The blood of life and execution
Has put back light into the Veils
I will never put my sword down
I will never run away
In The Veils of Negative Existence
I am the master here to stay
Inside of the darkness
Between the planes
A tesseract dimension
Few know its name
On Prydwen, my longship
Of silver sails
Excalibur at my side
We shall not fail
The lyrics of "The Veils of Negative Existence" by Manilla Road portrays the journey of the singer as he sails through the seas of negativity to banish evil from the world. He fights with the sword of fire and lightning and declares himself as the master of the Veils of Negative Existence where he will never put down his sword or run away. The crystal shield of the singer will never fail him as it can withstand even the devil's rain, and he is guided by the Lords of Light to bring forth vengeance in their name.
The singer describes the Island of Damnation where the Horde of Hades screams and wails, and the blood of life and execution has put back light into the Veils. He again declares that he will never put down his sword or run away and claims that he is the master of the Veils of Negative Existence. In the end, the lyrics describe the singer's ship Prydwen with silver sails and Excalibur at his side, representing a continuation of his journey to fight evil.
Line by Line Meaning
I sail the seas of negativity
I am navigating through a treacherous journey filled with pessimism
To banish evil from this place
My goal is to eradicate malevolent energy from this realm
I fight with sword of fire and lightning
I engage in battle with a weapon imbued with the power of flames and electricity
I am the guardian come this day
I am the protective force that has arrived to defend this place
I will never put my sword down
I will never back down from fighting for what is right
I will never run away
I will not flee from danger, even if it means confronting my fears
In The Veils of Negative Existence
In a world consumed by negative energy
I am the master here to stay
I am the dominant, unyielding presence in this realm
My crystal shield will never fail me
My protective barrier is impenetrable, and nothing can break through it
It can withstand the devils rain
It has the ability to endure even the most sinister of attacks
And with the Lords of Light to guide me
I am guided and supported by the force of good
I bring forth vengeance in their name
I seek retribution for wrongdoing, in the name of higher powers
Upon the Island of Damnation
On an island cursed with eternal damnation
The Horde of Hades screams and wails
The armies of the god of the underworld cry out in agony and defeat
The blood of life and execution
The combination of vitality and justice
Has put back light into the Veils
Has restored hope and positive energy into a once-dark world
Inside of the darkness
Within the abyss of negativity
Between the planes
Between different realms or dimensions
A tesseract dimension
A four-dimensional space
Few know its name
Only a select few are knowledgeable about this powerful space
On Prydwen, my longship
On my great vessel, Prydwen
Of silver sails
With sails made of shimmering silver
Excalibur at my side
Wielding the legendary sword, Excalibur
We shall not fail
We will succeed in our quest, no matter the challenges we face
Contributed by Jayce E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.
Da Lime
I sail the seas of negativity
To banish evil from this place
I fight with sword of fire and lightning
I am the guardian come this day
I will never put my sword down
I will never run away
In The Veils of Negative Existence
I am the master here to stay
My crystal shield will never fail me
It can withstand the devils rain
And with the Lords of Light to guide me
I bring forth vengeance in their name
I will never put my sword down
I will never run away
In The Veils of Negative Existence
I know it's not my mind at play
Upon the Island of Damnation
The Horde of Hades screams and wails
The blood of life and execution
Has put back light into the Veils
I will never put my sword down
I will never run away
In The Veils of Negative Existence
I am the master here to stay
Inside of the darkness
Between the planes
A tesseract dimension
Few know its name
On Prydwen, my longship
Of silver sails
Excalibur at my side
We shall not fail
Nicholas Hansen
Rest In Peace Mark Shelton, you left one Hell of a legacy and you'll be sorely missed worldwide
Da Lime
I sail the seas of negativity
To banish evil from this place
I fight with sword of fire and lightning
I am the guardian come this day
I will never put my sword down
I will never run away
In The Veils of Negative Existence
I am the master here to stay
My crystal shield will never fail me
It can withstand the devils rain
And with the Lords of Light to guide me
I bring forth vengeance in their name
I will never put my sword down
I will never run away
In The Veils of Negative Existence
I know it's not my mind at play
Upon the Island of Damnation
The Horde of Hades screams and wails
The blood of life and execution
Has put back light into the Veils
I will never put my sword down
I will never run away
In The Veils of Negative Existence
I am the master here to stay
Inside of the darkness
Between the planes
A tesseract dimension
Few know its name
On Prydwen, my longship
Of silver sails
Excalibur at my side
We shall not fail
Tomas el de la Cueva
So doom, obscure and epic... Mark your talent is immeasurable.
Daniel Lehman
This song is WAY ahead of it's time
electra grammatikaki
what a masterpiece!!!
The Hermit
Epic! there is no word to describe this incredible epic music. Thanks!
Bludgeon
Favorite song from the album! Epic with badass lyrics,
Raymond Storebø
This is so genious music and lyrics and the only Word that comes to mind is pure magic
Alex Sinclair
IMO some of the most poetic lyrics to exist in Heavy Metal. From "negative existence" I don't think Mark mean's coming from a bad place. Like a negative of a photograph, or the opposite version of reality in a parallel universe to ours. A chaos realm of infinite possibility.
a8anasios666
Epic metal at its best