For all its obscurity, Manilla Road proved a surprisingly durable influence on underground metal. Take Giant Squid, a band seemingly designed for The End Records: they didnât actually sound like Manilla Road, but the vocal stylings of then-husband and wife Aaron and Aurielle Gregory were clearly informed by Mark Sheltonâs esoteric yawp, and the music as a whole had an oblivious weirdness to it. Â âNeonateâ was a prime example, as it somehow went everywhere and nowhere at all, making pretty much no sense to anyone but its creators, which gave the tune a certain integrity. Â Like most material released by The End, the song and Metridium Fields defied categorization, containing traces of prog, doom, psychedelia and pretty much everything else, while somehow managing to feel like an actual song. Â âNeonateâ turned out to be a mere prelude for what was to come, as Metridium Fields (actually a re-recording of their independently released debut) set the stage for a lengthy and similarly adventurous discography.
