Manowar

Official Site

The godfathers of "true" (AKA "cheese") metal. Love 'em or hate 'em (I am actually in the middle), but you can't deny that they are both solid musically and enormously influential. Their "death to false metal" battle cry is still very appealing to dozens and dozens of young bands with desire to pose as "true" (Lost Horizon, Hammerfall, Rhapsody, Sacred Steel, and so on and so forth). Manowar calls to fight "poseurs," but, honestly, one would be hard-pressed to find a band than more pose. They still know how to rock, scream, yell, create metal atmosphere, and attract crowds. Eric Adams (vocals) and Joe Dimayo (bass, songs) began in New York, in the early 80s, and have been releasing one "raise your battle axe" album after another, most notable ones including: "Battle Hymns" (1982), "Hail To England" (1984), "Sign Of The Hammer" (1984), "Triumph Of Steel" (1992), and "Louder Than Hell" (1996). Their latest one, "Gods Of War" (2006) is due later this year.

HAIL TO ENGLAND (1984)

RATING: ****

BEST SONGS: "Blood Of My Enemy," "Each Dawn I Die," title track

Manowar's earlier stuff is a little more straight-forward than their later material, mainly because there is a lot more continuity and flow in songs, giving them more groove and fewer annoying pretencious slowdowns in the middle of the song. Also, Eric Adams could actually sing back then. The opening track "Blood Of My Enemy" is definitely among catchiest tunes in my CD collection, and it has great rhythm (influenced Nocturnal Rites "Warrior's Return," did it not?). "Each Dawn I Die" is another awesome tune (but moments of cheesiness creep into Adams' voice every once in a while). The cheesiness makes a big entrance with "Kill With Power." Everything is fine, I love the song, until the refrain with idiotic "die! die!" screams comes in and ruins the song. Title track is grand and majestic, and "Army Of The Immortals" is also neat (and it has the only decent lead break on the album). Album's ending is somewhat of a letdown, though. I'm not a fan of bass solos (although DeMayo is an unbelievable musician), and "Bridge Of Death" is OK at best. I have heard so many good things about this song, that I was waiting for a master epic, but instead it turned out to be a boring Satanic tune. I also wish there were more than 6 songs on the album (bass solo doesn't count). But they released Sign Of The Hammer in the same year, so I guess it's alright.

SIGN OF THE HAMMER (1984)

RATING: ****

BEST SONGS: "All Men Play On Ten," "The Oath," "Guyana (The Cult Of The Damned)"

Somewhat of a lost album in Manowar's discography. It was released by the 10 Records (hence the pun in the "All Men Play On Ten"), which has ceized to exist a long time ago. Pretty much the same as Hail To England, and just as good. Album-opening "All Men Play On Ten" is really cool. Even though, myself, I don't necessarily listen to music "on eleven" (for that matter, "Master Of The Wind," from the album Triumph Of Steel, was hardly made for playing full volume), but the song has a nice slogan. Next comes "Animal": very catchy, but with terrible lyrics, second only to "Pleasure Slave" from the album Kings Of Metal; I really wish this was an instrumental. "Thor" is a pretty good tune, and so is a faster title track. "Mountains" is boring. "The Oath" has a very nice rhythm guitar and, overall, is a great tune. The album-closing epic "Guyana" took me about two months to get used to, but now I appreciate it to the full: it's one of the best Manowar songs. Eric Adams has a very nice voice in it, plus it has a great lead break and, believe it or not, EXCELLENT LYRICS! The creepy beginning is just oh so great, with Eric, being charming like a snake, say in a haunting voice: "Thank you for the Kool Aid, Reverend Jim!" Goosebumps! The whole thing is yet another decent Mano-effort, but even the best of their "gods and monsters" tunes all "sail the seas of cheese."

KINGS OF METAL (1988)

RATING: *

BEST SONGS: "Wheels Of Fire," title track, "Blood Of A King"

The first Manowar album that I've heard. It has some nice moments, but for the most part it's just OK. Musically, they are not as heavy as before, perhaps a little heavier than Maiden. Only the anthemic title track, IMHO, is above average, because of its overwhelming energy and pure rocking quality. With the lyrics like "They try to put us down, but they can't last, when we get up, we're gonna kick your ass… other bands play, Manowar kill" this track is easily one of the best songs to headbang to. "Wheels Of Fire" is another funny one, with Adams screaming his guts out. Oh, yeah, I didn't mention that I think the man is a very limited vocalist. I just have to bitch about this somewhere, so I might as well do it here. To me, he is simply bad. I admit that his voice usually suits the song themes (battles, Barbarians, battles, warriors, battles, kings-n-dragons, battles, etc.), but still, it's extremely unpleasant, and all too often reminds me of Paul Stanley of Kiss. Some people like him, though... good for them. Joe DeMayo, on the other hand, is a terrific bass player, and when he performs "The Flight Of The Bumblebee" by Rimsky-Korsakov, it's truly amazing. Guitars are also mediocre (I can't recall any decent solos on most of their material, with rare exceptions), and the drums are only drums. Too many cheesy special effects also (bike sounds that last a couple of minutes before the song begins, moaning women, the entire spoken "Warrior's Prayer," and so on), and not enough actual music. Another thing that I dislike about Manowar is that they break the mood quite often. After some adrenaline rush delivered by the first two tracks, plain and slow "Heart Of Steel" and "The Crown And The Ring (Lament Of The Kings)" follow. "Kingdom Come" and "Hail And Kill" start promisingly fast and energetic, but lose the energy on the way ("Hail And Kill" gets it back, though, but the lyrics "May our swords be wet, like a young girl in her prime" turn me off quite a bit). "Blood Of The Kings" is the only one that is fast throught the whole song, but, listed as being 7.30 long, it actually lasts for 4 or so minutes, with a 3 ½ outro of random sounds.

Now, the lyrics... I'm not even going to start. Crap like "Pleasure Slave" should not be allowed to exist, least of all recorded. The only two places it belongs in are the garbage can and the feminist convention (and they actually put in the credits the names of all girls they screwed during their tour!). Everything else is too pretentious for me to associate with, and I honestly don't believe that any of the ancient kings and warriors, even the most boastful, actually expressed themselves in such pathetically solemn language. The word "king" is mentioned in 4 out of 10 track titles, and about a thousand times in tracks themselves. Every song attempts to be an anthem, and I can only take so much of that. "High and mighty alone we are kings, whirlwinds of fire we ride" is nice and everything, but I would truly recommend Manowar to take themselves a little easier. Sometimes they do reach what they are aiming for: majestic and solemn feeling, but the feeling goes away with lyrics like "Rip their flesh, burn their hearts, stab them in the eyes, rape their women as they cry." As far as the good things go, I can just say that, when Manowar actually rocks, it rocks well. That's about it.

TRIUMPH OF STEEL (1992)

RATING: *1/2

BEST SONGS: "Ride The Dragon," "Power Of Thy Sword," "Master Of The Wind"

More of the same, just the different year and with different guitar and drum players. The attitude, the music, the lyrics, all just stayed the same, and Adams is really beginning to lose his vocal abilities, that weren't all that great to start with. What I truly admire about Manowar, is that they absolutely do not notice how time flies. The same music they played when they started in the early 80s, despite all changes in the music word. Songs like "Metal Warriors" (this album's version of "Kings Of Metal") is as much out of place in 1992, as it could rightfully belong in, say 1986. Manowar declares to be on crusade against "false metal," and god knows what do they mean by that and "false metal" are they fighting in 1992, when all of "glam metal" bands passed away, and nearly took real metal with them? Now, to songs themselves. I could only listen to the 30+ minute "Achilles" once. It is just unbearable (let me just mention that Part IV, "Armor Of The Gods," is a 5-minute drum solo). "Ride The Dragon" and "The Power Of Thy Sword" are good, hard, fast, and rocking. "The Power Of Thy Sword," however, has the same problem, mentioned above: they break the mood with a slow bit, just when the listener gets into the "faster" spirit. "Spirit Horse Of The Cherokee," "Burning," and "The Demon's Whip" are all kinda slow and boring for me to start with, and GOD DAMN ALL THE SOUND EFFECTS IN THE WORLD! "Master Of The Wind," however, is a phenomenal song, with no flaws at all. It's just a great melodic anthem, with an awesome chorus. If I was to pick a song to play to a person who doesn't know what a power ballad is, this would be the one. It's truly majestic, and I can't say enough of good words about it.

WARRIORS OF THE WORLD (2002)

RATING: ****

BEST SONGS: "Hand Of Doom," "House Of Death," "Fight Until We Die"

The album has five good songs: opening "Call To Arms" and the last four, "Warriors Of The World United," "Hand Of Doom," "House Of Death," and "Fight Until We Die." Everything else is barely tolerable. The "American Trilogy," dedicated to Elvis Presley, is downright stupid, moreso coming from "Kings Of Metal." But the final four tracks redeem this cd to the point of being one of the best Manowar ever released. In fact, this is the best one, two, three, four punch in their catalog. A thumping anthem "WotWU" is enough to make you tap your foot in the least and snap your neck at most. The last three are all fast gallops, and two of them, "Hand Of Doom" and "Fight Until We Die," don't even have the mandatory awful slowdown in the middle. "Fight Until We Die" is probably the most furious and catchiest tune written by DiMayo. Adams actually sounds better than ever before: he now adds some death-like growling to his singing, complimenting his wails nicely. The whole album has a distinct "America fights terrorists" feel, which is strange, considering that it would do much better in Japan and Europe than in the U.S. But that doesn't matter. The five tracks that I listed are in fact so good that, even if you are lukewarm towards Manowar, you may want to get this album just for them.