In the early 1980s the heavy metal trio Stygian Shore formed in Wichita, Kansas. Manilla Road frontman Mark Shelton learned of teenage vocalist/guitarist Mike Palmer, bassist Greg Marshall, and drummer Peter Dawson soon after their debut shows in 1982 and lent his support. Shelton produced the band’s self-titled EP in 1984 before returning to his own faltering career. A sudden accident then severed Marshall’s right hand, halting every plan the group had made. Palmer and Dawson refused to continue without him, instead suspending activity while Marshall painstakingly relearned his instrument with a prosthetic hook. The same three musicians finally reassembled in 1989 to record a full-length album that compiled every song written since the mishap. Once the LP failed to draw label offers, Stygian Shore disbanded. Fifteen years later the members felt the urge to play again and staged a handful of hometown concerts; these shows persuaded Shadow Kingdom Records to issue the long-shelved album as The Shore Will Arise in 2007.
