Stygian Shore: Stygian Shore EP (1984)
Stygian Shore was a heavy metal band based out of Wichita, Kansas -- pretty much a musical wasteland, except for resident underground metal legends, Manilla Road, so it should surprise absolutely no one that the two bands shared much in common.
In fact, Manilla Road leader Mark ‘The Shark’ Shelton took it upon himself to lend a hand to Stygian Shore’s teenaged band members, vocalist/guitarist Mike Palmer (then just 15), bassist Greg Marshall (17) and drummer Peter Dawson (17), after catching one of their earliest club shows in 1982.
But, since record label scouts weren’t exactly swarming around Bumfuck, Kansas, Stygian Shore (a name inspired by the river Styx of Greek mythology) ultimately had no recourse but to release this self-titled EP through Shelton’s own Roadster Records, in 1984 (this reissue was assembled by those tireless dredgers of heavy metal’s historical riverbed, High Roller Records).
A pretty solid offering, the four-tracker boasts some inevitable similarities to Manilla Road, whose gothic and/or castle metal lyrics, jagged riffs and blistering lead guitars found their way into impressive numbers like “Stygian Metal” and “Tidal Wave.”
However, living in the boonies didn’t mean these boys were oblivious to metallic happenings on the coasts, so they didn’t hesitate to drop a hooky chorus into “Don’t Look Now” and they went all-in on brainless, good-time hair metal (and a Slade-approved misspelling) for “Luv ta Rock Ya.”
Heck, given proper major label backing, the latter bit of nonsense might have had a shot, but Stygian Shore were dealing with much bigger problems by the time this EP was even released ...
Because, in the spring of ‘84, bassist Marshall lost his right hand to a fluke train accident and his bandmates Palmer and Dawson, to their credit, commendably decided to put the band on ice until Greg could teach himself to play again with his new prosthetic hook!
Sure enough, Stygian Shore’s original threesome finally reconvened in 1989 to record all of the songs they'd amassed since that tragic twist of fate and, many years later, these were unveiled by Shadow Kingdom Records as 2007’s The Shore Will Rise, which I probably still own on CD.
And, as I sit here writing this blog, I see that the band has allegedly released a new album entitled Ultra Psychic Nightmares, though I couldn’t tell you whether the same lineup was responsible or what?
p.s. -- The inscription on the tree seen on the EP cover reads: “For those people who live too well and are on the borderline of Heaven and Hell, there is a beach for their lost souls and it’s known as the stygian shore.”
p.p.s. -- Some of these words were rescued from my All-Music Guide Stygian Shore biography and The Shore Will Rise review.
More Classic American ‘80s Metal: Agent Steel’s Skeptics Apocalypse, Armored Saint’s March of the Saint, Brocas Helm's Into Battle, Cirith Ungol’s King of the Dead, Crimson Glory’s Crimson Glory, Culprit’s Guilty as Charged, Fifth Angel’s Fifth Angel, Griffin’s Flight of the Griffin, Heretic’s Breaking Point, Jag Panzer’s Ample Destruction, Leatherwolf’s Leatherwolf, Liege Lord’s Master Control, Manilla Road’s Crystal Logic, Manowar’s Hail to England, Metal Church’s Metal Church, Omen’s Battle Cry, Q5’s Steel the Light, Queensrÿche’s Queensrÿche EP, Savatage’s Sirens, Virgin Steele’s Guardians of the Flame.