Reviewed:
- Battle Hymns (1982)
- Into Glory Ride (1983)
- Hail to England (1984)
- Sign of the Hammer (1984)
- Fighting the World (1987)
- Kings of Metal (1988)
- The Triumph of Steel (1992)
- Louder Than Hell (1996)
- Warriors of the World (2002)
- Gods of War (2007)
- Thunder in the Sky (2009, EP)
- Battle Hymns MMXI (2010)
- The Lord of Steel (2012)
BATTLE HYMNS 1982 (EMI)
- Standouts: 'Death Tone', 'Metal Daze', 'Fast Talker', 'Shell Shock', 'Manowar', Dark Avenger', 'Battle Hymn'
Ever since that last 'Blast from the past albums' post where I covered Manowar's 1992 album The Triumph of Steel a couple of weeks or so ago, I've been listening to nothing but Manowar. They're a band I've always really liked, and there's quite a long list of songs that always make it into gym workout playlists. But I realised I hadn't actually listened to any of their albums in full for a very long time until I wrote that post the other week. It also made me realise I was also missing a couple of their albums (2012's The Lord of Steel and the re-recorded Kings of Metal from 2014), so naturally I had to scour Ebay and Discogs for a good deal on them (more about that in later reviews!). When you've already got 80% of all the major releases in a band's catalogue, I feel obliged to get them all! That's just how my deranged collector mindset works! To be fair, I like Manowar enough to justify having all their albums anyway. Anyhow, that post the other week made me think "Fuck it, might as well review the whole catalogue!".
I said in the Triumph of Steel post that it's practically impossible not to take the piss out of Manowar to some degree. It is. Their whole "true metal" image, lyrical matter and overall demeanour borders on Spinal Tap silliness at times, but that's just how they roll, and that's what makes them fun. I don't know if they originally went into the music biz with that intention, I think people just liked the ridiculously over-the-top nature of what they were doing, so they latched onto it and made it their whole personality. And that's fine! It's why I like this band in the first place. I can't speak for everyone but I don't think the average fan takes them very seriously either. And I stand by the fact they have made some great music throughout their career; the OTT persona is just a by-product of this. It's like Venom; their stupidly evil satanic imagery is clearly just for theatrics, and not to be taken seriously. It's a similar situation with Manowar.
Still, for a band that prides themselves on being the so-called "kings of metal", their 1982 debut album, Battle Hymns, actually has some surprisingly strong 70s hard rock influences scattered throughout the songs! Had this album been released in 1980, I wouldn't be as surprised. But a lot happened in the world of heavy metal between 1980 and 1982. We already had groundbreaking albums from New Wave of British Heavy Metal bands such as Iron Maiden, Venom, Saxon and Raven, let alone veteran acts such as Black Sabbath, Judas Priest and Motorhead - all of which had made albums that I would argue are more metallic in nature than what Manowar did with Battle Hymns. I'm not saying Battle Hymns isn't a heavy metal album - it is. I'm just saying I get definite Montrose or Ted Nugent vibes at times on this album, specifically on tracks like 'Death Tone', 'Fast Talker' and 'Shell Shock'. I'm also not criticising the album for these influences either. It actually makes this debut a unique entry in Manowar's discography, and gives me all the more reason to want to listen to it.
To be fair, a song like 'Dark Avenger' was metal as fuck back in 1982. It sounds like a uniquely American take on Iron Maiden to me, with it's fast-paced, galloping tempo and riffs! It also has Orson Welles narrating on it - how the hell the band managed to get Welles on this album is unbelievable! But they did! Great stuff. And even if the band were still finding their feet at this stage (up to a point), opening cut 'Death Tone' starts off with a motorcycle revving it's engine - already a sign of what was to come! The song itself has a lot of hard rock vibes, as I said before, but it's still a good'un. 'Metal Daze' is their first attempt at an anthem, and what a fine one it is. There's even a self-titled track on here, 'Manowar'! So even as far back as the debut, Manowar were singing about themselves! Weirdly, I actually hear slight shimmers of punk in this number - it's not a punk song, I just hear punk influence in some of the riffs and the vocal arrangements! Maybe I'm talking bollocks. But the almost proggy closing title track is a definite epic and a song that is a perfect example of power metal in it's earliest stages. Calling Manowar a power metal has always been debatable; I've always considered them heavy metal with some power metal songs. But there's no denying the influence they had on power metal, and it's thanks to songs like 'Battle Hymn'. Oh, there's also a Joey DeMaio bass solo number in 'William's Tale'. It's effectively Joey playing the 'William Tell Overture' on his bass. I have to say, as much as I enjoy Manowar, I've always been on the fence with all the bass solos throughout this catalogue. Some I like, others I can't bear!
The songs are all basically great then, and the band themselves were pretty great in the 80s too. I mean, Eric Adams has an instantly recognisable voice - he never shied away from hitting the highs or the lows, and was always a pretty versatile heavy metal vocalist. No one else sounds like him. Ross the Boss (RIP) is also Manowar's classic guitarist. I don't think anyone can disagree with that statement. His lead chops can be heard all over songs like 'Death Tone' and 'Battle Hymn'. And of course, there's bassist Joey DeMaio, the band's primary songwriter and the reason why the bass tone is always so freakin' loud on so many of their albums.
This is a very strong debut for sure. Maybe a top 5 Manowar album for me, although definitely not a top 3. And weirdly, I actually think the production is better on this first album than a few of their subsequent releases. Yeah sure, the band weren't in full Manowar mode just yet - completely understandable considering it's their debut - but the album doesn't suffer for it. Many of the key ingredients were already in place, but the occasional 70s influences you hear on some of the songs only make this album standout, in a good way.
Adam's rating: 8.6/10
INTO GLORY RIDE 1983 (Geffen)
- Standouts: 'Secret of Steel', 'Gloves of Metal', 'Gates of Valhalla', 'Hatred', 'Revelation (Death's Angel)', 'March for Revenge (By the Soldiers of Death)'
A few things need to be addressed effective immediately when discussing Manowar's second album, Into Glory Ride. First is the questionable intro and lyrics to opening cut 'Warlord'. Doesn't exactly fly in today's society, but this is Manowar we're talkin' about, so take it with a pinch of salt. The second is the production, which I still can't decide whether I even like it or not. It's rough and almost feels like a demo, which is crazy considering Battle Hymns never suffered from the same problem. Yet I don't hate the way Into Glory Ride sounds. You get used to it pretty quick. But possibly the biggest and most notorious aspect of this album is of course, the cover art. It looks like an unironic Spinal Tap cover. Joey DeMaio standing there in a loincloth and the entire band wielding swords. As I stated in the Battle Hymns review, it's impossible not to take the piss out of Manowar. They kick arse and I love 'em, but you can't help but laugh sometimes. But I laugh with them, that's the difference. And to be honest, how can you not love this album cover?! It's so daft that it rules!
And you know what, so does the music. Some people prefer the debut, which is fair enough, but to me it feels like the band are really starting to get comfortable with their OTT imagery and lyricism. The production is disappointing and does hinder the album somewhat, but like I said, I don't hate it either. But I will admit that the mixing of the instruments is strange. The bass is too muted (which is blasphemy on a Manowar album!), the guitar tone isn't really ballsy enough and the drums are a bit boxy. Again though, you get used to it. Or maybe I just like the songs enough that it doesn't bother me? Whatever. Joey DeMaio remastered/remixed this thing in 2019 and called it the "Imperial Edition MMXIX". I don't own a copy currently, and I'm in no rush to go out and buy a copy - but I have listened to it on Spotify. The bass sounds considerably better, that's for sure. But I don't think it's a huge improvement over my old CD version either.
But yeah, the songs are mostly awesome. 'Warlord' is a solid, energetic opener - not one of their best - but it lets you know that the music is now 100% heavy metal, Manowar style. I have to say though, despite this band being pioneers of what would become power metal, there's elements of old-school doom metal on Into Glory Ride. That's one of the reasons why I like it so much. The slow, trudging tempo of 'Secret of Steel' certainly gives off doom vibes, but it also has Manowar's seal of authenticity on it - a sword and sorcery, fantasy-esque aura. Same can be said for the almost Black Sabbath-like pacing of 'Gloves of Metal', one of my favourite Manowar songs ever. This track just rules - the riffing is killer, and Eric Adams brings the vocals to life. Meanwhile, 'Gates of Valhalla' is pure fucking Viking metal. I have to say, I don't like classifying "Viking metal" as a genre, because it isn't. Bathory released plenty of Viking-themed albums, and they do not sound anything like Amon Amarth. Even Black Sabbath made a Viking-inspired album in 1990 with Tyr, yet it bears no resemblance musically to the Viking-themed folk metal band Tyr!! Really, "Viking metal" applies to any sort of metal with Viking lyrics, and 'Gates of Valhalla' is pretty damn epic, all things considered!
Ross the Boss' riffing on 'Hatred' is surprisingly dark and menacing. Eric Adams' cheesy vocals and wailing, not so much! But the pairing works well of course, and creates one great song. It has that same doom/epic-like atmosphere that so many other of the tracks on this album possess. 'Revelation (Death's Angel)' is probably one of the best songs on here too, with it's galloping riffs. It's probably the most typically-Manowar sounding song on the album, I think. You can't really go wrong with the last track either, 'March for Revenge (By the Soldiers of Death)'. Call it self-indulgent if you want, I call it theatrical!
The production doesn't always do these songs justice, and that's the biggest problem I have with Into Glory Ride. But I think the songwriting is a step-up from the classic debut, to the point where I feel like I feel I have to rank this higher than it's predecessor. I tend to gravitate to this album more than I do the debut (and I'm a big fan of Battle Hymns, just sayin'), despite the problems with production. It just sounds more like Manowar to me, simply put. Had the production been better, it'd be an easy 9/10. Oh, and I've gotta say, it's surprising how good the band were at writing lengthy songs so early into their career. There's only 7 tracks on here, with 3 of them being over 7 minutes long. But none of them feel bloated or boring to my ears... it's a shame things got to Joey's head when he wrote 'Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts' all those years later, but that's another story!
Ridiculous album cover aside, this is classic American heavy metal!
Adam's rating: 8.8/10
HAIL TO ENGLAND 1984 (SPV)
- Standouts: Everything!
I always thought Kings of Metal was my favourite Manowar album, but if you put a gun to my head right now and asked me, I might just say Hail to England. I mean, there was never a time when I didn't like this album; I've always considered it to be among their best. But these last couple of weeks, it's Hail to England that has gotten the most play for me. It's a short album at just 33 minutes long and 7 songs in total. Into Glory Ride was also made up of 7 tracks, but that one lasts 45 minutes. But I appreciate HtE's compact length, and if you bought this thing on vinyl back in 1984 you'd likely have been none the wiser to it. Albums were shorter back when vinyl reigned supreme, 'cos you could only get so much music onto a record! That's why double albums were also a thing! I also appreciate it's title, apparently a tribute to their UK and European fanbase. As an Englishman, I'll take that! I must admit, it doesn't surprise me that Manowar supposedly have a much bigger fanbase here in Europe - considering how popular power metal is in this neck of the woods, and the impact Manowar had on said genre, it just makes perfect sense.
Back to the album. It doesn't seem to be uncommon to find complaints about the production with this one too. The bass being too loud is the most common complaint, but this is a Manowar album. Joey DeMaio writes practically everything and is the bass player, and I suppose the loudness of the bass is his ego taking over. But again, this is a Manowar album. It's not rare to find cranked-up bass on several of their following releases! I dig it, personally. It helps that Joey has a cool tone - overdriven, and he hits those strings hard. Which is appropriate, because Manowar tend to "like it hard", as evidenced by Eric Adams' lyrics in the song 'Kings of Metal'! And as far as the production goes in general, this sounds far better than Into Glory Ride ever did. For starters, the fact it doesn't sound like a demo helps immensely.
You won't get any complaints from me in the production department then. And aside from the predictable bass solo track, 'Black Arrows' (which I can take or leave, but certainly don't hate), the songwriting on this album is brilliant. Pretty much all every aspect of the songs is memorable, from Eric's vocal arrangements and melodies, to the riffs, basslines and every guitar solo Ross the Boss lays down. This brings me back to the album's 33 minute length. Nothing overstays it's welcome, yet I don't feel underwhelmed when the album's finished either.
Opener 'Blood of My Enemies' starts off kind of slow and doomy, but doesn't take long before it transforms into the chugging, fist-pumping classic it is. 'Each Dawn I Die' is kinda chuggy in tempo too, focusing on sheer heaviness - and it kicks arse. 'Kill with Power' is a killer slab of classic speed metal - cheesy, sure, but in a way that only Manowar can pull off. So it's great. The title track is epic, and Adams' vocals are the best thing about it. I constantly find myself chanting "Hail, hail to England! Hail, hail, hail!" after hearing it - in my head of course! One of their best anthems can be found on here too with 'Army of the Immortals', because indeed "Metal makes us strong". The intro to 'Bridge of Death' (sadly, I don't think the song title/lyrics have anything to do with Monty Python and the Holy Grail) reminds me of a piece of music by Ennio Morricone from one of the Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns... pretty sure it's either A Fistful of Dollars or For a Few Dollars More, but I can't remember. Definitely not The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. Or I could be talking shit. Whatever, 'Bridge of Death' is my favourite epic the band ever laid down. When it gets going, the main riff is heavy as hell, and the song is like a perfect blend of doom and power/traditional heavy metal. As for 'Black Arrows', like I said, I can take it or leave it. It's a shreddy Joey DeMaio bass solo. It's what he does.
In my humble opinion then, this is probably Manowar's best. We'll see if I still think that when I get around to reviewing Kings of Metal! But in all seriousness, Eric Adams' vocals in particular are tremendous on this album, and the songs are shamelessly cheesy, but all the better for it. It does everything a Manowar album should.
Adam's rating: 9.2/10
SIGN OF THE HAMMER 1984 (Virgin)
- Standouts: 'All Men Play on 10', 'Animals', 'Thor (The Powerhead)', 'Mountains', 'Sign of the Hammer', 'The Oath', 'Guyana (Cult of the Damned)'
Remember when bands used to release 2 albums the same year? That's what Manowar did in 1984, with Sign of the Hammer hot on the tail of Hail to England. Of course, they wouldn't come back with a new album until 1987 after this one, but I digress. Anyhow, Sign of the Hammer is essentially more classic Manowar, brought to you by the definitive lineup of Eric Adams, Joey DeMaio, Ross the Boss and Scott Columbus - so you know you're in safe hands. I will say that Hail to England has the edge over this album for me. I mean, I still think Sign of the Hammer is fucking great - all the 80s works are (well, almost) - it's just not quite peak Manowar for me!
Still, if opener 'All Men Play on 10' doesn't epitomise Manowar, then I don't know what does. Actually, quite a few tracks epitomise Manowar, but how the fuck can a song called 'All Men Play on 10' NOT be awesome?! This is real life Spinal Tap (although they took it to motherfucking ELEVEN, so what does that make Manowar?), and that's why you should be cranking it to the max!! Very cool anthem. 'Animals' is a good'un too. This one has a bit more of an up-tempo rocky feel, with catchy chanted backing vocals. A foreshadowing for their next album, the slightly more accessible Fighting the World? Maybe. Of course, 'Thor (The Powerhead)' is a 'banger as well. Again, you only have to read the title and know it's gonna be great before you've even heard it. It's kind of an epic/anthem hybrid, with the classic Manowar sound written all over it. They throw in an all-out epic with 'Mountains'. Honestly, I don't find this track to be all that cheesy. And I love the cheesiness of Manowar! But no, this is just a strong, atmospheric and dramatic number with some stellar bass and guitar work from Joey and Ross, not to mention vocals from Mr. Adams.
The second half of the album is very solid too. Well okay, maybe not the obligatory bass solo, 'Thunderpick'. But the title track is another anthemic golden oldie, as is the stupidly fast speed metal cut that is 'The Oath'. And then of course, there's the lengthy finale 'Guyana (Cult of the Damned)'. Despite all the shit I say about Joey's bass solos, he can implement his skills really well within the songs when he wants to. This is evident in 'Guyana'. Amazing bass playing. Very enjoyable. It also boasts some of the most memorable Eric Adams vocals on the album too. I'll also say that Sign of the Hammer is maybe a tad stronger than Hail to England on the production front. The bass is still loud as fuck - as it should be - but Ross' guitars cut through the mix a bit better this time, and his soloing is always brilliant. There's quite a lot of reverb too, but it only seems to add to the atmosphere. A song like 'Mountains' only benefits from it.
Sign of the Hammer is prime Manowar. Not my favourite, but certainly a top 5. I almost put it above Into Glory Ride... but I love the songwriting on that album, even if the production is flawed. And I just find SotH has a few less memorable vocal lines/riffs/whatever else compared to it's predecessor, Hail to England. But these are just small personal preferences at the end of the day. It's still a classic, and it's still one I revisit quite regularly when looking at this discography as a whole.
Adam's rating: 8.7/10
FIGHTING THE WORLD 1987 (Atco)
- Standouts: 'Fighting the World', 'Blow Your Speakers', 'Violence and Bloodshed', 'Defender', 'Black Wind, Fire and Steel'
Fighting the World is something of an oddity in the Manowar catalogue, but thankfully not an anomaly. See, this album has more commercial/mainstream appeal than anything that came before it. I'm pretty sure the single 'Blow Your Speakers' had plenty of MTV play back in the 80s. Very often when a metal band tones down their sound and tries to appeal more to the masses, what you end up with is an epic fail. Look what happened with Celtic Frost with their album Cold Lake! Or how about Saxon's Destiny? That's not necessarily the case with Manowar. This is a fun album!
The album has it's share of pop metal anthems, and you can already kind of tell that just from the song titles. 'Fighting the World' is a actually a really good opener - it's anthemic and singalong-y, naturally. But it still sounds like Manowar. It just has way more hooks than usual, same goes for 'Carry On' and the aforementioned 'Blow Your Speakers'. When it comes to the songwriting, the biggest focus was obviously vocal hooks... and considering I remember how practically every chorus/vocal chant goes throughout nearly every track no matter how long I go without hearing the album, they certainly succeeded in making a radio-friendly Manowar album in that respect. The atmospheric ballad 'Defender' is a good one too. It has another Orson Welles narration piece on it (although this time posthumous, because it was originally recorded in 1982). I like it. Not every song on here is necessarily commercial-sounding though. 'Violence and Bloodshed' is about as heavy as anything from the last few albums, and is driven by a simplistic, contagious bassline and some superb Ross the Boss guitar soloing. I can sort of say the same for 'Holy War' and 'Black Wind, Fire and Steel'. They could've possibly fit on any of their previous albums, had the production been a little less polished. Yup, the production is cleaner this time around, but I won't go so far as to call it "glossy". It's not exactly comparable to that of Def Leppard's Hysteria. It just has some sharper-sounding instruments and feels like it's been recorded on a larger budget.
I can't exactly get through this whole review without finding something to whinge about though, especially when the band changed up their sound to the degree they did. 'Drums of Doom' is useless filler. It's not even really a drum solo (thank god!), just an intro 'Holy War' that didn't need to be a separate track. It's a similar story with 'Master of Revenge' - why is this even an individual song? It's just the outro to 'Holy War'!! And even if none of the proper songs are failures, none of them are among my favourite Manowar numbers. I find myself playing 'Violence and Bloodshed' a lot, sure, but nothing on here comes close to songs like 'Battle Hymn', 'Hail to England', 'All Men Play on 10', 'Hail and Kill' etc.. A classic this is not, even if it's still a good album.
It's ironic that the self-proclaimed "Kings of Metal" put out an album like this! It's still metal, but it's a mixture of dumbed-down, borderline politically-correct Manowar songs with the odd "true" Manowar song thrown in for good measure. It's also ironic that Manowar in their most mainstream-appealing format are possibly less cheesy than Manowar acting like they normally would! That's not to say this album isn't cheesy, because it absolutely is. Wouldn't be Manowar if it wasn't. And of course it's worse than any of the previous albums. As soon as you start fuckin' around trying to get on the radio/MTV, the result is almost always disappointing to some degree.
But I will say that this is certainly one of the better "sellout" albums from a respected metal band. Some are absolutely fucking horrible. This one is actually good, even if it's not great. The fact the blatantly radio-friendly songs 'Fighting the World', 'Blow Your Speakers' and 'Carry On' are all enjoyable to my ears means I have to give the band some credit. This is not the case with a lot of other bands! So props to Manowar for putting out a genuinely good album in that regard.
Adam's rating: 7.6/10
KINGS OF METAL 1988 (Atlantic)
- Standouts: 'Wheels of Fire', 'Kings of Metal', 'Heart of Steel', 'Kingdom Come', 'Hail and Kill', 'Blood of the Kings'
Whenever I think of Manowar, Kings of Metal is always the first album that comes to mind. It's Manowar in full Manowar mode, if that makes any sense? Some of the albums that followed border on self-parody at times, but Kings of Metal to me feels like the band pushing everything they learned on their past albums to the absolute limit. Moreover, nearly everything about it feels honest and not fake (save for maybe one of the songs on here, which I'll talk about later). Like, this is the album that truly made them the pompous, theatrical, stereotypical heavy metal that posers aren't allowed to listen to!!
If that's the way I feel about this album, then it has to be their best... right? Well, I thought so for a very long time. But as I was saying in my Hail to England review, that's the Manowar album I tend to listen to most these days, and therefore has become my favourite. That's not to say I don't love Kings of Metal however, 'cos I do. The fact it kicks off with both 'Wheels of Fire' and the title track, one after the other, is simply fucking awesome. 'Wheels of Fire' is such a hilariously fast, over-the-top speed metal biker tune with some comically ridiculous vocals from Eric Adams. He absolutely over-sings on it, but it only adds to the song's awesomeness! And said title track is one of, if not their absolute BEST anti-poser, true METAL anthem!! Eric makes it very clear that the band "Don't attract wimps, 'cos we're too loud", and also that "Other bands play, MANOWAR KILLS!". I know it's daft, I know it's dumb... but goddamn it how can you not LOVE this band's attitude sometimes!! Normal people that never spent their teens going down a very deep musical rabbit hole probably brush this stuff off as nerdy bullshit, but weirdo metalheads like myself lap this shit up!
There's also a surprisingly good ballad in 'Heart of Steel', with it's pianos (!!) and heartfelt vocals from Mr. Adams. It somehow doesn't feel out of place on this album. 'Kingdom Come' is vast and epic, and 'Hail and Kill' has gone down as one of their biggest and best tunes ever. It starts off slow and melodic (in a good way), but the majority of it's composition is absolute peak anthemic heavy metal! The chorus is ridiculously simplistic, but is totally infectious and fist-pumpingly great! Yet another song that epitomises Manowar. 'The Warriors Prayer' is a lengthy spoken-word narration track that serves as an intro to 'Blood of the Kings'. And 'Blood of the Kings' itself is another seminal slab of Manowar. It's a 7 minute epic, and sounds like full-on European power metal to me (well, it still sounds like Manowar of course, but I can hear how tracks like this influenced Euro power metal bands like Gamma Ray, Grave Digger etc.). It is jam-packed full of energetic riffage, huge backing vocals and a galloping tempo. An absolute classic 80s metal track.
A few things hinder it from being my favourite Manowar record these days though. I don't hate every single Joey DeMaio bass solo track, but 'Sting of the Bumblebee' is an instant skip for me. It just pisses me off, frankly. And even though I like the first ballad, 'Heart of Steel', I can't say I care much for the other one, 'The Crown and the Ring (Lament of the Kings)'. It barely has any actual music within it, other than some backing keyboards. No, it focuses entirely on vocals, and even makes use of a choir for the chorus. Boring, that's what it is. And this is coming from someone who loves Eric Adams' vocals. And then of course there's 'Pleasure Slave', which is... erm... full of questionable and inappropriate lyrical matter. I know I reviewed every Cannibal Corpse album just last month, but CC lyrics are effectively just horror B-movies in musical form. It's death metal after all. Manowar aren't a death metal band. 'Pleasure Slave' again, sounds like a song you'd hear in This Is Spinal Tap, only it's not. Take away the absurd lyrics though, and the actual riffs/music are surprisingly slow and doomy. Reminds me a little of Into Glory Ride, only not as good.
When all is said and done though, Kings of Metal is easily my favourite Manowar album behind Hail to England. I think it was their best yet in terms of production, and has a very dynamic aura because of it. Sadly, it'd also be Ross the Boss' last outing with Manowar. Still, what an album to end on! On a side note, I don't make a point of buying vinyl all that often, but when my local independent record shop had a bunch of the 2024 vinyl reissues of classic Manowar albums in stock, I had to pick up the Kings of Metal LP! It's on blue vinyl too, which is nice. I always wanted something by Manowar on vinyl, and it's cool to have this LP alongside my old CD version, which I've had forever at this point.
Adam's rating: 9/10
THE TRIUMPH OF STEEL 1992 (Atlantic)
- Standouts: 'Metal Warriors', 'Ride the Dragon' ,'Spirit Horse of the Cherokee', 'The Power of Thy Sword', 'The Demon's Whip'
I can't really be arsed to go into detail for this one since I literally made that 'Blast from the past albums' post covering it a couple of weeks ago, so I'll just give you a quick summary. And since The Triumph of Steel was the first Manowar album I ever picked up nearly half my life ago, and I still held a similar opinion of it when I made said post, I won't be rating it any different now either!
The lowdown is that the near-30 minute epic 'Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts' is a bit of an overblown mess, with a boring drum solo that goes on for far too long, a predictable noodling bass solo as well as shifts in tone musically (a speed metal part, a ballad part etc.). There's good bits within this track, but it doesn't flow well at all and I normally don't go anywhere near it whenever I play this album. The rest of this CD is rather good, with 'Metal Warriors' being one of their iconic, cheesy anthems. Some other good slabs of Manowar metal can be found in 'Ride the Dragon', 'Spirit Horse of the Cherokee', 'The Power of Thy Sword' and 'The Demon's Whip'. I don't care much for 'Burning', but I really like about half of this album's playing-time. Production isn't far off Kings of Metal either, so it's a great-sounding record in my opinion. The lack of Ross the Boss on guitar is noticeable however, and considering 'Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy' takes up roughly 1/3 of the entirety of the album's length, I can't just overlook it and say that this is a genuinely "good" Manowar album. It's not bad at all, and I'm not saying avoid it all together because there are a handful of classics to digest here - but it's the first time the band began to slipup. Sure, you could argue Fighting the World was somewhat disappointing, but I still like that album a fair amount - certainly more than I do The Triumph of Steel.
Adam's rating: 6.7/10
LOUDER THAN HELL 1996 (Geffen)
- Standouts: 'Return of the Warlord', 'Brothers of Metal Pt. 1', 'The Gods Made Heavy Metal', 'Outlaw', 'The Power'
Before I get into this album, let me preface by saying that guitarist Karl Logan, who served with this band from 1994-2018, is a disgusting scumbag human being and was rightly booted from the band when he was arrested in 2018. Good riddance. Thankfully the list of songwriting contributions during his tenure is small, with Joey DeMaio continuing to write 95% of Manowar's material.
After the misstep that was The Triumph of Steel, 1996's Louder Than Hell is a tighter effort overall (not that this was a particularly hard task for them to achieve). Sure, it doesn't excite me like any of their 80s albums do, but there's some good stuff to takeaway from this CD. 'Return of the Warlord' is an obvious reference to 'Warlord' from Into Glory Ride, and a pretty awesome opener if I say so myself. Cheesy as fuck of course, with brilliantly poetic samples such as "I don't like to save it's more fun to spend, if you like my metal you're my friend", "Don't try to understand me - my family never will, had to punch my teacher out - now he's chilled" and "We are the undefeated - we're not living in the past, we're here tonight to kick some goddamn ass". So it's about as Manowar as can be! 'Brothers of Metal' is an obligatory unifying metal anthem (but a decent one). 'The Gods Made Heavy Metal' - given it's title, this sounds pretty much exactly like you'd expect it to. And it's fine! A bit longer than it needed to be maybe, but solid. 'Outlaw' is very good too - a fun and typically-Manowar speed metal number, and 'King', despite the silly piano intro, actually gives me AC/DC vibes (??). It has a notable rock n' roll feel about it. 'The Power' - despite it's generic, lazy title - is one of the best and fastest songs on the album, and pulses with energy.
I could do without 'Courage'. Zzzzzz... a boring ballad. I'm not entirely sure why these types of songs have appeared numerous times across several Manowar albums. Does anyone really listen to the macho metal band Manowar to hear Eric Adams crooning over a piano? Well alright, it does pick up a bit, with the rest of the band joining in on their instruments... but I could never get on board with every Manowar ballad. Some are decent (like 'Heart of Steel'), others are pointless. Another song that's a bit "meh" to me is the mid-tempo 'Number 1'. It has some grunt to it, sure, but it feels a bit like the product of half-baked, autopilot Manowar to me. Filler. And at 50 minutes long, I find Louder Than Hell to be a bit longer than it needs to be. Yeah it's not 69 minutes long (!!) like the ridiculous Triumph of Steel was - but every album Manowar recorded in the 80s was under 50 minutes in total, and I personally feel that's the sweet-spot when it comes to this band. Calling Louder Than Hell "overblown" wouldn't be fair, but if they'd could cut a song or 2 from the tracklisting, you'd be in for a smoother ride. In fact, they should've just cut the tediously long instrumentals 'Today Is a Good Day to Die'/'My Spirit Lives On' (may as well have just been a single track)! By the mid-90s however, nobody was buying vinyl and a lot of bands were putting more songs on their albums simply because they could. CDs made that possible.
I have no qualms regarding production. Again, sounds similar to Kings of Metal and The Triumph of Steel - so that's fine with me. Eric Adams is still the brilliant vocalist he is, and in general there's far more good songs than weak ones to be found on Louder Than Hell. But a favourite Manowar album this is not. It's a very formulaic album, even by this band's standards. That's both a pro and a con depending on how you look at it. Nothing on here is properly offensive, but other than maybe 'Return of the Warlord' and 'The Power', there aren't any absolute 'bangers to be found here either. Just a generic Manowar album in the end, but still good overall. Not one of their best, but not one of their worst either.
Adam's rating: 7/10
WARRIORS OF THE WORLD 2002 (Nuclear Blast)
- Standouts: 'Call to Arms', 'Warriors of the World United', 'Hand of Doom', 'House of Death', 'Fight Until We Die'
Too many ballads! Shame, 'cos Warriors of the World kicks off with the fantastic anthem 'Call to Arms'. It's exactly what you want to hear from Manowar. And then the album detours for the next 5 songs - considering there's 11 tracks in total and songs 2-7 are all effectively ballads is disappointing to say the least. Alright, 2 of them are instrumentals, one of which is 35 seconds long ('Valhalla'), but the other is a completely pointless 4-minute orchestral piece ('The March'). What a piss-take!! See, normally it's us that takes the piss out of Manowar, not the other way around! 'The Fight for Freedom' might as well be a power ballad. To be fair, I don't really hate this one. It's cheesy as hell and full of emotion, it's the fact you're gonna be sitting through a whole lot more ballads after this one that makes me resent the ballads on this album. 'Nessun Dorma' is fucking terrible though. Eric Adams does opera?! The whole thing is symphonic and even sang in Italian, and I will at least say that Eric sings it really well. But does anyone really wanna hear this shit on a Manowar album? Or am I just a philistine?! 'Swords in the Wind' is better, I will admit. Yeah it's the third fucking ballad in a row, but at least it sounds like a Manowar ballad. As good as it is though, I'd have preferred something ballsy. The last ballad to speak of is 'An American Trilogy', actually an Elvis medley cover (!!). I'm not taking away anything from Mr. Presley of course, but Manowar's version is about as bad as you'd expect it to be.
On the plus side, 'Warriors of the World United' is another classic anthem, and Eric sounds particularly gruff on the bruising speed metaller 'Hand of Doom'. 'House of Death' is another rip-roaring speed metal number and 'Fight Until We Die' is a very up-tempo and heavy way to end the album. The production however, is kind of a mixed bag. On the one hand, the guitar tone is great, the bass - although more muted than usual - is still clearly audible and the vocals are mixed just fine too. But Scott Columbus' drums sound a little weak to me this time around. They have a distinctively "digital" sound to them. Not necessarily fake, but compressed maybe? I dunno. Listen to the album yourself and see what you think. To be honest, I can't help but feel a little betrayed by Manowar with Warriors of the World. It's packaged with yet another killer album cover, yet half the album is mellow as fuck! I'm not saying the band should never tackle ballads, but did this disc really need so many of them? It puts me off wanting to listen to this thing, even though there's a share of genuinely good to great cuts to be found here. 'Call to Arms', 'Warriors of the World United', 'Hand of Doom', 'House of Death' And most of them can be found on the second half of the record. It baffles me why they chose to put all the lighter stuff within the first half of the album, one after another.
Deciding on a rating was a tricky one then. The best tracks on this album are easily as good - possibly even better - as the best songs on The Triumph of Steel and Louder Than Hell. But there's an awful lot of skippable ballads/instrumentals to get through before many of those tracks finally shed some light. And those songs in particular make me not want to revisit Warriors of the World as much as I'd like to. Online reviews seem pretty mixed too overall, but on Metal Archives, it holds an average rating of 79% across 16 reviews, so it's actually the highest rated "modern" Manowar album. And by "modern", I mean anything from this century. I know MA isn't everyone's cup of tea. Even I slag it off sometimes. But I still use it all the time and admit that it's the go-to site for me when it comes to reviews.
Adam's rating: 6/10
GODS OF WAR 2007 (SPV)
- Standouts: 'King of Kings', 'Sleipnir', 'Loki God of Fire', 'Blood Brothers', 'The Sons of Odin', 'Gods of War', 'Odin'
Even though Gods of War is a one-of-a-kind album in their catalogue, it comes as no to surprise me that it exists. It's a symphonic metal concept album all about Norse mythology, Odin and all that jazz. A symphonic metal album from Manowar actually sounds like could work on paper, and that's why this thing never really surprised me whenever I first heard about it. They dabbled with full-blown opera on Warriors of the World ('Nessun Dorma'), so Gods of War is positively generic by comparison!! And I can't help but compare it to Judas Priest's Nostradamus. Nostradamus however, was an odd one. It was an often-symphonic concept album too, only I was surprised by it when it appeared in 2008. And like Gods of War, it had fans divided. At least that's the impression I get with said Manowar album, going by reviews and rankings online.
As for me, well, I kinda like this actually. Warriors of the World had too many ballads and experimentation on it, sure, but since the entirety of Gods of War is something of an experiment in itself, you can be more forgiving of all the instrumentals, choirs, orchestral compositions and all the other crap going on here. But much of this album isn't "crap" anyway. The orchestras and choirs only boost the epicness of the story, and I'll even praise the band for sticking the 6 minute symphonic intro 'Overture to the Hymn of the Immortal Warriors'. It sets things up rather well, and for a lot of people, will possibly even decide whether or not this album will be their cup of tea or not before delving further into the songs. This is a Norse mythology-focused album - think of it as the soundtrack to some cheesy Viking movie, so of course the music is going to be pompous! Just listen to the chanting title track to see what I mean (it rules by the way)! And anyway, you've got genuinely strong Manowar songs thrown in amongst all the symphonic stuff, songs like 'Loki God of Fire', 'Sleipnir', 'King of Kings', 'The Sons of Odin', etc.. If you took away the lyrical themes and some of the orchestration (which adds to the grandeur), all of these tracks could have potentially fit on any of the past albums from the 90s-onwards. Just pure Manowar metal! Tons of riffs, heavy bass, pounding drums and outstanding Eric Adams vocals. Even an emotional ballad like 'Blood Brothers' serves it's purpose on this album, as does the more powerful one, 'Odin'. So does any of the corny spoken-word narration stuff like 'The Ascension', 'Glory Majesty Unity' and 'The Blood of Odin'.
Of course the album's not perfect however. It still doesn't stack up to any of their 80s works, apart from Fighting the World. The best songs on here still don't hold a candle to classics like 'Hail and Kill', 'Kings of Metal', 'Violence and Bloodshed', 'Hail to England' and whatever else. It's also an exceptionally long album. Not entirely surprising, but 73 minute discs like these rarely make for regular listens in my world. Gods of War is no exception, although in reality it's more like 68 minutes because there's also a bonus track called 'Die for Metal' on here (a good one too). Either way, niche albums like this require a lot of time and attention. I won't listen to it in the gym for example, but on a long drive it's a mostly enjoyable affair. But the important thing is, this album - to me at least - is NOT a failed experiment. I wouldn't want every Manowar album to follow a similar formula of course, but on the whole it feels like a natural project for the band.
Still, Gods of War isn't for everyone. Not even every Manowar fan. Surprisingly, I like this more than the last few. Yes it's experimental, but it feels much more focused and fleshed-out compared to some of the previous experiments found on The Triumph of Steel ('Achilles, Agony and Ecstasy in Eight Parts') and Warriors of the World ('Nessun Dorma', 'An American Trilogy' etc.). Manowar love cheese, and how much cheesier can you get than a 68 minute symphonic metal Viking epic?!
Adam's rating: 7.5/10
THUNDER IN THE SKY (EP) 2009 (Magic Circle Music)
More Norse mythology-focused material, although the 5 new songs on this EP see Manowar return to their usual selves musically. Unlike Gods of War, Thunder in the Sky has no symphonic/orchestral influence whatsoever. And it's solid! In addition to the 5 new tracks is also a re-recorded version of 'The Crown and the Ring', originally from Kings of Metal. I never cared much for the original (one of the only songs on the album I don't particularly enjoy), and I can't say the so-called 'Metal Version' as seen on this EP doesn't do much for me either. The good news is that the stuff that matters - the 5 new songs - are all decent. Even the silly ballad 'Father' is somewhat good for what it is. There's actually a 2-disc version of this EP out there with one of the discs dedicated entirely to 'Father' - the song was recorded in 15 different languages!! You'd have to be really fucking bored to want to listen to every single version of 'Father' in a single sitting. My copy only has the English version, and that's more than enough for me.
The title track is nice blend of Manowar speed metal and melodic heavy metal. Good stuff. 'Let the Gods Decide' isn't anything to get excited about, but it's a fun enough hard rocker. I do like 'Die With Honor' a lot. It has that typical macho, fist-in-the-air Manowar anthemic quality about it. 'God of Man' too, has an aura of classic Manowar about it. As much I enjoy the symphonic experiment that is Gods of War, I'm glad they didn't continue down that path with the Thunder in the Sky EP. The production is crunchy, the band sound tight and Eric Adams still shows plenty of life in his vocal ability here. I can hardly call Thunder in the Sky "essential" to everyone, but the music within is still good overall. It's absolutely worth tracking down for serious fans/collectors however. Nice to have this one in my own collection that's for sure!
Adam's rating: 7/10
BATTLE HYMNS MMXI 2010 (Magic Circle Music)
- Standouts: Erm...
And now we're getting into the really patchy, inconsistent and oftentimes lazy part of the catalogue. On the one hand, I can forgive them for their body of work in more recent years. These guys had already been around forever by 2010, do they really owe us anything at this point? But when the best you can give your fans is re-recordings of classic albums, random EPs and maybe the odd single here and there, it sometimes makes me wonder why bother? True, we did get another full-length studio album new material in 2012, The Lord of Steel (more about that in a later review), but as I said, these past 16 years have mostly consisted of minor, inessential releases from Manowar. Again, they don't exactly owe us anything. Even if they'd left the recording studio for good post-Kings of Metal in 1988, they still wouldn't owe us anything. But the fact of the matter is, there are many, many legacy bands that are indeed still putting out fantastic records to this day in 2026. Look at all the superb albums we've had in recent years from bands like Judas Priest, Anthrax, Testament, Saxon, Kreator, Sodom... take your pick. Deep Purple have existed even longer than Manowar and are still putting out brilliant music. Did Lemmy throw in the towel all those years before his death in 2015?! Hell no!! He kept on cranking out Motorhead records left right and centre!! The point I'm trying to make is that being old doesn't necessarily mean weaker music. And that brings me on to Battle Hymns MMXI, which was ironically released at the end of 2010 despite the "MMXI" roman numerals.
This is quite obviously a modern re-recording of the band's debut album, 1982's Battle Hymns. The question is, why? Why does this even exist? I am always sceptical when a band re-records any of their classic material. I don't mind when they re-do the odd song here and there, and include them as bonus tracks within an album, and some compilations of re-recorded material such as Saxon's Heavy Metal Thunder and Annihilator's Re-Kill are actually pretty cool. But re-recording an entire album? Sorry, let me rephrase that - re-recording an entire album that everyone already loved? Absolutely pointless. Yeah the original version of Battle Hymns is dated production-wise, but just because it was recorded with more primitive technology does not make it inferior. It's all part of it's charm. Hell, many of the best-sounding albums to me were recorded in the fucking 70s.
Since this new version was recorded several decades later in 2010, the production is of the digital age, and is predictably much clearer for it. Truth be told, it's not a bad-sounding album. The guitars are still grinding in a much cleaner manner, Joey DeMaio bass is still up front in the mix. Eric Adams is still a great vocalist, although you don't get the same sense of youthful enthusiasm that you get on the original version. Not that Eric Adams was a kid when he recorded Battle Hymns in the early 80s (he was 29, just about to turn 30 when it arrived in 1982), but you know what I mean! No, it's the principle that matters. Battle Hymns never needed to be re-recorded in the first place. There is nothing "better" about MMXI. Performing songs you wrote 28 years ago will never be played with the same enthusiasm as when you first recorded them. And it shows here. These are not "bad" or "sloppy" performances. Manowar are great musicians. They've always been able to play well. Battle Hymns MMXI very much displays the band going through the motions. And that sucks.
I'm about to go an off-topic rant now, but I think it'll bear some relevance to this album. Maybe. Do you ever see posts on social media and the like holding old stuff in high regard, only to read lots of comments claiming it's all "nostalgia" or "seeing it through rose-tinted glasses"? Yeah, this is true sometimes. There's things we have today that we take for granted. But a lot of old stuff is great, and quite often superior to whatever the modern equivalent is. And sometimes the older version of a specific thing is better than the updated version. I currently drive a 2017 Mk. V Ford Mondeo. I used to drive a 2010 Mk. IV Ford Mondeo, the same spec equivalent to the one I have today. It even has the same size engine (2L turbo diesel). Yet my old Mondeo was nicer to drive. It had more torque and accelerated faster when you put your foot down, despite having 10 less brake horsepower than my current one. And in the 5 years I had it, I only had a single notable issue with it, which I fixed myself for around £200 in the end. It had 150,000 miles on it when I sold it 5 years ago. Someone else is still driving it to this day, and it has 180,000 miles on it right now according to the online MOT check. My current Ford had 50,000 when I bought it in 2021, and currently has 119,000 miles on it. I've spent far more money on this car than my old one. It lost a load of engine coolant for absolutely no reason last year, making me think the head gasket was on it's way out. I spent 100 quid on a pressure test, only to find nothing wrong with it. It's fine. The tyre pressure sensors died this year, and it cost me a few hundred quid to fix them because it's not a job you can do without the correct tools. The old Mondeo didn't have tyre pressure sensors, probably because people didn't need a fucking automatic sensor to tell them when the pressure is low. The centre console screen/satnav thing likes to lockup and freeze for no reason whatsoever a few times a month. The only things "better" about my 2017 Mondeo are the styling, the slightly better fuel economy and the fact I can play music via Bluetooth now. It just doesn't feel like it was built to the same standard as my old Ford.
And hey, there's whole list of other things that were often better way back when - houses had more character/charm here in the UK, concerts weren't full of smartphones, appliances lasted longer, adverts were somehow less annoying, brewers weren't slyly lowering the ABV of their beer... and Battle Hymns circa 1982 was the only way to hear Battle Hymns!!!!!!
You should not buy Battle Hymns MMXI then, unless you're a sad bastard like me that has to own everything their favourite bands put out regardless. I won't give this disc the lowest score in history, because at heart these songs are all classics. They just didn't need revisiting. But somewhere in this world is a person who heard Battle Hymns MMXI BEFORE they heard Battle Hymns 1982. And that particular individual might just prefer it for sentimental reasons. And that's fine, even if Battle Hymns MMXI is factually the worse version of the album in question. I am not that individual though.
Adam's rating: 3.5/10
- Standouts: 'The Lord of Steel', 'Manowarriors', 'Born in a Grave', 'Righteous Glory', 'Touch the Sky', 'El Gringo'
That's it. I truly do suffer from chronic music collecting addiction. Well, you probably knew that already, but what I paid for my copy of The Lord of Steel really reinforces this crippling habit of mine. When I decided to make this post, I went through my Manowar collection and remembered I was missing this album as well as few other minor releases (EPs, and those re-recorded versions of Battle Hymns and Kings of Metal). The others I managed to bag reasonably-priced copies of. But when it comes to The Lord of Steel, I simply COULD NOT find a copy for sale in the UK for less than £35. It appears to be have been out of print since 2012, with no re-releases/reissues to speak of whatsoever. Why not look at foreign sellers and see what they were charging you ask? I mean yeah, there were copies selling for less in foreign countries (between £20-£30, so still expensive) - but as per usual, insane shipping charges meant I would've spent more than what I ended up paying anyway. So yes, I spent £35 on a used copy of this album from Ebay. A used copy in good condition at least! What an idiot I am. Well, it's all relative I guess. A missing gap in a near-complete collection annoys me to no end, so I pulled the trigger on it.
The fact The Lord of Steel received mostly mediocre reviews back in 2012 makes me look even more stupid. On the plus side, I personally don't think this is a poor Manowar album at all. But I'm wondering if the reason for this is because of either of the following points:
A) I genuinely think the songs are mostly good and the band sound inspired.
B) I'm just telling myself I like it because I paid way too much.
Maybe it's a mixture of both points. But I still don't particularly understand any of the really negative reviews out there. Is it one of their best albums? Fuck no! I get that. "Kings of Metal Pt. II" this is not. But after the symphonic outlier that was Gods of War (which I like) and in my opinion, the mixed bag that was Warriors of the World, we did at least get one last balls-to-the-wall, 100% HEAVY Manowar album with The Lord of Steel. There's no experimentation on here, the album as a whole is easily one of their heaviest, and it proved they still hadn't completely ran out of ideas after releasing that pointless remake of Battle Hymns.
I also dig the production. Joey switched up the sound of his bass on this album, opting for an insanely distorted, dirty tone that reminds me a little of Lemmy's and Cronos' out of Venom. Bass has always been a huge part of Manowar's sound. The bass is still huge on this album too, it's just a little different sonically this time around - and I like it either way. The guitars and drums sound good to my ears too, and even though Eric Adams obviously can't quite hit the highs like he could when he was younger (very understandable), his performance on The Lord of Steel is more than respectable. He's kind of adapted his vocal style at this point, a bit like Ian Gillan did when Deep Purple Mk. II reformed in the 80s. But more importantly, he's still doing the music justice.
I won't lie and claim that there's zero filler to be found here though. Nothing on this album is horrid, but I don't care much for 'Annihilation' either. In short, it's filler. It's main riff is cookie-cutter and sounds like it could've come from any band. 'Black List' is a slow and crushingly heavy, which is great - but there was no need for it to last 7 minutes. There aren't any epic songs to speak of on this CD, and it feels like they stretched out 'Black List' just so they could say it has the staple long track on here. 5 minutes would've been fine. 'Hail, Kill and Die' isn't the most exciting closer they ever recorded either, and despite it's title, doesn't really bare any resemblance to 'Hail and Kill' from Kings of Metal. Not to my ears anyway. Again, not unlistenable or anything like that, just generic. Finally, nothing this album has to offer comes close to "peak" Manowar. Don't expect to be blown away by any of these songs...
...but as a Manowar fan, I don't really see why The Lord of Steel won't scratch the itch. It does for me, but going by many reviews online, evidently it doesn't for a lot of other people. I actually welcome the fact they played it safe here. The music is at least mostly consistent in quality from start to finish. As much as I like Gods of War, it's not an album I spin very often because of it's uniqueness. And Warriors of the World has way too many ballads for my liking. £35 was a silly price - but hey, having no gaps in my Manowar collection makes it all worth it!
Adam's rating: 7.2/10
