Review by Daniel for Manilla Road - Invasion (1980)

1980's "Invasion" album documents the humble beginnings of Manilla Road; a classic American three-piece heavy metal band who formed in Kichita, Kansas in 1977. They’d later go on to become known for a particularly epic brand of metal music however I’m not actually sure that I’d even call “Invasion” a metal record. To my ears it’s more of a combination of the progressive rock of Rush, the classic heavy metal of Judas Priest & the spacey psycheledic rock of Hawkwind.  There’s probably more prog rock than anything else though. Take my personal highlight track "Cat & Mouse" as an decent example of this as it sounds very much like a heavier version of Rush.  The only obvious metal tune is also the weakest track on the album by a fair margin in the heavily overrated “Street Jammer”. The space rock thing really comes into play during the guitar solos which are smothered in delay & other spacey effects & represent one of the best elements of “Invasion” in my opinion. The mix isn't ideal with the vocals sitting too high & the rhythm guitars not given enough clout which leaves them sounding pretty thin. But despite it's primitive nature, I have quite a bit of time for “Invasion”. The longer, spacier & more epic progressive tracks are the most impressive pieces of work but there are also some great metal riffs scattered throughout the tracklisting. It’s definitely worth checking out if you don’t mind a bit of prog rock & early 80’s heavy metal.